Nov 15 2024 - Notre Dame Reopens

 

It is true - Notre Dame reopens on December 8th 2024.  No pictures so far - I guess it will be the great reveal.  There are lots of pictures online of various stages   There's the rooster back on top - it is said to be protecting a piece of Jesus Christ's crown of thorns.     It was under $1 billion US and 5 years to restore.   There's the picture of the rooster on top of the cathedral spire.  That went on in March after the cathedral's new spire was revealed in February. Is the crown of thorns with the rooster or somewhere in the cathedral?  I think in the cathedral. But there seem to be more pieces in other places - for example, it is listed as being in the Louvre. The pictures look like the whole crown of thorns is at Notre Dame...  too hard for us Lutherans to figure out. When we visited, I wasn't attuned to the purported sacred relics - crown of thorns, a piece of the cross and the Tunic of Saint Louis.   My background is German. Germans in Niagara are Mennonite or Lutheran, on average.  The Lutheran Church's focus was reading and studying the Bible. That would be because Luther was the one who defiantly translated the Bible from Latin into German so people (compared to priests) could read it and find out the messages for themselves.  The Catholic Church was corrupt at the time, and people found out that they didn't have to buy their way into Heaven with indulgences.   Without those indulgences would we have the grand legacy of the Catholic grand cathedrals.  I can't imagine how many beautiful catholic cathedrals there might be.  In France alone, they seem to be in every village, town and city.   Without any doubt, we will be celebrating the restoration of this 861-year-old masterpiece on December 8th.  Only five years to restore it compared to almost 200 years to build it.   How will it be reopened?  "After Macron’s speech, the Archbishop of Paris, Monsignor Laurent Ulrich, will officiate the reopening by knocking on the cathedral’s main door with his staff. In a symbolic gesture, he will “wake up” the cathedral’s grand organ, which will be accompanied by a musical performance, including a rendition of Bach’s Magnificat and a Te Deum." Brace for 20 million people a year to visit it.  That's astonishing!

This is the conservatory at the University of Guelph.  I found this in the archives, and used the generative AI to block out the building behind it to create this pleasant setting.  And then used the watercolour filter to create this nostalgic version.

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Help Me Headlines

Why do parrots make such great news?  We just don't expect them to make the headlines with a desperate cry to help.  But wait, today I again saw the "Help Me" headline - so let's see what it's about. CNN recently carried a story of concerned drivers who called police in California after seeing a child hold up a sign with a plea for help - "Help me, she's not my mom!! Help!!"   Poor mother got stopped by police in Sacramento,  who found out it was "a hoax" and "a joke".  The police quote: "This is a reminder that parents need to keep an eagle eye on their children." That was it for children hoax news.  There weren't any other articles like this. What I did find, though, was the "Momo Challenge Hoax" which was covered widely in the press.   The 'Momo Challenge" -  the stories about 'momo' were that she would appear on children's phones unexpectedly and set dangerous challenges to harm themselves.  She's a zombie looking doll figure with bulging black eyes and the body of a chicken. (The original figure has been traced to a Japanese special-effects company Link Factory).   It turns out to have been images that has been found edited into unofficial copies of children's cartoons on YouTube.  Snopes investigated it and identified it as "far more hype or hoax than reality", but warned the images could cause distress to children. Here's the BBC Story on it. On our immediate horizon is the call for a 5 to 10 centimetre snowfall, followed by rain today.  It has dropped from the earlier warning level of 15 cm. In comparison, Newfoundland experienced 51 cm of snow yesterday and today is getting more - up to a total of 75 cm is expected. This will include gusts of wind as high as 120 km per hour.  They are in a state of emergency. So to bring things around to calmness, I found a wonderful image of Notre Dame Cathedral that I'd taken 15 years ago - of course with a new sky.

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Bees at Notre Dame

Amongst the daily headlines is this one about Notre Dame:  180,000 bees were living on top of Notre Dame when the fire broke out - and they survived.  They have a beekeeper, so this isn't a surprise hive.  In fact, there were 3 beehives, and they are still intact.  The beekeeper is Nicolas Geant.  They were found to gathered together in the crevice of a gargoyle sculpture. How did they survive?  CO2 makes them drunk, and puts them to sleep.  You can imagine that the wax in the hives might melt with the intense heat from the flames.  Do you know that bees don't have lungs?  So there would be no possibility of dying from smoke inhalation.  Nicolas feels that it is a miracle. The hives have been there since 2013, an initiative to boost declining bee numbers in Paris.  This sculpture at the National Art Gallery seemed like an engineering feat to me.  How quickly the landscape has turned to spring.  Here's the upcoming meet and greet this Sunday in Hamilton on Dundurn St. S.

Burning Down

World heritage site, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris has "burned down" and the iconic spire collapsed.  It is considered the finest example of French Gothic architecture in Europe.  There are incredible pictures of the spire collapsing.  The roof was oak wood from the 13th century.  The structure was known as "the forest" because it required a forest of trees to build it. Pictures of it are here on the cathedral website. Important artifacts like the Crown of Thorns and the Tunic of Saint Louis  were saved.  Other artifacts referenced include a fragment of the "true cross" and one of the nails used by Romans to crucify Christ. French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault has pledged 100 million euros towards the reconstruction.  Another article says France's richest man Bernard Arnault pledged 200 million euros.  and a third article says  $339 million has been pledged.  I expect this is only a portion of what it will take to bring back to use. Experts claim it will take 20 years of work effort.    So our worst-case scenario is to have planned a European cathedral trip of a lifetime and today is the day you visit Notre Dame.  You might be one of the estimated 13 million visitors a year who are going to be disappointed. "We will now visit ten of the best churches and cathedrals in Europe. Notre Dame, Paris. The Duomo, Florence. The Duomo, Milan. León Cathedral, León. Saint Basil's Cathedral, Moscow. Cologne Cathedral, Cologne. Saint Peter's Basilica, Vatican City. Saint Mary's Basilica, Krakow."   Today we look at the ceiling of the National Art Gallery.

Little White Mushrooms and the Fighting Irish

The Fighting Irish

What does a University have to do with these mushrooms?  Surprisingly, these mushrooms were growing in the mulch across the street from the campus when we were on our way to Kansas City in September.

The University's name comes from Notre Dame du Lac - Our Lady of the Lake and refers to the patron saint, the Virgin Mary. What was the journey from its beginnings as an all-male Catholic institution founded in 1842 to being known for its sports?  All its teams are known as the Fighting Irish.  The connection in the Wikipedia article was that analysts say the University promotes Muscular Christianity through its athletic programs. This is a Christian commitment to piety and physical health, a movement that came into vogue during the Victorian era. 

The largest building on campus today is the stadium - over 80,000 seats. Doesn't this indicate the significance of sports to the university. The football team has the renown of being the source of the expression "win for the Gipper".  George Gipp was the school's legendary football player during 1916-20.  His bad bad habits got the better of him.  When he was dying in 1928, the coach inspired the Notre Dame team to beat the Army team and "win for the Gipper".   The 1940 film, Knute Rockne, All American, starred Ronald Reagan as Gipp.

So back to the mushrooms across the street at the 'Mews' - what could this little white conical mushrooms be? So many pictures on google and none seem to be the same.

Notre Dame University - The Biggest Marching Band in Practise

Hi everyone,

We stopped in South Bend, IN on our first day of travelling to Kansas City (well Overland Park, south of Kansas City).  Our hotel was at the entrance to the University.  It's a glorious place with its famous football team. The sports stadium is the biggest structure on the campus, and everywhere it's 'Those Fighting Irish'.  I could hear fabulous music coming from the campus and knew this was special.  It was the marching band practise.  There must have been at least 500 musicians all in sections/rows numbered and organized.  There were 3 conductors on ladders and a loudspeaker system.  The sound was fantastic and the music was wonderful.  I didn't include the picture of the official coming towards me to ask my affiliation.  'Amateur photographer' was my reply.  'With any newspapers?' was the quick comeback.  I can imagine the level of coverage this band gets.