Nov 11 2024 - Remembrance Day

 

I don't think much has changed with Remembrance Day.  It was renamed to Remembrance Day from Armistice Day after WWII.   The first Armistice Day in Canada was the year after the agreement was signed, in 1919.   There are roughly 39,700 Second World War veterans alive in Canada.  The average age is 84 years.  The last veteran of the First War was Florence Green of Great Britain who died at age 110 in 2012.    While we may commemorate the end of WWI, war has continued and there have been 285 distinct armed conflicts since 1946.    Right now in 2024 there are 110 armed conflicts.  There are approximately 42 countries involved in ongoing wars or war-like conflicts.   It is the 20th century that is considered the worst for wars.  The First to Second World Wars were called the "great violence." From 1914-1939 and was considered especially violent with 10 large wars.  And the most peaceful time?  It is considered to be from 1814 to 1914 - between the end of the Napoleonic Wars and WWI.  Before that?  It was the Roman Empire.

I made this wreath for a Nelles Manor volunteer.  It will be on his front door today.

Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Apr 27 2023 - The Eight Word Warning

 

Remember yesterday's 3 word response?  "Are you okay?" That's a headline trend these days.  I find that the Queen had an eight word warning for Andrew after his catastrophic interview. I can't find them in the article.   In comparison, there are a number of sources with the headline of her one word response after reading the transcript of the interview:  "intriguing". Even the security officer involved is listed by the number of words - 10 words said to Prince Andrew after the interview:  "I think, sir, you might have to come with us." Or maybe it was four words. During a private audience, the monarch told Andrew he will no longer be known as His Royal Highness “in any official capacity” — and that he will be left to fight his lawsuit in the US as a private citizen. Another quote has it a bit longer but the word count wasn't expressed in this one: "The Duke of York will continue not to undertake any public duties.”  What about the Queen's five word remark after giving Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Frogmore Cottage:  “I hope they respect it.”  What about two words the queen will never say because they are too common?  "lounge" and "toilet". Moving to the current Royals, there are 7 words that Queen Camilla said to King Charles after almost losing her hat.  And we can probably conclude with the nine-word dig at King Charles - I guess he would have been Prince Charles then. It was:  "Your father always does what he wants to do." Here's a pretty Longwood Gardens image of Himalayan Poppies. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Jan 2 2023 - Covid Surge

 

Covid Surge in 2023? The U.S. experts think there is a level of immunity in the population this winter, along with more tools.   The prediction is that the current surge is not going to be as big as last winter's.  Georges Benjamin of the American Public Health Association says: "But I think there’s one really big outlier out there, China. If China gets hit with a big spike, then it is quite possible that it will bleed into the U.S... That's my one caveat, a nd I'm worried to death about that." Not very scientific writing to me.  I rather prefer what I found from Sylvia Browne, the psychic.  She died in 2013, and this is her prophecy on Covid.  “In around 2020 a severe pneumonia-like illness will spread throughout the globe, attacking the lungs and the bronchial tubes and resisting all known treatments. Almost more baffling than the illness itself will be the fact that it will suddenly vanish as quickly as it arrived, attack again 10 years later, and then disappear completely,” the book reads.   Looking back, there is some humour on the subject of Covid Why did the chicken cross the road? Because the chicken behind it didn’t know how to socially distance properly. My husband purchased a world map and then gave me a dart and said, “Throw this and wherever it lands—that’s where I’m taking you when this pandemic ends.” Turns out, we’re spending two weeks behind the fridge. The World Health Organization announced that dogs cannot contract COVID-19. Dogs previously held in quarantine can now be released. To be clear, WHO let the dogs out. Quarantine has really put a damper on comedy. For months nobody has walked into a bar. Our pictures are of Meconopsis Poppies - the Himalayan Poppy, in that beautiful Cerulean Blue that is so beloved.  It seems a perfect way to welcome the New Year.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Novf 11 2022 - Remembrance

 

Remembrance Day is a sombre day.  For the Commonwealth member countries, it is a minute of unity experienced across the nations.  The symbolism of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month is stark. I know that I am part of a particular social consciousness because I  wonder why countries do not commemorate Nov 11 at 11:00.  Russia, Israel, New Zealand,  Germany, South Africa and the Netherlands.  They have other days designated for Remembrance.   Some of the rationale seems to be a sorting between the First World War the Second World War.  And also remembering all civilians and soldiers who have died in conflicts.   Other nations have renamed it from Armistice/Remembrance.  However, it seems that Remembrance is the defining theme along with Lest We Forget. The particular date and time is symbolic.  The definition of the 11th hour: the latest possible time before it is too late.   "The phrase eleventh hour has a Biblical origin; it comes from a parable in Matthew in which a few last-minute workers, hired long after the others, are paid the same wage. Despite being brought on the job after eleven hours of hard vineyard work, they weren't too late. The meaning has shifted a bit over the years, but today doing something at the eleventh hour means you got in just under the wire." Here's our Remembrance Day wreath.  This is available for $50 with delivery in the Niagara area, in support of the Nelles Manor Museum.

Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Apr 8 2022 - New in 2022 Maybe

 

Consider what is called a technical breakthrough and a new product for 2022.  I would think it is an introduction in the last 6 months. What do I find? I find newish products.   Some have been around long enough to have 12,000 optometrists using them - that's the Peeps eyeglass lens cleaner. Most of the other products are also old enough to not really be newish.   There are so many reviews that the product has to be around for a while. The reviews of products are definitely problematic. How do you check whether ratings and reviews are valid?  And then so many of them are unreadable English with jumbled sentences, failed grammar and nonsense words.  Amazon reviews pop up at the top.  It is known that a substantial number of these reviews are not authentic.  Amazon pays for them with free products and gift cards.  The producing company does the same.  Competing companies pay for bad reviews of their competitors.   That's my exercise in finding new products today.  The Google search engine is crammed with junk now.  It is no longer a usable general search engine.  It is fine for shopping and finding things on Amazon.  Bing is in better shape. One actually retrieves articles on newer technologies.  Now the issue is that the articles in magazines like Esquire stretch the definition of new, so we're at a base level problem.  Those peeps eyewear people must pay a lot to get their products constantly included in reviews. In contrast to that, there was a pleasant 'aha' moment this morning when I looked at the front page of the Globe and Mail.  The picture of Chrystia Freeland is a showcase moment of her budget speech.  I thought the headline could easily read: "Meet your next Liberal Leader".  Or even "Meet your next PM".   We won't be seeing the Himalayan Poppies at Longwood this year.  This picture was taken in 2013.

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.

Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com

May 1 2021 - Let's Play Bingo

 

Do you remember when Bingo Halls were full, and the players were mostly smokers.  With the bans on smoking the charity gambling revenues from bingo dried up.  And that's all over the world.  The UK called it Housey-Housey, although bingo has been its name for centuries.   I found this version that seem hilarious just to read about.   Bossy Bingo (also known as Cow Patty Bingo)—a raffle event conducted using a large area divided into many squares. Participants draw a number representing a square. A cow is then placed in the designated area. The prizewinner is the person holding the number of the square upon which the cow´s bowel movement lands. There are lots of differences between countries.  Callers announcing the numbers have traditionally used some nicknames to refer to particular numbers if they are drawn. The nicknames are sometimes known by the rhyming phrase 'bingo lingo' and there are rhymes for each number from 1 to 90, some of which date back many decades. In the UK in some clubs, the 'bingo caller' will say the number, with the assembled players intoning the rhyme in a call and response manner, in others, the caller will say the rhyme and the players chant the number.  I found the bingo lingo Calls for Australia: 1 – Kelly's eye. This bingo saying could be a reference to Ned Kelly, one of Australia's greatest folk heroes – but many think it's just military slang. 2 – One little duck. ...  3 – Cup of tea. ...  4 – Knock at the door. ...  5 – Man alive. ...  6 – Tom Mix/Half a dozen. ...  7 – Lucky seven. ...  8 – Garden gate. There are long lists of bingo jokes: How do you get nine grandmas to swear? Make the tenth one shout "bingo!" My doctor told me I had a Bingo tumor. He said "Don't worry. It's B-9.".   A picture from a past spring - at Longwood's conservatory in 2013, with the beautiful Himalayan Poppies in bloom.  Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Jan 20 2021 - How do you make time fly?

 

How do you make time fly?  Throw a clock. If you could, would you make time fly?  I wonder what choice one would make - skip the rest of January and all of February and land into March somewhere.   We're in an isolation winter, watching the clock, the COVID numbers and the U.S. capitol barricades for today's inauguration.There's advice on how to make time go by faster.   Particularly entertaining is:  Stop looking at the clock and counting the minutes, and then there is "practical" advice like organizing your work and tackle undesirable tasks.   There are more articles - things like:  11 Things you can do to stop feeling so bored with life.  So our current version would be:  11 Things to do to stop feeling so bored with the pandemic.  The article talks about life being longer than we realized.  And didn't we find out the pandemic is much longer than we planned it to be. Our pandemic situation it is likely months longer, not years.  But our dilemma is that the advice - learn a new set of skills, develop friendships, travel, look for a new job, get active and exercise, create some art - make things seem worse as only a few of these are readily available.  We can easily get active and create some art. But more likely is the case that many people are beyond "bored",  and are now in existential depression - experiencing hopelessness, and with life being meaningless. There are articles for this too.  This is one HERE.  The advice is things like: accept the uncertainty, focus on what you can do, grieve, embrace differences.   So let's take the advice and focus on what we can do - find some "time flies" jokes: People: Time flies when you’re having fun Frogs: Time is fun when you’re having flies Time flies when you name your bird after the seasoning I am aware that the correct spelling is thyme   These beautiful Himalayan Poppies were at Longwood Gardens a few years ago for their winter display.  Aren't they they most beautiful blue?     Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Remembrance Poppies

Remembrance Day was first observed as “Armistice Day” to commemorate the agreement that ended the First World War on Nov. 11, 1918. Since then it has come to be a day to remember a range of modern-day conflicts and to pay tribute to all men and women who have served.  It was first observed in 1919. It is marked on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. The Tower of London Poppies installation is a remarkable visual commemoration.  You can read about it here: http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/poppies/about-the-installation And look at a gallery of google images with the google search poppies tower of london and then click on images.  Here's a sample: poppies tower of london

California Contrast

Our trip to Pasadena last year was a delight - such contrast in the growing materials between our northern climate and California's dry desert.  While it was extremely hot - well over 100 degrees every day, the gardens were beautiful - particularly the desert garden at Huntington.   Here are a few of the interesting plants.

California Poppy:

Palm outside the Walt Disney Concert Hall:

Society Garlic:

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!