Jan 1 2019 - If It's a New Year it's Nostradamus Time

There was fireworks everywhere to celebrate the New Year - Dubai's was the world's record-setting show - illuminating the world's tallest building and having the largest LED illuminated facade. It is amazing - see the video HERE.  Or watch the NBC News around the world HERE.  Our own Toronto show is HERE. We Canadians want to make sure that people know this is Toronto so have the 3D TORONTO Sign.  It was installed in July 2015 for the Toronto Pan American/Parapan American Games. The letters are 10 feet tall and the LED lights can transition to 228 million different colours.       And what predictions are there this year?  Let's turn to Nostradamus, or should we? He was born in 1503, and initially an apothecary. He 'latinized' his name from Nostredame to Nostradamus when he moved away from apothecary towards the occult.  His 'Les Propheties' was published in 1555. He attracted supporters at the time who were looking for predictions through astrology.  He was rejected by the academic community at the time and since then, but remains popular with the press and public.  This is the repeated reason throughout the internet: the persistence in popular culture seems to be partly because their vagueness and lack of dating make it easy to quote them selectively after every major dramatic event and retrospectively claim them as "hits". This is demonstrated by the Nostradamus predictions from the UK Express. "EXCLUSIVE: Nostradamus’ eerie predictions have baffled people for centuries – but did Nostradamus have any visions of what will happen in 2019? One psychic expert believes 2019 could be an incredibly turbulent year for the US, the UK and the rest of the world.   According to the psychic expert, Nostradamus warned of an assassination attempt on Mr Trump, armed conflict in the Middle East and renewed relations with his Russian counterpart between 2019 and 2020. Mr Hamilton-Parker told Express.co.uk: "I feel Trump will have a second term but Nostradamus's predicted an assassination attempt will be in the second term. One thing Nostradamus did not predict, however, is the result or the effects of the Brexit vote.  Mr Hamilton-Parker himself foresaw a no-deal hard Brexit in the pipeline which is why he said he was surprised to see Brexit omitted from Nostradamus’s prophecies". With stories like this, it is easy to side with the academics in their skepticism that Nostradamus' predictions could, should or even would be taken seriously. Today's image is a Japanese Maple fiery abstract.

I'll Take Mine Fried

I made it in time to capture the fiery foliage of the Cemetery Japanese Maple.  It is entwined around a headstone, which is not visible in these photos.  November is their month for vivid colour - as long as it doesn't get too windy.  That's always a dilemma here in Grimsby with the wind off the escarpment or the Lake. I planned to capture the large tree in front of one of our heritage homes and the leaves are gone - they dropped in one day.    And around the corner from me is the largest Japanese Maple I've seen in Niagara, with the glorious red colour on the tree and in the driveway. From the den garden website: "In Japan, maple trees are known as kaede (楓/"frog's hands"), as well as momiji (紅葉), which means both "become crimson leaves" and "baby's hands". Momiji is commonly used as the term for autumn foliage in general in Japanese, but it is also used as a term for maple trees. These names come from the appearance of the leaves, which resemble the hands of a baby or a frog. The scientific term for Japanese maples is Acer palmatum."   "In Japan's Osaka prefecture, the red and orange maple leaves are a sight to see during the fall. As is the case in the rest of Japan, people go out in droves to see the beautiful fall scenery. However, in Osaka, locals also go out in droves to collect the leaves and turn them into a deep-fried delicacy! Fried maple leaves are a very popular snack in Osaka, and apparently have been for at least a thousand years. The city of Minoh, located in the north part of the prefecture, is particularly famous for their fried leaves. The maple leaves are dipped and fried in tempura butter, which give them their unique taste. The secret of Minoh's success with fried leaves really isn't much of a secret at all. Chefs there usually store their leaves in barrels of salt for one year, which makes their leaves particularly tasty!"