July 26 2024 - Fun Ahead?

 

What were we going to look forward to in 2024?  A few things appear indisputable:  A leap year  A total solar eclipse  The Olympics That last one?  Maybe that's a bit optimistic to think it would be fun. Why would that be?    Russian Athletes in the presence of Ukrainian athletes It is the Ukrainian athletes who are on notice to avoid contact (and not vice versa) and there's no promise that they will not have to compete directly against Russian and Belarusian athletes.  "Ukrainian athletes are advised to refrain from interacting with Russian and Belarusian athletes on social media, as a further ...athletes are advised to uphold a cautious approach during medal ceremonies, maintaining distance from Russian and Belarusian ..."    Sports in the Seine "The Seine may offer majestic views above the water, but underneath it, the waterway is filled with all sorts of garbage. It's filled with bacteria and grime that makes it unsafe most of the time for potential water lovers to go swimming in it."  - from an article explaining just how dirty the Seine is  Cheating, cheating, cheating  There has historically been cheating of some kind.  So it is no surprise there's already cheating, but we are surprised it is the Canadian Women's Soccer team with a drone. Who would guess this?  Usually it is drugs and doping and then cover ups and lies so the medals don't go to the right people.  Or judges voting for their own athletes... well there are so many ways to cheat that Wikipedia has an entry listing all the scandals and controversies from 1908 on.  This doesn't come under the cheating topic above, that the "corruption" of the IOC because of it being an undemocratic body and whose members receive large funding from the IOC itself.   But no more talk of what is not fun about the Olympics.  We'll just stick with the Opening Ceremony and hope it is worthwhile. A fun park is fun.  That's indisputable.  What we need are more fun parks.

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Oct 27 2023 - Fun Food

 

What would make food fun?  Is that something for children?  Like Minion Rice Krispies. What about Easy Homemade Funfetti Cake?   I guess Funfetti is edible confetti as the cake is multi-coloured like confetti.  Looks cute.  I have to scroll down a bit to get to the Pink Pickled Devilled Eggs. Devilled eggs are never left over at a party.  I usually ask a person to bring double.  But would you want to eat pink-tinged devilled eggs and it isn't Easter?  I don't think that's the kind of fun I have in mind. Maybe we adults are not slated for fun food. I think it might be the word "fun".  We are focused on weird things so let's consider that.  It might be that adults think weird is fun. Here's one:  chocolate-covered cheese with black sea salt.  Here's the scoop:  "Every time I make these for guests or for a cooking demo about real food made simply, people rave about them. They're surprising as an addition to an appetizer table—or even served after dinner paired with a nice cabernet or port. —Dorothy McNett, Pacific Grove, California" And the next one: Fries dipped in honey: "This weird food combination does taste good, and it’s a great way to balance a salty snack with a healthy dip. Honey is extremely good for you, so why not take those fast-food fries and dip them in some local honey to see what you think about this weird food combination that actually tastes good." This turns into American fast food and processed food stories.  Put peanut butter with burgers, or with mayonnaise, or with bacon ... And then put Coca Cola in milk.   There's an AI app called Plant Jammer - it finds recipes based on whatever food you input, or have lying around, according to the article's author who had three tomatoes, a sweet potato and asparagus.  It searches three million recipes to find often-paired items. It then consults a library of ingredients that the company has hired professional chefs to group by flavour - salt, umami, sour, oil, crunch, soft, sweet, bitter, spicy, fresh and aroma. I don't need AI to figure out a recipe for our author's ingredients.  They actually go together well. At the same time, maybe there will be an AI food app for adults having some fun with food.

I just loved that Red Velvet birthday cake at Pearl Morissette - made with beets, no chocolate.  It was delicious and a fun surprise.  Fun food for adults! Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Nov 8 2020 - Advice on Having Fun

 

It looks like Christmas Day is around the corner - which corner we're not sure, but we can see the destination ahead.  So it is time to turn our attention to Having Fun on Christmas Day.  We may need some assistance on this given the social discourse of the last 6 or more months.  Who should we turn to for advice?  Would it be Cosmopolitan Magazine or Psychology Today?  I don't think we should count on Psychology Today - the article tells us all the reasons that we don't have fun.  For example, worried what other people think, need to spend money, don't have the time, need to plan it, and so on.   Would you like to know how fun you are?  Go to GOTOQUIZ  to find out.  I ended up skipping through it as it wasn't that much fun as a quiz.  But it was enough to let me know that the state of social discourse is seriously lacking in fun these days. I guess we'll try onelifecritic.worpress.com -  here's the advice: "You know by your heart. When your heart beats like dinosaur footstep, you are having fun and making memory. For example, when you sneak into some forbidden place, your heart beats. When you plan on a prank on someone, you know you’re having fun. When you are on an adventure, you are making memories. ... Real fun is supposed to be exciting, finding new things, experiencing things you have never done." And the funny ending of my search is the last retrieval on how to have fun.  It is 7 signs you're having a heart attack.  I wonder how that is linked with having or not having fun.   We've got some motion blur on the Weeping Willow at Charles Daly Park lagoon - the blue in the picture is water and reflections   This was taken a few years ago.  We didn't get good colour on the tree the last few years because of severe cold in November.  The temperatures were so low the leaves froze, turned a dark brown and fell off.  Let's hope we're on a better path for pictures this year.

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Fun in 2016

Have there always been this many lists?  Since the internet we can find out so many things with a search, organized nicely into the top 5 and top 10. 5 things to look out for from the Weather Network 1. The South Will Be Cooler Than Average, The North Warmer 2. The South Will Be Wetter Than Average 3. El Nino Isn't the Only Player 4. California Could See Some Minor Drought Relief 5. We Don't Know When or Where It Could Get Ugly What kinds of Fun can we expect in 2016? We can expect the Mazda CX-3 to be stylish, efficient and fun, or the 2016 Mazda MX-5 to be plain, simple fun.  The most striking thing is that cars dominant the "fun" results. If you are looking for FUN:  Did you know that the acronym FUN stands for Florida United Numismatists?  We can go to the FUN show the first week of January. Here are two images for 2015 as it passes and 2016 as it arrives - A Time for Peace and Bird of Hope.

Getting Set for Valentine's Day

It's a few weeks away, so I've been thinking about Valentine's Day.  I was at Donlands and Danforth last week, and saw some wonderful red paint on a white wall.  It might have been graffiti or messy workers, I'm not sure.  As soon as I saw it, I intuitively  recognized a shape.  When I got it into Lightroom (yes the software is called the opposite of a film darkroom), I was able to bring out what I saw.  It was a half a heart, and I duplicated and manipulated it slightly to bring out an entire heart.  I have named it Heart Wide Open, an Urban Valentine.  


You can buy a card or print at redbubble and a bag (lots of types) at zazzle! 

Christmas Countdown - Have some Christmas Cookies

It wouldn't be Christmas without cookies and treats - it's a festival of food.  Enjoy some Christmas cookies!