Dec 7 2024 - Do shepherds watch their flocks in winter?

 

Do shepherds watch their flocks by night in the winter - that 's the question of whether Jesus born in winter?  It turns out to be a  difficult question for the historical scholars. Not enough information.   "in about 200 C.E., a Christian teacher in Egypt makes reference to the date Jesus was born. According to Clement of Alexandria, several different days had been proposed by various Christian groups. Surprising as it may seem, Clement doesn’t mention December 25 at all. Clement writes: “There are those who have determined not only the year of our Lord’s birth, but also the day; and they say that it took place in the 28th year of Augustus, and in the 25th day of [the Egyptian month] Pachon [May 20 in our calendar] … And treating of His Passion, with very great accuracy, some say that it took place in the 16th year of Tiberius, on the 25th of Phamenoth [March 21]; and others on the 25th of Pharmuthi [April 21] and others say that on the 19th of Pharmuthi [April 15] the Savior suffered. Further, others say that He was born on the 24th or 25th of Pharmuthi [April 20 or 21].   Given all this, how did December 25 and January 6 become the prime dates? This article HERE describes the  two theories: one extremely popular, the other less often heard outside scholarly circles (though far more ancient) "The most loudly touted theory about the origins of the Christmas date(s) is that it was borrowed from pagan celebrations. The Romans had their mid-winter Saturnalia festival in late December; barbarian peoples of northern and western Europe kept holidays at similar times. To top it off, in 274 C.E., the Roman emperor Aurelian established a feast of the birth of Sol Invictus (the Unconquered Sun), on December 25. Christmas, the argument goes, is really a spin-off from these pagan solar festivals. According to this theory, early Christians deliberately chose these dates to encourage the spread of Christmas and Christianity throughout the Roman world: If Christmas looked like a pagan holiday, more pagans would be open to both the holiday and the God whose birth it celebrated. The other is this:  Around 200 C.E. Tertullian of Carthage reported the calculation that the 14th of Nisan (the day of the crucifixion according to the Gospel of John) in the year Jesus died was equivalent to March 25 in the Roman (solar) calendar March 25 is, of course, nine months before December 25; it was later recognized as the Feast of the Annunciation—the commemoration of Jesus’ conception.10 Thus, Jesus was believed to have been conceived and crucified on the same day of the year. Exactly nine months later, Jesus was born, on December 25 Option A or Option B - which should we choose?

November clouds along the escarpment.

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Nov 30 2024 - Last Day and Then

 

December is the glitter month.   That's where it got to.  Every tree in the Fantasy of Trees has some form of glitter on it.  And making wreaths, I have created an environment where there is always glitter in the house.  It never quite leaves.   Did glitter evolve from sequins?  I wonder.  There are glitter sequins.  But generally sequins are used to decorate clothes and clothing accessories.  Glitter is used in arts and crafts, as we know at Christmas.  It is also used in cosmetics.  Sequins are plastic, and glitter is a combination of aluminium and polyester.  Sequins started as metal coins attached to clothing displaying wealth and status, or to keep the item secured. That's way back.  IThere were sequins in King Tut's tomb, sparking a clothing craze of sequins in the 1920s.   I don't see any sequin dresses in the list of most famous dresses of all time. There are lots of Hollywood movies with famous stars in sequinned dresses - all from the thirties and forties. Think Rita Hayworth, Marilyn Monroe, Joan Crawford, Marlene Dietrich, and the fast forward to the Supremes, Madonna, Lady Gaga and Beyonce.   Glitter can't possibly achieve what sequins have.  There's no "attachment" to fabric so it is relegated to being attached to "stuff".   The European Union gradually eliminates glitter - banned due to microplastic pollution.  Christmas in Europe might return to its traditional fruits, nuts, and berries displays.  Here in North America, it is a "let's monitor to find out how bad it is" approach to microplastics.  A bit of Oops.  I guess we love our glitter trees.    Here's my photographic version of glitter - bokeh.  I created this background at a botanic garden in Florida.  Those chiny Camellia leaves give rise to these reflections.   Below that is the "Let the Blizzard Begin" tree at the Fantasy of Trees. It has real-look snow from Michael's - seems even better than glitter.  Which showcases the ornaments and snowflakes, themselves made of plastics.  Quite a few recycling oops in this tree.

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Nov 3 2023 - Thrice

 

It is the beginning of November.  It is November the 3rd - it can never be November the thrice.  What is that word thrice?  It means three times as much or as many, triply, greatly, highly.  It can never be the Thrice of November.  And that's even if we get  the huge snowstorm that is three times bigger than the great Snowvember storm of 2014.  But that is later in November. So while we still say once and twice, we no longer say thrice.  There are many other things to notice about three. Look at this handy chart in Wikipedia:  Cardinal: three     Ordinal: third     Latinate ordinal: tertiary     Adverbial: three times, thrice     Multiplier: threefold     Latinate multiplier: triple     Distributive: triply     Collective: trio, threesome     Multiuse collective: triplet     Greek or Latinate collective: triad     Greek collective prefix: tri-     Latinate collective prefix: tri-     Fractional: third     Latinate fractional prefix: trient-     Elemental: thrin, triplet     Greek prefix: trito-     Number of musicians: trio, triplet     Number of years: triennium And on to jokes with the number 3.Mostly they are bad jokes or not really jokes.  Here's one that includes the number 3 or maybe the number 3 is the punchline.  Conjecture: All odd numbers are prime. Mathematician's Proof: 3 is prime. 5 is prime. 7 is prime. By induction, all odd numbers are prime. Physicist's Proof: 3 is prime. 5 is prime. 7 is prime. 9 is experimental error. 11 is prime. 13 is prime... Engineer's Proof: 3 is prime. 5 is prime. 7 is prime. 9 is prime. 11 is prime. 13 is prime ... Computer Scientists's Proof: 3 is prime. 3 is prime. 3 is prime. 3 is prime...

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November - the Month of Black Fridays

 

I wonder now about how many days there are to Black Friday?  Is November the month of Black Fridays where every day is a Black Friday sale day?  I have to think this might be causing us to be more depressed in November than in previous years and decades.  It used to be for 24 hours on the day after Thanksgiving,  but it is November 13th today and Michael's tells me they have Black Friday Blow-out deals.   It has turned out that Black Friday is at least a whole week or even two weeks.   Google says it can run all of November and beyond.   Yesterday in the Best Buy store, it had signs to say it is Black Friday Month.  It looks like we've moved on from "can" to "does extend a whole month".  That's how we've gotten to Early Black Friday.  Is there a Late Black Friday - no we have Cyber Monday?  And what beyond that? Can you imagine celebrating a sale day based on two people who caused a market crash:  That's the origin of the name Black Friday?  The term "Black Friday" was first coined in 1869 when two investors, Jay Gould, and Jim Fisk, caused a market crash by driving up the price of gold. As a result, the stock market dropped 20%, foreign trade stopped, and farmers witnessed a huge drop in corn and wheat value.  That's the origins. The other story is that  the day after Thanksgiving is  "Black Friday" because stores would go from operating at a loss or being "in the red," to earning a profit or being "in the black."  That came along in the 1980s, and is the one that stuck.  Black Friday has become Brawl Friday - where shoppers become so excited over these supposed discount prices that they fight and brawl.  The Black Friday jokes mostly involve this activity.  And rightly so as there is a Black Friday death count HERE.   It says 17 deaths and 125 injuries.  That seems to be recorded in the news counting. So expect macabre humour in the jokes section: What do Black Friday shoppers and the Thanksgiving turkey have in common? They know what it’s like to be stuffed and jammed into a small space. Black Friday: Because only in America do people trample others for sales exactly one day after being thankful for what they already have. Every year on Black Friday I make sure I wake up extra early.  To go on the internet to see all the fights. Looks like our picture of the day is about "Old News".  I am likely very slow in catching up to Black Friday Month. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Nov 11 2021 - Poppy Project

 

Wake Up on the Bright Side  The Poppy Project has come to the Niagara peninsula for the second year.  Last year Niagara Falls had over 11,000 stitched  poppies on nets over the exterior and in the interior of the Museum. This year, Niagara-on-the-Lake will celebrate Remembrance Day with the display at their Museum.  It concludes November 12th.  Here's the youtube link to the coverage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vdLfYWe01k   Cambridge Ontario has over 33,000 knit and crocheted poppies on display this year.  You might remember the English projects in 2014 at the Tower of London, which marked the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War.  The massive installation of ceramic poppies was named: Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red.  In 2018, the Tower marked 100 years since the end of WWI with another installation.  That one was an evening illumination.  Here are pictures in this article HERE: A garden portrayal of strength amongst poppies.

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Nov 10 2021 - Rose in November

Roses start blooming 6 to 8 weeks after the leaves first shoot, and stop blooming when the temperature goes to 0 degrees celsius.  With our warm weather this fall, many roses are still blooming here in Niagara.  Here's a question that people are asking: "Q. Even though winter is just around the corner, I’ve been noticing white rose bushes that are covered with medium-sized flowers still blooming freely. The bushes are 2 to 3 feet tall and very bushy. Do you have any idea what variety it might be? A. While there are many white rose varieties, I suspect the one you have been admiring is a floribunda rose variety called Iceberg. This variety was introduced in 1958 and is a favorite landscape plant throughout the country." Iceberg is one of the most widely planted white roses.  Why?  Because it blooms and blooms from summer into late fall. Here in Niagara, we'll have hard frost and then freezing temperatures, and there will be frozen little rose buds on the bushes.  We'll know the plants are dormant for the winter.  There's no snow in California, except for the mountains.  If we were in California, what would we do to make sure our roses go dormant for the winter?   You would strip off the old leaves in late December, so your plants are asleep until spring. And blooming peak season is April in southern California.  Now that's a tantalizing thought for us in Niagara, where April is daffodils and tulips, and the peak blooming month for roses is June.

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Nov 2 2021 - It's so Meta

 

Let us have a meta moment together. Facebook has changed its parent company's name to Meta. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that his company will be called "Meta" to reflect the company's focus on building a larger virtual world beyond the Facebook platform.  The Free Dictionary found 1054 words that contain meta.  You can see them all HERE.  The scope includes the word metal, rather than just meta.  Meta comes from Greek, meaning after, beyond, more comprehensive, transcending. That Facebook has made it its new name may reflect its decent into colloquial usage as in "It's so meta". Meta in this fairly recent, casual context is supposed to mean self-referential, or recursive in some way.   Here are a few. of our contemporary usages and products: MetaVoice is a patent pending system that creates an accurate mathematical model of human speech. Unlike conventional voice compression methods which condense the audio waveform to reduce bandwidth, MetaVoice models every element of the human voice including resonance, pitch, timbre, timing, and character. Metalife is a supportive online community with incredible life advice. Here's an instagram post:   3 New Videos up now! (LINK IN BIO!) We understand that times are tough right now but we have to make the most of it! This is a great opportunity to focus on taking care of yourself and making deep connections with those closest to you.  Metamood is a term used by psychologists to refer to an individual’s awareness of their emotions. It can be described as being caught up in any emotion and then becoming aware that you are being swept away by it.  Summary by The World of Work Project MetaGo is a way to move your cursor to a position quickly and without using your mouse/trackpad. Here's a quick preview to see what MetaGo can do... Metaword - A word, such as a search keyword or dictionary headword, that stands for itself as a word rather than having a meaning and a context.  a word which describes, classifies, or refers to another word. Metaliving - Our journey to find and add life's missing puzzle pieces, as we awaken to transcend the boundaries and beliefs of mere existence. These Japanese Maple frosty leaves were from quite a few years ago.  The conditions have to be perfect for this kind of frost on this brilliant colour.

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Nov 1 2021 - Give Me A Gadget

 

It is November and time to think Christmas presents.  I may be too late, given all the supply chain problems and predictions of shortages this year.  What great gadgets are there?  Here are a few. "Alpha Heater is an innovative heating technology. With PTC convection ceramic heating technology, it uses less power, making it more energy – efficient than other heating solutions. Alpha Heater comes with built-in safety features. It shuts off automatically when it gets too hot or it falls over. You can use it all day and night without worry around your kids, pets, or furniture."  It is priced at $61.88. Find more about it HERE.  There seem to be good reports on this one. What about Miracle Sheets - this is interesting.  These are antibacterial to keep you clean and cool. The special ingredient is antibacterial silver.  There are two brands - Miracle and Silvon.  You can find them on their own sites and Amazon. And Peeps - molecular technology to clean my dirty glasses. I am pretty sure I saw this one last year, so I guess it is time to follow up and get this for my unendingly dirty glasses. A patented invisible carbon formula cleans your glasses safely and easily, leaving your lenses as clear and clean as the day you first got them. Peeps™ utilises soft carbon microfibre pads to eliminate oil and fingerprints instead of smearing.   OlumiRing is an LED ring light that clips to your laptop, tablet or phone….and with the click of a single button, it creates flattering, photoshoot-worthy lighting for video calls and photography. To put it simply, OlumiRing erases shadow – making you look brighter and more like your “real self”.  I got a ring light for Zoom meetings   last year. It works. And this one - BarxBuddy - something to consider as we have "Millie's Moments of barking."  BarxBuddy uses high-pitched tones, not detectable by humans (thank goodness), that specifically target a dog's hearing to disrupts a dog's current activity with ultrasonic sound.  Point at the dog and press the button.   The update on the Betterphoto contest finalists - the picture of the grid with the footprints won second place in the techniques category.  Today it is November's Calendar.  If you would like a copy sent to you, let me know.

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Nov 16 2020 - American Thanksgiving

 

It is coming soon - American Thanksgiving.  So late in the year, it crowds into Christmas.  They have developed orange Poinsettias to accommodate this cross-over.   The other thing it has in timing that is difficult is the American election.  This sets up difficult and troublesome situations.  For example, Trump has been ruining American Thanksgiving since 2015 when a poll showed he was the politician most likely to ruin the Dinner.  The headlines about Trump and Thanksgiving in 2015, 2017 and 2019 were things like: "How to talk to Trump-Loving relatives at Thanksgiving."  During this election campaign, Trump predicted that if Biden becomes their next president, the Americans will have to bid farewell to Christmas and Thanksgiving.  That is a definite "ruin Thanksgiving" headline. On the other side of the ocean, the UK does have a sort of Thanksgiving - it seems to be November 26th this year.  Here's a quote from a website named wayenglishcourse.co.uk:  "The American thanksgiving is not celebrated in the UK because no one had to be thankful for their new land and good ocean trip." Our picture today is compensating for the diminishing colours of our landscape that November brings. It is a lovely Florida sunrise in 2016.   I wonder when we can expect the best sunrise/sunset colour here in Niagara.  Is there a time of year when it is best?  In terms of locations, Port Dalhousie and Niagara Falls have dramatic sunrises/sunsets.  One dilemma for Niagara Falls is that it has the most dramatic ones during the coldest winter weather.

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Nov 9 2020 - The Exception

 

Our weather in November has been the exception this year.  Yesterday was a summer's day.  Today it will again  be summer in November.  And the forecast is the same for Tuesday.  That is 20 degrees compared to the daily average of 9 degrees.   In the world of averages, November turns out to be an indistinct month in Grimsby's weather.  The coldest month is January, the driest month is January, the snowiest month is January.  We've passed the rainiest month - that's September.  November does have the distinction of lake effects snow possibilities.  That's how Snowvember came about in 2014.  There's a Youtube video of the snow engulfing Buffalo.   In the water temperature information, it says that March has the coldest water temperature at 2.7 degrees Celsius and August the highest at 21.7 degrees.   In the information for travel to Grimsby, it lists all the cities that can reach Grimsby by plane.  What an interesting array of cities - London, Athens, Glasgow, Copenhagen, Istanbul, Lahore, Paris, Ottawa, and so on.  Maybe the ads for travel are the reason for this unusual 'mix'.  I can't imagine taking them up on the offer to work from home at an exotic location or retire to an exotic location.  We're looking at the bark of a Scotch Pine at Gage Park.  So many colours and textures.

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Nov 4 2020 - National Stress Day

 

It is a good thing that holidays are on a fixed day and we don't have to wait for some event to complete them.  Although this is International Stress Awareness Day.  We are definitely aware of this day as the election results slowly move along. We could be experiencing this awareness day for a few more days, a week, a month, or more. This awareness day was first observed in 1998 and is the first Wednesday in November.  There are instructions on how to observe it.  In particular, the instructions are about doing something to alleviate stress.  What stress-relieving foods might you eat?  That's the first item on the list.  I will definitely considerate last one on the list - consider a therapist - if the U.S. election returns the current President to the White House.  That's more than 4 years of stress in the making. We might look to the awareness calendar to celebrate with whatever awareness day coincides with then election completion.   Which day will we find that out? If it is tomorrow, we can go with National Doughnut Appreciation Day or National Gunpowder Day - depending on the winner.  If it Friday the 6th, then what about Marooned without a compass day.   That seems on target too.   I guess I'll be adding a new activity to my daily schedule - check on awareness day to sum up the state of politics - it will be like astrology.  I wonder how many things are on file for the year's worth of 'Days'.  Maybe 10 to 30 things to appreciate each day.  That could be interesting. We have two more Wisteria images today - there is no 'Appreciate Wisteria' day listed on the checkiday.com website.

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