Jan 22 2022 - Snowflakes vs Raindrops

 

Snowflakes vs raindrops. Snow is gusting past our front garden in little clouds.  Rain doesn't do that very often.  It makes me think how light snow is compared to rain.  I found a wonderful article Raindrops and Snowflakes by Dr. Orville Boyd Jenkins - these are excerpts: "The observed behaviour of rain as it falls fits the event referred to by the common verb "fall."  Rather than rain drops "dropping," we actually say rain falls.  Since the "drops" are discrete bits of falling water, we call them rain drops, but we still say the rain falls.  "Raindrops keep falling on my head."  We don't say raindrops are dropping on my head. Likewise, I believe you'll hear the same usage for frozen bits like sleet or freezing rain (which is a mix of frozen and unfrozen bits of H2O).  As the snow "falls" it is a fluffy, irregularly shaped particle.  The noun "drop" applies only to liquids. Thus the action pictured by "dropping" is not appropriate for snow.  The infinitely variable shape is referred to as a flake, due to the generally flat shape and individuality of the particles.  Like a "flake" of something sliced off the larger part, like a flake of soap. Upon arrival, each snowflake just nestles in among its mates, while waiting the arrival of more falling flakes.  The snowflake, likewise, is caught by drafts of air, and thus gravity acts differently than upon a solid compact bit of water or frozen water.  Think of a snowflake as a wind surfer that gradually comes to ground to rest. We don't say rain drops from the sky, but it falls. Note also that in the same way we do not say snow flakes from the sky, but the snow also falls. Thus the nouns for the physical form of the water in these cases, is not the same word as for the verb used in the action." from Raindrops and Snowflakes by Dr. Orville Boyd Jenkins I went in search of some funny snowflake jokes, and instead found many insulting political American jokes in which snowflake is a derogatory metaphor for a liberal.  They are easily distinguished by their hatefulness.      I find that GQ.com gives us the recent origin of this - a derisive term used in the movie Fight Club (You are not special.  You are not beautiful and unique snowflakes...).  The article indicates that the actual origins are the 1860s as a person who was opposed to the abolition of slavery.  Today the meaning has swapped and been taken on by the far right:  From cartoonist Ben Garrison:  "The special snowflake is a whining millennial who protests instead of getting a “real job” and cries sexism because she’s upset men don’t find her attractive enough. She believed the liberal arts teacher who told her being unique is a good thing. Have I mentioned that she’s unattractive?" And GQ's conclusion:  “snowflake” has become the go-to for enemies on the left. There is not a single political point a liberal can make on the Internet for which “You triggered, snowflake?” cannot be the comeback. It’s purpose is dismissing liberalism as something effeminate, and also infantile, an outgrowth of the lessons you were taught in kindergarten. “Sharing is caring”? Communism. “Feelings are good”? Facts over feelings. “Everyone is special and unique”? Shut up, snowflake. When I first looked through the snowflake jokes, I found one rebuttal joke: Republicans are the true snowflakes...they're white, they're cold, and if you put enough of them together they'll shut down public schools   Here are some birch bark macros I revisited yesterday.

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Traversing the Garden...continues

With so many varieties of hosta in the garden, it is wonderful to see the variations in fall colours.  Here's a golden hillside.

Traversing the Garden

This is the month when the transition from Autumn to Winter occurs in my garden.  The hosta leaves have collapsed with the frost and their delicate and intricate veins make beautiful abstract landscapes.  Here's an example:

Marvelling the Mushroom...continues

Today’s post is an image that continues the Marvelling the Mushroom series.  I think this is a Bearded Tooth mushroom – it comes from the Mushroom Grower at the Etobicoke Farmer’s Market in Toronto.  They are a few inches wide and look like little shaggy brains.     

Dahlias are Autumn's Flower...More in Flowerography

It's not typical to consider dahlias to be an autumn flower.  To me, though, this seems to be the time when they are at their best in the glorious garden of Ralph Suttell of Beamsville Ontario.  He grows competition dahlias, and they have been wonderful over the last 2 weeks.  Grown in a hoop house, they are protected from winds and insects with screening, and during hotter times umbrellas shade the most prize blooms. It's all a perfect setting for a photographer.

Here are a few of Ralph's beauties.  I've named this one 'The Shadow of Your Smile':

This is 'Demure':

This is 'The Yellow Shines Within':

These images are part of the Flowerography Series.  The Flowerography series derives from the Victorian tradition of using flowers and floral arrangements to express emotions that otherwise could not be spoken or were not allowed.  It is known as floriography or the language of flowers.   

The tradition remains today - red roses still imply passionate, romantic love.  Pink roses represent a lesser affection; white roses suggest virtue and chastity and yellow roses still stand for friendship or devotion. Gerbera (daisy) means innocence or purity. The iris, being named for the messenger of the gods in Greek mythology, still represents the sending of a message. A pansy signifies thought, a daffodil regard, and a strand of ivy fidelity.

Fasciation

Fasciation - we've all seen it and wondered what happened to that flower. It's weird and wonderfully interesting.

The University of Saskatchewan's website defines it as: "a widespread phenomena reported in more than 100 vascular plant species. The term refers to a flattened or ribbon-like appearance. Woody plants, annuals and even cacti are affected. In some plants fasciations occur on woody stems; other plants exhibit this condition in the flower stalk, roots, fruit or flower clusters." One plant that we're all familiar with is Celosia where the flowers have inherited fasciation and we can count on their funny shapes in the garden.

I've never seen fasciation in a poppy before. Here's the visual comparison - look at all the petals everywhere in the photo on the bottom compared to the photo on the top with the normal set. These flowers were next to each other.

I'll be hunting for more examples and will report on them - I expect to find some on Sunday in my brother's Lilycrest Gardens field where he has thousands of his own hybridized lilies in bloom.

For now, though, it's the month of July - the month of endless summer days and long, warm summer evenings, so enjoy!