May 11 2025 - Mother's Day Legends

 

What do people do for Mother's Day to get in the Guinness Book of Records?   The oldest mother to conceive naturally turns out to be Dawn Brooke, of the U.K. in 1997.  That's a record about giving birth rather than about Mother's Day. And that's where the Guinness Book of Records goes for Mothers.  Here's the weird one: In 2008, when she was 56, Jacelyn Dalenberg agreed to be a surrogate mom for her daughter, Kom Coseno. Jacelyn successfully carried and delivered three healthy granddaughters, who were delivered by C-section at a Cleveland hospital. That makes her the oldest woman to give birth to grandchildren.  And then there's the record for the most number of children - in the 1700s (supposedly and highly unlikely) - the wife of Feodor Vassilyex (she has no first name on record) is claimed to have given birth to 69 children - 16 pairs of twins, 7 sets of triplets, and 4 sets of quadruplets.   But that's all about giving birth.   Are there strange celebrations? Yes, in Peru, they visit their mothers who have past at the cemeteries. In Australia, they give "mums" to mums (chrysanthemums). Mexico's Mother's Day starts with Las Manzanitas serenade.  In Nepal, they visit Mata Tirtha Pond - which is dedicated to showing love and respect to mothers, living and deceased.  Ethiopia has a three-day celebration for Mother's Day. Thailand combines its celebration of their queen with Mother's Day.  In Japan it is red carnations that are traditional on Mother's Day.  Aren't these all sort of sweet, but tame?  Compare that to Chicago breaking the record for the biggest game of catch on Father's Day with 2,000 people participating.

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Dec 8 2024 - The Colour of the Year

 

It is the end of the year and the light grows low.  What better way to lift our heads than the colour of the year announcement.   And this year its name is a rich sounding Christmas dessert - Mocha Mousse.  That's Pantone's colour of the year. As its name suggests, "Mocha Mousse is a markedly warm, rich, chocolate-y hue that immediately calls to mind certain creature comforts, such as coffee and chocolate."  Descriptions ooze yummy:  "Underpinned by our desire for every day pleasures, PANTONE 17-1230 Mocha Mousse expresses a level of thoughtful indulgence. Sophisticated and lush, yet at the same time an unpretentious classic, PANTONE 17-1230 Mocha Mousse extends our perceptions of the browns from being humble and grounded to embrace aspirational and luxe."  It's highlight description:   - thoughtful indulgence - harmonious comfort - feelings of contentment  The colour palettes are then presented - they are 1. uniquely balanced, 2. floral pathways, 3. deliciousness, 4. subtle contrasts, 5. relaxed elegance.  I would have loved this job - writing these slurpy descriptions - so much fun.  Look at the colour palettes HERE.

Competition abounds in America.  There's a lot at state in having people follow your colour. Here's Benjamin Moore's  Cinnamon Slate - "A delicate mix of heathered plum and velvety brown, this nuanced colour brings a smooth familiarity to any design."  No big talk of food with Benjamin Moore.   Could they have been spying on each other or colluding? These are so similar - seem inches away in tone.  However, using them together would be a visually clash and definitely bad vibes.    So the colour of the year is supposed to predict the mood of the year.  Seems a little late in terms of prediction - all the fashion trends for Spring 2025 are already out the door. And what is the reaction?  This from the CBC article: "Not poopie brown," wrote one Instagram user in the comments section of Pantone's post announcing Mocha Mousse. "Looks like S," commented another. Another person simply uploaded a gif that said "poop." Here we are with a fundamental question: parfait dish or a toilet bowl?  Who would have guessed half full and half empty could go so far south? Looks like this holiday watercolour project is on target for the colour of the year.

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Dec 24 2023 - Seeking Christmas Quaint

 

All the cute villages presented at Christmas time are typically in Europe.  So while we have great access to all kinds of information, sometimes it is irritating to see how much more beautiful it is there.   Where could we go to experience such quaintness?  I suggest it is quaintness as that seems to be what our eye is looking for at Christmas - pretty, charming, old world... Are there quaint and charming towns in Ontario?  Number 1 is Niagara-on-the-Lake.  That's almost next door to us in Grimsby and a very familiar town.  And the drive along the River Road, through Niagara-on-the-Lake and along Lakeshore Road - that  is one of the great drives in North America.  A double score. Another cute town?  Paris! We drove through Paris yesterday and I commented on how cute it is.  And it is on the River whose name is Nith, which I find entertaining.  That's a Scottish name with the meaning enmity, spite, hate towards another person.  They could say on their sign:  "Welcome to one of Ontario's prettiest towns on a river of spite". And what about St. Jacobs.  We were there a few weeks ago, and my comment? Look at the heritage houses along their main street that haven't been disfigured with ugly add-on store fronts and huge display signs. I bet there are some pictures of Niagara Christmas in Niagara-on-the-Lake that rival the alps and snow-capped trees in town squares. Here's a great example.   Note to self: go take some pictures when it snows of our own prettiest Christmas town in Canada.

Another past Christmas card.  This one is one of Floyd Elzinga's beautiful metal artworks with the addition of little stars created with one of Topaz's plugins.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Dec 24 2020 - Yule Logs

 

I don't remember covering the tradition of the Yule Log.  About 6 years ago, I put together a garden presentation on Christmas - Christmas trees, Poinsettias, Christmas displays such as Longwood with their trees made of succulents and herbs, and their lights making stars in the sky.  There are botanical displays at Niagara Falls Greenhouse, Toronto's Centennial Greenhouses and Allan Gardens - they all have topiary Christmas displays.   But I hadn't considered the Yule Log to be a garden topic.  The traditional log is meant to come from the forest - cut down a sizeable oak trunk/log so that it burns for so many days preceding Christmas. Another version has a portion of the log being burnt each evening up till Christmas (more practical). Considered a Germanic pagan tradition,  it is an emblem of divine light and is meant to absorb all the bad and negative things so that when it is burned, they are dissolved.  In some cultures, there is a tradition of dragging the Yule Log from house to house and absorbing the whole town's negativity.   It has somehow evolved into a French cake - Buche de Noel.  Cut one end of the log off and place it on top of the cake, along with other adornments - sleighs, trees, and so on.  Maybe make a chocolate pine cone or little marzipan mushrooms.  Given the ganache and buttercream fillings, it makes me think of this Christmas thought:   When what to my wondering eyes should appear... but ten extra pounds on hips, thighs and rear. And here's a cartoon I found that combines the Yule log and the Christmas letter.   This is one of my favourite holiday cards - Floyd Elzinga work with some stars added.  His tree trunks definitely would make great Yule Logs. Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Jan 1 2020 - New Day Ahead

All the world's clocks have turned to the new year.  This is the day we greet everyone with special greetings and wishes for a good life in the year ahead. Then we return to our regular daily greetings.  Here are some creative daily greetings I found on a blog, along with the blog's explanations.  Yo! This funny greeting came from 90s hip-hop culture. Today, it is commonly used in America. Are you OK? / Alright mate? It is a British slang version of “Hello. How are you?” If your friend asks you one of these questions, respond “Yeah, fine”. Howdy! This weird greeting is an abbreviation of “How do you do?” widely used in some regions of Canada and America. Sup? / Whazzup? All teenagers know that this greeting is a short version of “What’s up?” When we look ahead to what to expect from 2020, what comes to mind on a leap year is the Olympics.  The Summer Olympics begin on Friday July 24 and complete on Sunday, August 9 in Tokyo. The last time Tokyo had the Olympics was 1964.  What are our pictures today?  We visited the Butterfly Conservatory in Niagara Falls yesterday, and found this new sculpture installation.  Metal walls with multi-colour leds shining on them, making rainbow lines.  It is titled Niagara Strait and is by artist Gordon Reeve.  The oak leaf is sitting on lights in the snow.

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Dec 31 - New Year in Graphs & Maps

Here we are at the end of a decade, a year and a day.  The New Year has come to Samoa and Christmas Island at 5:00am our time.  I go to timeanddate.com to find out time things.  I can see them in various ways. The Multi Time Zone Countdown and the Time Zone Map are my favourites.  The world is laid out flat with UTC in the middle and the time zones are vertically colour coded - and red dots are places - so many in the middle of the oceans. What intrigues me is that at the left side of the map is an overlap of starts - Samoa is in the New Year, but next door is American Samoa and it is 1 day, plus 17 minutes away from the New Year. There's an answer to this in Wikipedia. The nation of Samoa observed the same time as the Samoa Time Zone until it moved across the International Date Line at the end of 29 December 2011; it is now 24 hours (25 hours in southern hemisphere summer) ahead of American Samoa. Do you remember when we crossed the millennium?  There was great discussion on when the 21st century started - it started with 2001. It took the attention away from the triple start. No worries this time as we are only crossing a decade and they begin with the 0th year.  So we're on a double celebration with both the decade and  year.  How will it be marked? What will the new decade be called?  Do you know there's no agreement on what the name is for the last 10 years?  It is expected that the twenty-tens will be used for it. Will we be the twenty-twenties?  Sounds good to me. Our pictures today are created using theIndia Ink filter by Flaming Pear.   But I find out that the Tom Stoppard quote is not quite correct - too many variations on the internet.  It should be:   "Look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else." ~Tom Stoppard Rosencrantz and Gildenstern Are dead

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What About Worst Practices?

Why should we focus on worst practices?  An article by Umair Hague says to start with the worst practices and take tiny steps or giant leaps towards bettering them.  He's talking to executives when he says these 4 steps will illuminate how bad things are: 1. ask your critics 2. spend a day in the trenches 3. examine your past 4. diet on your own dogfood Good advice for all of us except the dogfood thing.  Dezi would not be happy about sharing her 'dog's breakfast'. What about Timethoughts.com - this is a site full of ideas for personal and career success - its name is focused on time management  - I would call that efficiency and effectiveness - I wonder how much it addresses the quality side - heart and soul.  Let's head to Huffingtonpost.com - it gets down to specifics and has 10 bad habits you must eliminate from your daily routine - this comes from Dr. Travis Bradberry who wrote the Emotional Intelligence book: 1. using your phone, tablet, computer in bed 2. impulsively surfing the internet 3. checking your phone during a conversation 4. using multiple notifications 5. saying yes when you should say no 6. thinking about toxic people 7. multitasking during meetings 8. gossiping 9. waiting to act until you know you'll succeed 10. comparing yourself to other people. The # 9 item is procrastination.  This is the single most popular worst practice in the search on images.  Lots and lots of images about procrastination.   So let's ask the wise ones about this - there are words on procrastination from most of them: “In delay there lies no plenty.” – William Shakespeare “How soon not now, becomes never.” – Martin Luther “My advice is to never do tomorrow what you can do today.  Procrastination is the thief of time.”- Charles Dickens You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” – Abraham Lincoln Our picture today expresses this theme.

Where are November Jokes?

I haven't found any jokes about the month of November but there are lots about the seasons, and Autumn has its own share: What do you give to a pumpkin who is trying to quit smoking? A pumpkin patch! How do leaves get from place to place? With autumn-mobiles. How does an Elephant get out of a tree? Sits on a leaf and waits till Autumn! What will fall on the lawn first? An autumn leaf or a Christmas catalogue? What do you call a tree that doubts autumn? Disbe-leaf. What is a tree's least favorite month? Sep-timber!  Our pictures today have some happy thoughts and greetings for the day as we adjust to Eastern Standard Time.

How Many Christmas Greetings?

How many "Christmas Greetings" are there?  A lot of Christmases have occurred for us to create many ways of expressing the "Season."  I found an extensive list at scrappyhug.com. We're looking at the sayings from A to C: A Season with a Precious Reason A Special Gift  A Visit with Santa  A-Caroling We Go  All Hearts Come Home for Christmas  All I want for Christmas  All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth  All Through the House  Be Naughty, Save Santa a Trip  Believe in the magic of Christmas  Berry Kissmas (with holly)  Candy Cane Kid(s) or Kandy Kane  Candy Cane Kid(s) or Kandy Kane Kids  Celebrate  Christmas Blessings  Christmas cookies and Holiday hearts?That's the way the holiday starts  Christmas Glows with Love  Christmas is a Clause for Celebration  Christmas is family near, words of good cheer, memories dear. Christmas is in the Air  Christmas is Sharing and Caring  Christmas Joy  Christmas Makes Memories  Christmas Memories  Christmas Shimmer  Christmas Time  Christmas Time is Family Time  Come & see the Christmas Tree!  Country Christmas  We have two greeting cards today - the second one is more of a weather wish.   There are freezing rain warnings for Grimsby today and the satellite storm tracking is red then green then red then green - snow then rain then snow then rain.