Oct 12 2023 - Is it Friday the 13th tomorrow

 

It is like sleeps before Christmas.  The Friday the 13th Port Dover website is counting down and it is only 17 hours to go.   Given the first Friday the 13th was in January, this will be a celebrated day - and the weather looks good, too.  Friday the 13th can only occur three times in a single calendar year.  A leap year that starts on a Sunday has a  Friday the 13th in July.  That was way back in 2012 and not until 2040.   When I think of it,  only June, July,  August  and September would be reliable Friday the 13ths for the Port Dover celebration.  Next year's event is June, and in 2025, it is September - so looking positive for the celebration. Can you imagine such a variable schedule for events?  Maybe it is part of the allure.   All the Friday the 13th jokes have a place at this event.  Here are a few:  What might a restaurant serve to the bikers tomorrow? A good Friday the 13th pasta - Fettuccine Afraid-O. Don't worry if there is a tear in the leather jacket as seamstresses or tailor on Friday the 13th - know a lot about superstitchins. And what about dreams at the Friday the 13th party?  - It would be a horse in armour chasing a biker - It would be a Knightmare. What sort of parties does the Town of Port Dover organise on Friday the 13th?  Search parties.   I stopped by Charles Daley Park earlier in the week, and the colour of the locusts didn't compare to this picture.  October is very windy at the lake, and often the leaves blow off so there's not much of a show. And then one can always create the Autumn display in Photoshop.

Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

July 22 2022 - Friday to Festivals

 

Somewhere between Thursday and Saturday.  Do you look forward to Fridays?  If you go to the Better Living Centre in Toronto the beer festival starts today and goes all weekend.  There are 50 top festivals listed in Toronto this summer.  There are twenty-five  listed for this weekend.  Mostly food and music.  There are two puppy festivals for Millie to choose from. Festivals definitely cluster in summer - The Summer Solstice kicks it off and they just continue on.  I assume that it is those of us in the Northern Hemisphere who have made the summer festival so numerous.   We're in for the beg sports event - the Niagara Summer games this year.  That's from August 7 - 21.  The opening ceremony will be at the Meridian Centre in St. Catharines.  There is a 13 for 13 festival - every night a different music group representing a different place in Canada.   Grimsby gets Prince Edward Island on August 20th  from 4:00 - 10:00pm at the Peach King Centre.   Everyone seems to have a summer festival in their back yard.  It's a happy toad in the garden.

Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Aug 13 2021 - The Famous Friday the 13ths

 

Has someone put together the list of historic Friday the 13ths?  This version comes from History.com HERE.    "On Friday, October 13, 1307, officers of King Philip IV of France arrested hundreds of the Knights Templar, a powerful religious and military order formed in the 12th century for the defense of the Holy Land. Imprisoned on charges of various illegal behaviors (but really because the king wanted access to their financial resources), many Templars were later executed. Some cite the link with the Templars as the origin of the Friday the 13th superstition, but like many legends involving the Templars and their history, the truth remains murky. In more recent times, a number of traumatic events have occurred on Friday the 13th, including the German bombing of Buckingham Palace (September 1940); the murder of Kitty Genovese in Queens, New York (March 1964); a cyclone that killed more than 300,000 people in Bangladesh (November 1970); the disappearance of a Chilean Air Force plane in the Andes (October 1972); the death of rapper Tupac Shakur (September 1996) and the crash of the Costa Concordia cruise ship off the coast of Italy, which killed 30 people (January 2012)." I more more events - but they are all very unpleasant to horrible - they are covered in Livescience.com HERE.   But I did find the famous Friday the 13th movies all be ranked by Tomatometer Here. The full name is Rotten Tomatoes - clearly ranking bad movies.  There are 12 movies to rank so this would have taken some work effort.  The titles are all over the place in terms of approach and consistency - titles like Friday the 13th Part 3 or Part V - A new Beginning.  What about The Final Chapter or the Final Friday,  And there's Freddy Vs. Jason.  The original movie is ranked #1.  It was called "quaint". Here's another image of the sculpture at the Aga Khan Museum.  I so enjoy metal reflections where lines are distorted.  I look forward to being able to visit Toronto again and all its variations of sculptures.  Such a dilemma with the pandemic - one goes directly from destination to destination, minimizing contacts.

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

No 13 2020 - It's Friday the ...

 

My guess is that such a time as this has gone by: In the late-19th century, a New Yorker named Captain William Fowler (1827-1897) sought to remove the enduring stigma surrounding the number 13—and particularly the unwritten rule about not having 13 guests at a dinner table—by founding an exclusive society called the Thirteen Club. The group dined regularly on the 13th day of the month in room 13 of the Knickerbocker Cottage, a popular watering hole Fowler owned from 1863 to 1883. Before sitting down for a 13-course dinner, members would pass beneath a ladder and a banner reading “Morituri te Salutamus,” Latin for “Those of us who are about to die salute you.” Four former U.S. presidents would join the Thirteen Club’s ranks at one time or another. We should celebrate the 12th day of every month as we western cultures consider this number to represent completeness. Wouldn't it be great to know what's next in American politics at the cross road of democracy - and for it to be a peaceful solution? Looks messy outside this window.

Read past POTDs at my Blog: https://marilyncornwell.blogspot.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

It's The Black Friday!

Today I get to find out how Black Friday came about.  I admit that I don't like the term associated with festive holidays.  It sounds like a doomsday scenario.  Harper's Weekly says its first use came from a gold market crash in 1869.  There are lots of Black Fridays listed in Wikipedia here and they start in 1688 with the imprisonment of the Seven Bishops of the Church of England on the eve of the 'Glorious Revolution'. All of these Black Fridays refer to violence and scandal.  So how has a shopping day taken on a label associated with violence, scandal and murder? Supposedly the name came about because so many people went out to shop that it caused traffic accidents and sometimes even violence.  It was first recorded in 1966 in a Philadelphia  ad, when the Philadelphia police department used the phrase to describe the mayhem surrounding the congestion of pedestrian and auto traffic in the centre of town. The article says Black Friday became a positive name.  I wonder about this, as the news focuses on mayhem and violence, wherever it occurs that day. I did my shopping part yesterday.  I went to the Niagara Outlet Mall - a big American-style mall on the QEW across from Niagara College (where I was going).  And yes, there were the deep discount prices of Black Friday.  Do you think it will be jammed today?  Will you go shopping today for the special deals?