November's Witches and Big Blows

The month of November is the stormiest on the Great Lakes.  The Witch of November is the name given to the strong winds that blow across the vast waters in Autumn.  It came yesterday night for Halloween and it howled across the Grimsby landscape.  The winds across the lakes can reach hurricane levels.  This accounts for ships sinking in Lake Ontario in November. Waves of up to 30 feet have swamped and overturned ships in the biggest storms. On the west coast the winds are known as Big Blows.  They form as cyclonic windstorms.  Cyclonic sounds ominous, doesn't it?  These storms have caused bridges to fail as well as ships to sink.  So many that it is named the graveyard of the Pacific.  More than 2,000 vessels have sunk since 1800. What made me think of this?  Port Dover on Lake Erie is flooded at record levels. There's video of a truck driving through water that covers the normally long stretch of sandy beach.  I don't think anyone is going to use the telephone booth stranded out there.  You can see the video HERE.  Something I notice is that it is typically a truck driving through the flood waters with its engine just above the water level. It is normal for water levels oscillate back and forth in the lake - and one and a half feet is a typical level. But there this is something called isostatic rebound.   What is this?  Here's the answer from the International's Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Board: Overall, isostatic rebound, which is the process whereby the earth’s crust is slowly adjusting to the lack of the weight of the glaciers from the last ice age, affects the north shore as well as the south shore of Lake Ontario. In general, the west end of the lake is sinking relative to the outlet, the St Lawrence River. Isostatic rebound means slightly deeper water for the northwest shore (15 cm) and for the southeast shore (4 cm) for the same given water level compared to 100 years ago. So on the water theme, here is the Folly Waterfalls at Villa Eyrie.  I felt it was mismatched with the path in front and bistro table and chairs.  However, the moody picture with just the building waterfall shows off its eccentric style which is most creative and interesting.

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Remembering Halloween Candy

Those of us who grew up in the 1950s had a Halloween that was abundant with all kinds of candies - particularly homemade taffy apples and caramel corn. I expect that people will recall the other side of Halloween candy - those Halloween kisses - over-chewy  with a funky sort of flavour that didn't resemble what it was made with - molasses. We considered them the worst Halloween candy.  And that turns out to be the case still.  In 2017, a National Post newspaper article derided Kerr's Molasses Kisses as the worst candy ever.  The battle played out on Twitter. "This Halloween don't scare kids with that wretched Kerr's molasses candy that you hated as a kid," wrote one user who goes by Terry, linking to the article. Kerr's responded with its own dose of sass. "You're right, Terry, you should keep Molasses Kisses all to yourself. Don't let the kids have the good candy!" the candy company's account tweeted back." The recipe has remained the same for 75 years.  This means that if you are looking for a bit of Halloween nostalgia, you can still buy them.  Kerr's boasts that they made of 10% real molasses, no artificial colours, real sugar, no modified or hydrogenated fats or oils, peanut free, tree-nut free, gluten free, vegetarian and Halal. The ingredients of Kerr's Halloween kisses do not make them more desirable to me. This view from Villa Eyrie, in Malahat, on the east side of Vancouver island, is definitely a candy apple view.  One could wake up to this every day.

Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com