Feb 17 2025 - The Snow Storm Finishes

 

The winter storm finished, and so has its place in all the news feeds. This file is no longer being updated is the news now.   The last update from the Toronto Star was 7:00pm with TTC Streecar delays after tracks were blocked with vehicles.  Which one?  Of course - the 504 King - it had no service near Roncesvalles at Queen Street West.  Even the TTC stopped subway service along the subway lines yesterday.   CTV has an update or two today - there's still no subway service between Bloor-Yonge and Eglinton stations.  With the storm in Niagara concluding yesterday, the weather news has turned to Niagara Falls with them assuring visitors that the streets will be plowed.  However, just popped up for Niagara Falls is a forecast of more flurries later today.  And as I look outside with the sun shinning, there is snow in the sky.  Looking at the radar, these are the "streamers" - lake-effect snow in narrow bands coming off of Lake Huron.  It is very pretty to look at.  Millie is  a bit confused with the snow in the back yard being higher than she is.   To keep us entertained, there's a story of a "Cake Bandit" - an opossum in Nebraska that has eaten an entire Costco cake and  had to be hospitalized.  I guess the owner had put it outside on the back porch. The opossum helped herself - I would assume the problem was that it was chocolate and being from Costco, was probably the size of a small children's swimming pool.   There are lots of Reddit entries on what are the dimensions of Costco's bar cakes and how much does a Costco chocolate mousse cake weigh - one answer claimed it was almost 5 pounds.  That's probably the size of the opossum. You can find out every massive Costco dessert, ranked by size.  That's at the Eat This, Not That site HERE.   You can even take a look at the Chocolate Mousse cake.  Enjoy.

Wish Gerry Happy Birthday today!   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Feb 02 2022 - Winter Snow Storm vs Chocolate

 

The clouds in the sky are moving fast.  Layers of them above a pale orange layer.  Which of them will come the rain clouds followed by snow clouds that will deliver our snow storm today into tomorrow?  February certainly is a tumultuous month.   That must be why February is also the month where chocolate can dominate and be celebrated. It is a soothing, uplifting, and energizing food and drink.  The debates about the goodness of chocolate are always present.  Here are a few of them. Is chocolate good for me?  The standard answer: Chocolate contains polyphenols which are good for you - reducing blood pressure and having antioxidant properties.  But healthier sources of polyphenols include pulses.  "Pulse” is a derivation from the Latin words puls or pultis meaning “thick soup”. Pulse crops are small but important members of the legume family, which contains over 1,800 different species. Pulse crops are the seeds of legumes that are used as food, and include peas, beans, lentils, chickpeas and faba beans. Now that's a bit of a let-down for chocolate. Is dark chocolate better for me?  Here's the response: It certainly is bitter and hard to taste the chocolate flavour at 100% chocolate.  I once got my Dad some  organic chocolate "nibs".  They are little bits that are considered to be very healthy - Cacao nibs are highly nutritious, providing an impressive amount of protein, fiber, healthy fats, minerals, and plant compounds like flavonoids. They were in an organics store in trendy Liberty Village.  He tried one and gave me the bag back.  Not enough sugar.   And what about these:  Hot chocolate doesn't count,  Chocolate with bubbles in is "lighter", and a chocolate bar is the perfect portion.   While we call these chocolate myths, they do seem more fact vs fiction areas.   Calling these myths seems to make sense given chocolate's history.  The Mayans creation story involves two twins who came into existence when their deceased father's head spat onto their mother's hand from a cacao tree.  Supposedly his severed head had been left on a cacao tree.  The father was resurrected and became the Maize God. The corn from him was used to create the true humans of the world. Can you imagine if the Roman Catholic Church had a "Jesus was spat onto Mary's hand" story?  How different things would be. My "Chocolate or Vanilla" mushroom image transformed in Flexifly.

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Hallmark's Version of the Advent Calendar - Countdown to Christmas

Do you know about the Hallmark Channel?  It is very popular with feel-good movies.  It began its around-the-clock 24/7 Christmas movie schedule on Friday, Oct. 25th.  Search on Countdown to Christmas and Hallmark comes up for pages and pages. I didn't know about the channel until it came to town - to Grimsby - to make one of its movies.  And then there was our Main Street dressed up in snow and Christmas trees at the beginning of October.   Christmas in Montana - New 2019 Before the holidays, Sara goes to Montana to help resistant Travis save his ranch. Can time on the ranch help restore her faith in Christmas in time for a miracle? Stars Kellie Martin, Colin Ferguson. There are no pictures with Grimsby in the background pretending to be Montana on the website.  But you can go to the Niagarathisweek.com  coverage of it with Teddy's Food, Fun & Spirits looking excellent. The Hallmark Channel has evolved from an originally religious channel.  It was overhauled into a family channel in the late 1999's.  In 2015 Mariah Carey directed and starred in a Christmas movie and show which turned out to be the most viewed show ever.  The Countdown to Christmas programming had started in 2009. It took flight in 2016. So here we are a few years later with 24/7 Christmas from October to January 1st:  The end of the Countdown season culminates with the broadcast of the Tournament of Roses Parade.   Our snow day pictures show the Japanese Maple with its snow-covered leaves.  Many of my trees such as theSeven Sons Flower Tree have all their leaves and are just starting to turn autumn colours.  The big Japanese Maple Versacolour out back has hardly begun to change colour.  The second plant is Ironweed, one of our natives for bees and butterflies.

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The Twelve Days to Christmas

How many days before Christmas are there?  The twelve days of Christmas?  No, not at all.  The twelve days start on December 25th and complete on the feast of the Epiphany, on January 6th. The song that we all know so well is an English Christmas carol, published in 1780.  It has been with us for hundreds of years.  The version we have today comes from the English composer Frederic Austin, in 1909, when he introduced the prolongation of the verse "five gold rings". Go to the wikipedia entry and see the table that shows the differences, variations and developments  over time.  The columns have the source, then the giver, and then 1 to 12 for the 12 days of gifts.  There are many rows with all the changes over time.  For example, it wasn't until 1966 that "My true love sent to me"  became "My true love gave to me". The song is considered to originate from a children's memory and forfeit game.  Each person repeats the gifts and when he/she misses one, he pays a forfeit (a kiss or sweetmeat) for the mistake. Does this song have a secret religious meaning?  History Myths Debunked website says no, and a resounding no.   Are there some notable parodies?  Yes - a long list in the Wikipedia entry. Still featured on the radio today is Irish actor Frank Kelly's recording "Christmas Countdown" in 1982 in which a man named Gobnait O’Lunacy receives 12 different Christmas gifts from a lady named Nuala. As each gift is received, the man gets increasingly upset with the person who sent them.  And did you know this song gave rise to a Christmas Price Index?  It started in 1984.  There is a total of 364 items, assuming they are repeated in full in each round of the song.  The total cost for all goods and services for the 2015 Christmas Price Index is US$34,130.99 or $155,407.18 for all 364 items.  In 1984, the cost was $12,623.10. We see Charles Daley park yesterday - full of snow and tobogganing fun.