Mar 8 2024 - It's Car Condo Time

 

It's TOYBX.com where you can park your passion for only the low $400,000s.  Car elevators, sophisticated security,   It has things like:  car stackers  work benches  lighting and flooring  mezzanines  cabinetry  There's a special note that you can combine multiple units.  There are members of the Porsche Club who would appreciate this option.  I expect when they have the fun driving tour this summer, at least one of the drivers will have a condo in the new building, which is located south of the Gardiner near Horner Ave in Etobicoke.   There are is one other car condo in Toronto.  Leaside will have a luxury car condominium.  It says it will have a clubhouse.  That's not mentioned at Toybx.  That is in the Wikipedia entry which says that car condo developers are marketing their projects based on the country club approach.    The Toronto Star article on the topic says that Car Condos are becoming social clubs for collectors.  That article was in 2021.  The story was about Auto Vault. It has attendants dressed in 1950s gas station attire, pedal cars to keep the kids busy.  It says their 2023/24 storage season is sold out.   We're coming up to driving season - it is not so far away. Isn't this just a perfect car to have its own condo location.  This is Gerry's car on the cover of Proving magazine in 2020.  We took the picture at Hidden Bench.

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July 10 2023 - Butter Tarts

 

Are butter tarts a summer dessert?  There are recipes that show a fair amount of variation - white vinegar for example.   One debate in butter tarts is about raisins vs no raisins.  And should the filling be runny or not runny. 60% of people in a recent poll preferred a runny centre as opposed to a firmer one.  That's an important topic for a poll, don't you think?   Wikipedia says butter tarts are highly regarded in Canadian cuisine and that Canada is the place of origin. Cultural identify is wrapped up in butter tarts with festivals all over Ontario.  Even National Geographic recognized the significance of the butter tart in an article on Georgian Bay, Ontario. There is a stamp that commemorates the butter tart. Here is an example of the Canadian recipe: 1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar  1/2 cup corn syrup  1/4 cup butter, melted  1 egg  1 tsp vanilla extract  1/4 tsp salt  ½ cup raisins, substituting, pecans, walnuts or chocolate chips also make good variations  I see recipes with vinegar. Here's the example I found: 1/2 cup melted butter 2 large eggs 1 and 1/2 cup brown sugar 2 tbsp white vinegar 1 tsp vanilla 1 cup raisins 1 cup nuts chopped Ontario's butter tart festival is in Midland Ontario. It is June 8th so we've missed it for this year.  The top two places of winners this year were pecan butter tarts.  3rd place was raisin, and fifth place was raisin walnut.   The best in show was this:  butter tart with house-made potato chips. Yum! Here's Gerry coming around the corner on Saturday's Porsche Drive.  I added a little motion blur from one of the Topaz filters. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

June 29 2022 - Most Famous? It's Dwayne

 

How is it that Dwayne Johnson is the most famous person in the world "as of 2022"?  Where was I? Likely looking at news stories rather than entertainment stories.  He shows up in the top 10 in numerous lists.  My cynicism comes into play as these lists are typically the same source that is reproduced over and over. "Dwayne, nicknamed "The Rock" was a WWE champion wrestler earlier and is now an actor and producer. He is one of the greatest professional wrestlers the game has ever witnessed."  (Note the quality of English, grammar, and style of the sentence above). On to  Forbes where he is listed as #4 of highest-paid entertainers and #10 celebrity - the 2022 films are Black Adam and Red Notice.  "One of his popular mannerisms as the character The Rock was to raise one eyebrow up with one down as a taunt to mock his opponents during interviews (this is called The People's Eyebrow)." And how is it that Joe Biden is #2 or Elon Musk #3?  Then comes Jeff Bezos at #4. Down the list at #10 is Justin Bieber who has recently been diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt syndrome, a neurological disorder characterized by facial nerve paralysis.  That is very significant when you compare Johnson's description as  "The Rock" to Bieber's as "Yummy".   It turns out that Justin Bieber is googled more than Jesus.  We know that Jesus is, in fact,  the most famous and known person in the world.  Every religion references him - either for or against.  It is considered that only people in remote places of the planet do not know of him.  But then what is "famous"today?  It shows up for celebrities - entertainers and sports figures.  Not for heads of state, royalty, scientists, writers, and those who made history.  That is famous in the past tense.  So we can wonder where will Dwayne Johnson be in 10 years or 100 years?  What will be famous from 2022? Here's one of our Niagara roads that the Porsche Club travelled on a few years ago.  This seems like a little bit of heaven - a narrow, winding country road lined with trees and fences.  All that summer green.

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July 20 2021 - The Right Fluff Stuff

 

Why does fabric always shed so much in the dryer? "Well, when clothing is washed, the lint is lifted from the edges of the clothing, however, the water prevents it from being completely removed from the surface of the clothing. When the clothing is transferred to the dryer, this is where the magic happens. The heat from the dryer, along with the tumbling process, exacts these bits of fibers from the surface of clothing. These particles are then collected into the screen of the lint trap." Why is it a muddy, dirty gray? "The reason for the uniformity of color is that when you mix colors at random you end up with a muddy, dark mess. Melt a box of crayons together and you’ll see this for yourself. But when you mix clothes that are mostly blues, grays and blacks — as is typical with most wardrobes — with a smattering of reds, browns and greens, the mess becomes bluish gray every time. Essentially, the contributions of your blue jeans and white athletic socks outweigh those of your favorite red t-shirt." What hobbies can lint be used in? "If you’re feeling really crafty, you can lift a bit from some old wool sweaters you no longer want to wear and make felt.Just soak the sweaters in some hot water, wring them out and place them in the dryer. Thoroughly clean the lint catcher before drying the sweaters and the wool lint you gather will be excellent raw material for homemade felt." "To use lint as a pet bedding option, take it a step further than just putting it into their cages or laying it on the floor. Simple sewing techniques can be used to create pillows or small pet beds for guinea pigs, hamsters, small dogs or even cats! Use the lint as a stuffing for a fleece pillow. This will create an extra warm area for beloved pets!" You can find many more uses and more curious questions HERE Some more shots from the Fun Run Day.

April 2 2020 - April Fool's Round Up at the Hidden Bench Barn

The online gammers put out a lot of effort on April Fool's, creating pranks within their games.  Lots of them participated, but NPR, National Geographic, and others announced no April Fool's Jokes from them.  Snoopes gave a round-up of April Fool's news from yesterday.  It is their specialty, so they must have fine doing this. 1. RoboForm, the password manager software, on the contrary, introduced a "Barkpass".   2. Shiny Leaf shampoo released a Ketchup Smapoo:  picture of red glop on soapy hair.  It is a "Colour-boost ketchup shampoo".   "Our favorite bit from this April Fools’ Day prank comes when you click the purchase button on Shiny Leaf’s website. That opens up a list of related products which seem, at first, to be believable (especially if you just bought ketchup shampoo). But after listings for a “Hair Bun” and a “Mayo Leave-In” product, the “related items” section basically turns into a restaurant menu. If you try to complete your order, you’ll be greeted with a “WE GOT YOU! HAPPY APRIL FOOLS” message.  3. Virgin Australia announced it is giving away toilet paper.  Snoopes says that this one isn’t a joke.  "With many flights cancelled, and with fears rising about a potential toilet paper shortage, Virgin Australia announced that it would be flipping April Fools’ Day on its head, and “turning the airline’s annual prank into a reality.” The company announced that it would be taking all of the unused toilet paper from its grounded planes and donating it to those in need." "Each year our passengers use enough toilet paper to stretch from Sydney to Los Angeles, so we’re thrilled that in true Virgin spirit, we’re going to help the elderly, the vulnerable, medical staff, and our charity partners, by giving them the supply of toilet paper that’s currently locked-up in our grounded aircraft and storage facilities throughout Australia." I imagine that toilet paper will be with us permanently.  Don't you look at that roll differently? Our picture today is taken at the Hidden Bench barn in front of the vineyards on McLeod Street on what's known as "The Bench".  I always think of this as Locust Lane, but the winery is around the corner and it is on Locust Lane.  I went searching for the street name, and the second picture that showed up was my own picture of the Hidden Bench barn, December, 2013, a snow scene.   Today's picture has the addition of a Skylum sky.  Lots of fun adding these with California town names. I think this one is Anaheim Sunset.  The second picture, in front of the barn, has a more realistic sky, although this one is from Skylum too. And there's that wonderful barn.

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March 28 2020 - A Whale of a Time

The oldest person ever was Jeanne Calment who lived from 1875-1997.  That's 122 years and some days. There may be people who lived longer.  The distinction is that Calment's age has been verified. Across mammals, lifespan can vary 100-fold.  Bowhead whales are considered the longest-living animals. They can live for more than 200 years. The whale’s enormous size – 20 metres long and up to 100 tonnes in weight – creates some unique challenges that are of particular interest to biologists. For instance, if its cells burnt energy at the same rate as mice cells, the excess heat would boil the surrounding water, so it has evolved to live with a slower metabolism and lower body temperature.   Isn't it interesting to find out about science facts in such interesting ways.  Perhaps jokes are a similar sort of experience.  The unexpected is fascinating and humorous.  Here are the whale jokes that seemed to fit this experience: I feel like school subjects need to be represented by animals English should be a hawk, they have good eyes, and you need good eyes for reading. History should be bowhead whales since they’ve lived through more than anyone else. And finally, maths should be snakes, I hear they’re great Adders. I was sitting in a bar one day and two really large women came in, talking in an interesting accent. So I said, “Cool accent, are you two ladies from Ireland?” One of them snarled at me, “It’s Wales, dumbo!” So I corrected myself, “Oh, right, so are you two whales from Ireland?” That’s about as far as I remember. What do you call a group of killer whales playing music together? An orca-stra! What do groups of whales listen to together? *pod*-casts What do whales like to draw with? A-krill-ic paint Gerry is writing an article for the Porsche magazine about his car.  I took this picture last Fall - the sun rays happened naturally - no filters applied.

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It Glistens, Glitters and Shines

What is shiny? This is a word that was first recorded in 1580 - 90 -  a smooth surface reflecting light, typically because very clean or polished.  I wonder how many shiny things an ordinary person saw in a day in 1580 - even those who lived in the Royal Palace? this topic came about as Gerry's car was perfectly polished this past week and became exceedingly shiny. Doesn't the star on the front gleam 'shiny'? This word has taken on sizeable proportions in our current usage - movies, music, video games, software development frameworks, Pokemon, and all manner of things.  Fro example, one headline is "How to build R Shiny apps that update themselves". In the wiktionary definition, there is a slang usage of the word that points to its current usage.  It is a contraction of a disparaging term "Shiny arses",  originating during World War Two to describe a desks worker. We might look to Shakespeare as giving us this insight into things that are 'shiny'.   “All that glisters is not gold; Often have you heard that told: Many a man his life has sold But my outside to behold: Gilded tombs do worms enfold Had you been as wise as bold, Your in limbs, in judgment old, Your answer had not been in'scroll'd Fare you well: your suit is cold.' Cold, indeed, and labour lost: Then, farewell, heat and welcome, frost!” ― William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice Shakespeare's words have been referenced over time.  All that shines is not gold - has become a well-known phrase.  So we come to how shiny is used today.  It seems similar to Shakespeare - though hundreds of years have passed. "A company shouldn't get addicted to being shiny, because shiny doesn't last. Jeff Bzos "I think that wealthy white people would like to have a country that resembles the Fifties, when all the minorities were tucked away in ghettos and paid in very low wages but on the surface it was very bright and shiny and free and the rest of the world would look on it longingly. Alice Walker "I'm not a particularly shiny, happy person. I'm fairly cynical, and that's what draws me to comedy. Elizabeth Banks "Whither goest thou, America, in thy shiny car in the night? Jack Kerouac These come from brainyquote.com So we look at Gerry' shiny car - while that beautiful shine won't last, it's been captured forever.

Not Just Any Car!

Not Just Any Car Father's Day originates in West Virginia in July 1908.  While it is known it was first celebrated then, there aren't many records of the event. The next celebration was in 1910 in Spokane, Washington on June 19th.  It was a city celebration of 'sermons honouring fathers presented throughout the city'.  It faded away until the 1930's when it was promoted again and became a consistent celebration. There's a special place for cars in the celebration of Father's Day. Yesterday was a happy day for Porsche owners in our area.  We participated in the Niagara Fun-Run and drove our way around the Niagara area - from Grimsby to St. Catharines, up and down over the escarpment, among the vineyards and fruit orchards - all on those great country roads.  Here are a few of the license plate names of the almost 60 cars that participated. There was more than one group touring the escarpment - we met this group of motorcyclists up on the escarpment. That's a formidable sight coming towards you!