Dec 8 2021 - Who is that Mrs. Claus?

 

Yesterday I was worried that Santa is fat.  Should I worry that Mrs. Claus has no first name.  Sh's known as Mrs. Santa Claus. Her job is to make cookies with the elves. That seems a bit redundant given how many cookies Santa eats on Christmas Eve?  It has been calculated at 40 billion calories. Since 1889, Mrs. Claus has been traditionally depicted in media as a  heavy-set, (looks fat in some pictures to me), kindly-appearing, white-haired elderly woman.  Like a "granny doll". How is it that she's "heavy set" while Santa is fat?  She is usually depicted wearing a fur dress of red with white fur trim.  `````````````````` She's usually baking cookies somewhere in the background of the Santa Claus mythos. She sometimes seen in the factory and assists in toy production and oversees Santa's elves. If she is depicted in her youth, the surprise is that is on occasion shown to have had red hair.  The answer to how old is Mrs. Claus is: "There's a long story behind it, but the short answer is that Mrs. Claus is just 1,139 years old." That seems a strange answer, but then someone paid some money to have their email santa.com website at the top of the list.  Santa is slightly older on that website. Here's a hilarious question that pops up on Google:  Does Mrs. Claus have a life of her own?  What department of redundancy department question for someone without a first name.  On the other hand, she does have a birthday.  It is reported to be Christmas Day.  Santa's is reported to be March 15th.   Here they are at the 2019 Fantasy of Trees.   Our first picture today is my reflection in a metal wall piece by Floyd Elzinga, and the second is the abstract version created in Flaming Pear's Flexifly.  It looks like a Christmas image to me - swirly fun.

Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

A Name for All Seasons

As young people make their way into the work force of name tags at retail checkout, I get to ask them how they got their names.  Most often, these are heart-felt stories - even though the names seem unpronounceable or don't seem like names.  So I thought I should brace myself for what is coming next.  What names should we expect to hear in 2019 for brand new babies?  Good Housekeeping reports that Stormi and Dream have seen a jump after the Kardashian babies.  True and Chicago are also Kardashian children names.  These are considered "Next Jenneration" names after the Kardashian-Jenner clan.  Their boys' names are Saint and Reign. Zen names are more popular than Kardashian names.  Peace, Harmony, Hope and Shanti are the top names.  And Fortnite the online multiplayer game has inspired Ramirez, Leviathan, Bunny and Rogue. I wouldn't have guessed anyone could name their girl Kale, Kiwi, or Maple.  What about these: Clementine, Saffron, Rosemary and Sage are also there. These are food trend names. The prediction for 2019?  Sneaker brands inspire names like Van, Chuck and Taylor.  Each Brand has names associated with it.  2019 will continue with the more traditional naming practice is to mimic Royal families.  Meghan has jumped in popularity, along with Eugenie and Jack. And don't forget just 'plain' celebrities.  We can expect some names after Justin Bieber - he asked Hailey Baldwin to marry him. Another continuing trend is gender swapping.  This has been with us for more hundreds of years.  So this year's trend? Max, Tyler and Ryan are now conscripted into girl names.   There seems to be a human obsession and compulsion around first names.  There are stories after stories of strange, unusual, and bizarre names, and often famous people and celebrities are singled out.  There are many stories about rejected names where governments just can't allow the names.  Perhaps this is because names made it past government officials in the past and into the crazy names hall of fame.  I thought I'd check for trends in pretty and meaningful names.  There are lots of articles on nice and beautiful names.  Scroll through the list at popsugar.com. This is where I get to feel out of touch again. Are Caspian, Idris, Jagger, Kai, Laszlo, Adley, Ireland, and Larkin beautiful names?  And I've picked them randomly.  I checked out more to find other sites do have names that seem more appealing.  Thank goodness! Who knows what will be in place of the  check-out counter in 16 years? We may not have to brace ourselves at all. Today we see the Sundance Layout with the Denver and Rio Grande Western railway making a trip.