Sep 27 2022 - Troipcal Storms

 

Storms are all around us - and all around the world.  They demand our attention and action.  Based on a 30-year climate period from 1991 to 2020, an average eastern Pacific hurricane season has 15 named storms, 8 hurricanes, and 4 major hurricanes.  An average of ten tropical storms develop over the Atlantic Ocean, Carribean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico each year. Many of these remain over the ocean. Six of these storms become hurricanes each year.  "Since the year 957, there have been at least 12,791 recorded tropical or subtropical cyclones in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, which are known as basins."  I haven't found any information about that typhoon in 957 which is listed to have killed 10,000 people.  I have found that the early recorders of typhoons were the Chinese: As early as the fifth century AD, the typhoon had been recognized by the people of southern China as a distinct meteorological phenomenon. A specific term, ju or jufeng, was accordingly coined, with rather accurate specifications given to it. A typhoon that struck the coastal city of Mizhou in Shandong Province of northern China in AD 816 is the earliest recorded tropical cyclone landfall in China, and perhaps also in the world. The typhoon as a weather phenomenon was frequently mentioned, described, and discussed in many works, including history books, poems and government documents, in the ninth century AD. What's the biggest storm that we know of?  It is the Great Red Spot on Jupiter.  It is a persistent high-pressure region in the atmosphere of Jupiter, producing an anticyclonic storm that is the largest in the Solar System. Located 22 degrees south of Jupiter’s equator, it produces wind-speeds up to 432 km/h (268 mph). Observations from 1665 to 1713 are believed to be of the same storm; if this is correct, it has existed for at least 356 years.

Here's a montage landscape image turned into an interpretation of a tropical storm.  Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

July 11 2021 - Does a singer vocalize?

 

Which would you rather be?  A vocalist or a singer?  The definition of a vocalist is "a singer, typically one who regularly performs with a jazz or pop group?  And the definition of singer?  it is "a person who sings, especially professionally."  Not much thought in these definitions, coming from established dictionaries. I can't see people around the editorial table arguing the nuances here.  I think they went for coffee instead. Add to that there is such poor internet coverage: There are many people's opinions attempting to distinguish things.   Often it is best to move on. I did wonder if that is  how the Singer Sewing Machine got its name?  Because of the whirring song of the stitching? No - it got its name from Isaac Merritt Singer.  In 1891 it launched its first musical advertising campaign: “The sun never sets on a Singer sewing machine at work!”  Singer became one of the companies which used "jingle" in their marketing activities for the first time. The song “MERRY SINGER”, composed dedicatedly for Singer, made great contributions to reputation of Singer. The surprise hit of the day, though, is finding singing and sewing jokes: What's the difference between a puppy and a singer-songwriter? Eventually the puppy stops whining. Did you hear about the opera singer who threw the game-opening baseball? They say he had perfect pitch. Captain Jean-Luc Picard needed to mend his torn uniform, but his old Singer was broken. So he took it down to the repair shop...and said, "make it sew." I write songs about sewing machines I'm a Singer Songwriter I come from a very musical family Even the sewing machine's a singer I thought this was such a beautiful wall at Pearl Morrissette in the dining room.  And then the heart shape of the New Zealand hill picture makes it seem like the world is a happy place.

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

Feb 7 2021 - Buy it in potato chips

 

That's the answer for how to turn copy the green or blue that we call Verdigris.  The advice is: Soaking copper in white vinegar and salt will create a blue or green patina. Other ways of doing this are to bury the copper in sawdust or crushed potato chips soaked in white vinegar. The longer the copper is buried, the darker the patina becomes. Should we bury it in vinegar potato chips then?  Is that what the true value of vinegar potato chips is? This brings up the topic of the newly introduced Kraft Dinner.  What will be its true value in a few years... Can you imagine anything like this?  No I can't - I had to look it up to know it was real.  That is, really developed and really exists. Kraft Dinner has announced a new hue to their traditional mac and cheese, an iconic pink, just in time for Valentine’s Day.The limited edition pink pasta will also come with a unique candy-taste, according to a release from Kraft Heinz, the creators of the concoction. “Made with the iconic cheesy taste Canadians know and love, exclusive pink Candy KD features hints of sweet, sweet candy,” says the press release. How has the colour been achieved? Are you ready?  Beet and carrot.   What was last year's special introduction?  Pumpkin Spice Mac and Cheese was introduced in September 2020.  That one fell flat.  But no worries, Kraft has given rise to many funny jokes:    Mom cooked up some mac and cheese and calls the kids," Come get your macaroni and cheese." To which my sister replies," I said I wanted mac and cheese, NO Caroni!" My son sent me a recording of a song he wrote. I gave him a suggestion to improve it but he didn't like it. He said it was "cheesy" So I said, "Maybe if you worked on your Kraft a little harder you might get a single." I was in the supermarket when I got a message on my phone telling me there were 24 singles in my area I think I'm going to delete the Kraft Cheese app Here's my personal favourite submitted on National Cheese Day: "Sweet dreams are made of cheese, who am I do dis a brie? I cheddar the world and a Feta cheese. Everybody's looking for Stilton." Our picture today is abstracted from one of the pear orchards where there are poles training the trees. Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Jan 5 2021 - The Day the U.S. Stood Still

 

Today is an historic day in the U.S., whichever way the Georgia Run-offs go - there is deep dread and there is great hope side by side. Our headline phrase echoes this sentiment. The Day the Earth Stood Still is a landmark 1951 movie. I remember that we kids saw it on television.  In fact, we saw a lot of movies on television in the 1950s. They were daytime filler during the summer months.  We thought it was pretty exciting for little kids.   This is an echo from the past to today's situation in the U.S. "When a flying saucer lands in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Army quickly surrounds it. A humanoid emerges and announces that he comes "in peace and with good will". When he unexpectedly opens a small device, he is shot and wounded by a nervous soldier. A tall robot emerges from the saucer and quickly disintegrates the Army's weapons. The alien orders the robot, Gort, to desist. He explains that the now-broken device was a gift for the President of the United States that would have enabled him "to study life on the other planets". Read more of the  plot HERE.  There is a section on the Metaphors that describes the comparison of Klaatu with Jesus Christ. The conclusion of the story: "Klaatu addresses Barnhardt's assembled scientists: an interplanetary organization has created a police force of invincible robots like Gort. "In matters of aggression, we have given them absolute power over us." Klaatu concludes, "Your choice is simple: join us and live in peace, or pursue your present course and face obliteration. We shall be waiting for your answer." Klaatu and Gort depart in the saucer." The famous phrase in the movie that has been analyzed by countless people, including an "alien linguistics editor" is "Klaatu Barada Nikto".  It was created by the Screen play author Edmund North rather than the original story author.  His own direct translation describes where things are today:  "There's hope for Earth, if the scientists can be reached" So our pictures today reflect the dread vs hope theme of the future that awaits the U.S. along with the rest of us watching from the sidelines.   Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Aug 30 2020 - The End of August is No Joke

 

The End of August.  This is a time of year.  Pivotal.  Summer's end, Autumn's beginning. Google doesn't retrieve very much: There's one song by Yanni.  There are no companies named End of August, no movies, no video games, no websites named endofaugust.com.  No restaurants or clothing companies.  Not enough ads for Google on this topic. With all the COVID related end of August announcements, it is hard to have any of these bittersweet ideas: back-to-school isn't the same this year as any time in the past.  Autumn in the past is full of new things - new schedules, schools, hobbies, social groups - all kinds of things 'start up' in September.     We're waiting to see if we can go into a building with more than 10 people.  I started exercising at the Y last week, and it will be outdoors for the near-term.     August turns out to be a great month for jokes. I went into the ocean of jokes on the Internet. Q: On the first day of school, what did the teacher say her three favorite words were? A: June, July & August. The doctor has given me two months to live. I've chosen August and December, because I like summer but don't want to miss Christmas. I celebrate Halloween in August.  When you show up at someone's door at night in August with a mask on, you get better stuff. A guy had an abusive girlfriend named Lorraine. Lorraine didn't know her boyfriend was cheating on her with a lovely girl named Clearly. In August Lorraine died. At the funeral, People wondered why the guy wasn't sad, and why he was so happy.  When they asked him why he was so happy at the funeral he sang..." I can see Clearly now, Lorraine is gone !" For Justin Bieber haters, please respect him as I owe him my life. Last year in August, I had been in a coma for 6 months. Then one day my nurse turned on the radio and his songs were playing. So i woke up and turned it off. Paddy had long heard the stories of an amazing family tradition. It seems that his father, grandfather and great-grandfather had all been able to walk on water on their 18th birthday.  On that special day, they'd each walked across the lake to the pub on the far side for their first legal drink.  So when Paddy's, 18th birthday came around, he and his pal Mick, took a boat out to the middle of the lake, Paddy, stepped out of the boat ... and nearly drowned!  Mick just barely managed to pull him back into the boat and safety.  Furious and confused, Paddy, went to see his grandmother.  'Grandma,' he asked, "Tis me 18th birthday, so why can't I walk 'cross the lake like me farder, his farder, and his farder before him?"  Granny looked deeply into Paddy's, troubled brown eyes and said, "Because ye farder, ye grandfarder and ye great-grandfarder were all born in January, when the lake is frozen, and ye were born in August, ya bloody idiot!" Swoosh to the end of August!

Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com

Super Blue Blood Moon

Isn't it a Super Blue Blood Moon solar eclipse this month?  What a headline - go to space.com and it shows an animation of the moon's path through the shadow of the earth.  It gives all the information on how to see it. Here's the definition: "A Blue Moon is when two full moons happen in the same calendar month; lunar eclipses occur when the moon passes into Earth's shadow; and supermoons happen when the moon's perigee — its closest approach to Earth in a single orbit — coincides with a full moon. In this case, the supermoon also happens to be the day of the lunar eclipse". The best places to see the "Super Blue Blood Moon" are Alaska, the Hawaiian islands and the western part of North America.  It will take place in the early morning of January 31st between 4:51 and 6:08 PST.   In parts of the world the eclipse will happen at Moon Rise and for others at Moon Set.  For us in the east it will begin at 5:51am and at 6:48am the darker part of the Earth's shadow will begin to "blanket" the moon and create the blood-red tint.  The instructions are to get to a high place and make sure you have a clear line of sight to the horizon in the west-northwest.  Opposite from where the sun will rise. Today we're looking at some motion blur pictures, taken on our drive down to Longwood.

To Capture Speed

Each Florida day has begun by taking pictures of the rising sun.  Today the sun is behind a veil of grey that is so uniform the camera struggles to focus.  Mist has been floating in and out of the shore and the inland clouds look like they will bring rain.  And then in 10 minutes, everything changes.  The sun rises above the cloud bank on the horizon and a glorious sky emerges.  The ocean and sky are still merged and without a clear distinction.  Because the sun has risen high enough, there isn't the orange or red colours.  What occurs instead is an ocean and sky that look like grey pearl. The camera sees more colour than I do:  As the sun rises into a cloud, there will be oranges in the image which I barely see.  And then the sun is up, and the sunrise picture-taking is completed.   Today's images were taken on the trip down to Florida.  These are motion blur pictures - where the car's speed is faster than the camera's shutter speed to give that wonderful sense of movement.

More Urban Extractions…on a Japanese Theme

Here are some dumpster finds - all with a Japanese sensibility.  It is interesting to find such lines on the small corners and labels.

Autumn Breezes

At Royal Botanical Gardens this week, a wonderful landscape of wheat grasses and a gorgeous red tree all swaying to the Autumn Breeze.

More Lake Ontario

Well, there are so many possible views of the Lake.  It's just getting out to them.  Here's a view of the Toronto skyline from Humber Bay.  You can see that the view is less spectacular than the grasses and the shrubs.  It's been cloudy off and on, so we haven't had those blue skies of a few weeks ago.

I was in Port Credit on the weekend, and pointed my camera at a stream that was in a park on the lake.  It was the pretty view of the day.

Longwood Gardens Visit

I went to Longwood Gardens near Philadelphia, PA on the weekend.  We stayed with friends in Reading, PA about an hour away.  With the head, there was a mist each morning, so I had a chance to take some photos of the lovely picket fences and house lines in Roger and Irene's neighbourhood.   

At the Longwood entrance are some beautiful flower gardens - this year there was a bed of verbena bonariensis.  The butterflies were constant on the bed, so gave me the opportunity to get a few butterfly shots as well.

The big attraction this time of year is the water lily courtyard.  There are hundreds of flowers and likely a hundred varieties of water lily, plus all kinds of water garden plants.  I'm posting a sampling of the water lilies on display.

More to come...

TBG Garden Tour June 25th

I can report that the June 25th TBG fundraiser garden tour was outstanding. It was hosted by Frank Kershaw and sponsored by the Toronto Botanical Gardens.  My friend, Sue and I got on the big bus and were happily transported from garden to garden.  Frank had hand-chosen the gardens for variety and breadth of landscape design, plantings, plantsmanship and general style.  There were private gardens that have not been accessible to the public or part of other garden events.  There was so much to take in that day.  One of the highlights was the one-of-a-kind collection at the end.  A marvel of knowledge and skill!  

We started in the west end of Toronto in my neighbourhood and made our way through towards the Old Mill, where we had lunch.  The afternoon was spent in the central/east part of the city, with a return top TBG at the end of the day.  TBG's gardens are a delight to see right now as well.