There's no update on the washing away of the sand art sculpture on the beach in Tofino, B.C. I would like to see a video of the art fading away in time-lapse.
In the meantime, there might be things rolling into the beach. The disastrous Japanese earthquake of 2012 that killed 12,000 people sent a torrent - 25 million tons of wreckage into the ocean. Everything from fishing vessels to destroyed homes and possessions. It drifted towards North America by 2014.
Pete Clarkson has been creating sculptures out of marine debris since he moved to Tofino to work for Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. An inter-tidal artist, he forgoes paint, pencils and clay, to work instead with the garbage polluting our oceans and shorelines. Looking closely at one of his assemblages can reveal an unlikely combination of objects from umbrella handles to bath toys and wood from shipwrecks.
And what else is making its way in the debris? Invasive species living on the boats and other debris from Japan. Japanese sea slugs washed ashore in Oregon in 2015. By 2017, more than 289 Japanese species had been swept across the Pacific Ocean. It is called "rafting". With the plastic and other new materials, the process is now "mega-rafting". The materials can float for ages and make it possible for reproduction of creatures on the detritus rafts over the years it took to cross the ocean. One such megaraft was a 165 tonne dock made of concrete, steel and polystyrene foam. It was coated with almost 100 different species.
The Pump house was on the tour in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Here is the steam engine nicely settled in a rose garden. I'd expect the roses to the the War of 1812 Roses
Millie couldn't get above the snow line yesterday. That was only 20 or so inches. But what a contrast there is between how deep the snow is in relation to how high the volcano eruption was from under the ocean in Tonga.
Lake Ontario has no such mysteries nor such depth. So I am in awe of the deepest volcano on the Mariana back-arc in the Pacific Ocean and is 4,500 meters, 14,700 feet or 2.8 miles below the ocean surface. That's a deep ocean. That's the deepest known volcanic eruption on Earth. But it didn't send plumes into the sky so wasn't initially identified.
Tonga's eruption on Saturday was very noticeable - it sent a plume of smoke that reached 20 kilometres above sea level. And then tsunamis - as far as Santa Cruz California. That's 8,500 kilometres away. Waves travelled as far as far as 500 metres inland. Tonga was blanketed in ash.
The volcano is the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai. It triggered tsunami warnings across the Pacific. The eruption was the biggest since Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991, with the cataclysmic bang heard in Fiji more than 750km (466 miles) away. Cataclysmic is a term often associated with volcanoes.
So it makes our snow fall experience to be more of a burden than catastrophe. As we are to expect rain on Wednesday, I can say this: We are full of climate experiences.
Here's a snow joke:
An engineer, a psychologist, and a theologian were hunting in the wilderness of northern Canada.
Suddenly, the temperature dropped and a furious snowstorm was upon them. They came across an isolated cabin, far removed from any town. The hunters had heard that the locals in the area were quite hospitable, so they knocked on the door to ask permission to rest.
No one answered their knocks, but they discovered the cabin was unlocked and they entered. It was a simple place ... 2 rooms with a minimum of furniture and household equipment. Nothing was unusual about the cabin except the stove. It was large, potbellied, and made of cast-iron. What was strange about it was its location ... it was suspended in midair by wires attached to the ceiling beams.
"Fascinating," said the psychologist. "It is obvious that this lonely trapper, isolated from humanity, has elevated this stove so that he can curl up under it and vicariously experience a return to the womb."
"Nonsense!" replied the engineer. "The man is practicing the laws of thermodynamics. By elevating his stove, he has discovered a way to distribute heat more evenly throughout the cabin."
"With all due respect," interrupted the theologian, "I'm sure that hanging his stove from the ceiling has religious meaning. Fire LIFTED UP has been a religious symbol for centuries." The three debated the point for several hours without resolving the issue.
When the trapper finally returned, they immediately asked him why he had hung his heavy potbellied stove from the ceiling. His answer was succinct. "Had plenty of wire, not much stove pipe."
We have two great focal point seating areas in gardens. Do you choose the old-fashioned informal swing or the classic formal bench?
