The Henrys are coming for Deluxe, Ultraluxe and More

Treasure Islands promise the riches of wealth and that means being able to purchase luxury.  Owning luxurious things - that signifies reaching high achievements, success, or rank.  There is super deluxe and ultra deluxe to distinguish even further levels of quality.   First world people keep getting wealthier so there have to be more levels to climb to the top. In simple terms "luxurious" seems to be about how much it costs.  The most expensive "luxurious" yacht is $4.5 billion US.  The most expensive parking spots are in Manhattan for $1 million US. Can a parking spot be luxurious?  From the pictures shown, it appears it can be - valets waiting to open the door. Watches have symbolized luxury for centuries. The values of the most luxurious watches are in the $25 to $55 million range.  And prestige watches come with provenance - Paul Newman's Rolex Daytona sold for $17.8 million - only one in the world. Take hotels.  Sleeping and eating can easily be understood as luxurious experiences.   And status experiences are replacing luxury goods as a status symbol.  What about the most luxurious hotels in the entire world?  How many are there?  Are there 10, 20, 50? It looks like there are a few hundred - maybe 200 - 600 hotels. Rather than looking up each item, could we go to a luxury living website and find out what the top luxury items are?  The top blogs and websites are HERE.  And what for the future? With the U.S. having the heaviest concentration of millionaires - 41% - over 17 millionaires live in the U.S. This is followed by China with 3.5 million, Japan 2.8 million and the U.K. with 2.4 million.  Forbes says these wealthy people will change luxury. The Forbes article says: "Looking across this vast generational cohort, defined by Pew as 73 million strong in 2019 and born between 1981 and 1996, there is one segment in that cohort that is most important for luxury brands: the HENRYs (high-earners-not-rich-yet). With higher incomes relative to the majority of the population, between $100k and $250k in the U.S., HENRYs hold the space above the bottom 75th percentile but below the top 95th percentile, where luxury brand’s traditional ultra-affluent customers are found. Since true affluence comes with age, the millennials aged 23-to-38 in 2019 are only now beginning to hit their stride in terms of income and wealth."  This comes from Pamela N. Danziger whose first book was "Why People Buy Things They Don't Need" and has since written 8 more. our pictures today show the finalist winners from the Betterphoto contest last month.  They had a peeling paint contest category for the first time.  There's one that looks like a tree, another like angel wings, another is a pattern of locks, and finally I went to look at who came in first place - and it turns out to be one of my images.  It is the horizontal image  Ebb and Flow.  This was peeling paint on a cafe wall. Here it is on Betterphoto  HERE.

TIMEANDDATE Today!

Can you imagine that there are 'things you need to know' about fall?  That headline comes from National Geographic.  So I headed out to find the top 5 things I would really need to know.  I didn't find 5 things - I found one fact that was most interesting from timeanddate.com.   4.The Equinox is a Specific Moment... Contrary to popular belief, equinoxes are no day-long events, even though many cultures choose to celebrate it as such. Instead, they occur at the exact moment the Sun crosses the celestial equator – the imaginary line in the sky above the Earth’s Equator. At this instant, the Earth's rotational axis is neither tilted away from nor towards the Sun. And the moment?  10:21 am ET. Our pictures today come from the side of a passenger car at the Sandy River Railroad, showing the wear and tear of time on the surface paint.

Parched Point of View

What is the answer to this question: when something shrivels up and loses its moisture, are the patterns and shapes similar whether it is parched earth or peeling decals on transport trucks and dumpsters.  So I took a quick look through 'dry lake bed aerial photography'.  The site that had really interesting aerial images is amusing planet.com Along the way to finding those images this headline from 2013 got my attention:  "Abraham Lincoln Lookalikes Gather for a Convention in Ohio."

Salvage in Sarasota

Sarasota Salvage

Sarasota Architectural Salvage  Just up the street from the house that we've rented in Sarasota are a few antique stores.  They are very large and full of wrought iron garden benches, arches, pergolas, etc.  There are a lot of old garden structures around here. The Sarasota Architectural Salvage (SAS) seems to find old everything from everywhere.  There are Spanish, Asian, nautical, farm themes in their furniture and accessories.  I enjoyed the former boat wood with many layers of peeling paint used for table tops and chair seats.  It was a whole warehouse of nicely posed peeling paint.  There are old pieces from the Ringling Circus, and columns from the Ringling Hotel that was demolished.  The Mermaid theme is abundant.  It makes one realize how long Florida has been in the tourism business. See more about them here: http://www.sarasotasalvage.com

Farewell to Beamsville Fairgrounds I think of the string of towns in the Niagara Peninsula as beads in a necklace:  Stoney Creek, Grimsby, Beamsville, Vineland, Jordan and St. Catharines.  Niagara-on-the-Lake isn't in the string of beads.  It is so beautiful that it is a jewel on a pendant.  Beamsville is our next-door neighbour.  It had a big expanse of land - almost 25 acres in the downtown that was a fairground.  No one thought about it - it had been a fairground for 150 years.  It had a baseball diamond and a horse track as well as 12 buildings with entrances for sheep, cattle, etc.  It was privately owned by the Lincoln Agricultural Society and a sale was announced in 2008.  It was finalized for residential and commercial development in 2011.  The building is moving right along now.  It is as dense as one would find in Toronto, so it is a startling sight set in the rural layout of Beamsville.  One looks to the right and sees an old town, and looks to the left and sees a dense city block. The pictures today were taken at the Beamsville Fairground before it underwent its transformation.  These were transport trailers on the property that were being used as storage.  Their bright logos were peeling and blistering in the sun.  When I look at the bottom image, the title that comes to me is 'Concussion' or 'Slap Shot'. And thanks so much for those who gave advice on the wisteria images for the contest. It turns out to be a 3-way tie between the images.  Does anyone want to break the tie?

Our Christmas Traditions - Boxing Day

This has become a secular holiday but  Boxing Day is a tradition that started in the UK about 800 years ago. It was the day when the alms box for the poor was opened so that the contents could be distributed to the poor.

In the 1600's we would be servants and tradespeople and would receive gifts today, known as a "Christmas box".  Our Christmas Day would have been busy, waiting on our masters.  This is the day that Good King Wenceslas looked upon the Feast of Stephen.  St. Stephen's Day is celebrated as the 2nd day of Christmas.  The Germans had an original tradition - horses would be ridden around the inside of the church during the St. Stephen's Day service. 

We are into the Twelve Days of Christmas.  This is the twelve day period that starts with Christmas day and ends on Epiphaby (Jan 6th).The 'true love' who gave the gifts was meant to represent God, the true love of the world.  On the "first day", the partridge in a pear tree is Jesus who died on the cross.  The two turtle doves of the "second day", are the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.  The three French hens are faith, hope and love - the three gifts of the Holy Spirit.

We'll explore more on the 12 Days tomorrow.  


Our image today is a little bit of urban grunge from Toronto.  It is peeling paint on a wall mural with manipulation to create the wave and repeating pattern.  It has a carnival sense for me with the curves, waves, and bright colours.