Nov 17 2023 - Icelandic Volcanoes

 

Cracks in the road - not a pothole.  They are 8 feet across.  And then who wants to look down to see how far down they go?  There are hundreds of earthquakes daily.  There are bulges in the land as well as holes. There are cracks running through the town of Grindavik.  So far there's no fire fountain and lava flows.  And of course, the gases are toxic.   This is on the ground in Iceland. The last big event that got our attention was in 2010 when an Icelandic volcano shot huge amounts of ash into the atmosphere and 100,000 flights and 10 million travellers were put on hold.   So while there hasn't been any "news" for a few days, there are live cam videos that one can watch.  An update an hour ago says that magmatic gas has been detected at a borehole in Svartsengi, signalling an imminent eruption over the coming days.   So we'll wait like the Icelanders and see what develops.  In the meantime, I wonder if there is a sense of humour in Iceland.  Perhaps there is, certainly other nationalities seem to find Iceland funny. My father is Cuban and my mother is from Iceland. So i am ...an Ice Cube I read that the Icelandic alphabet doesn't have a 'Z' in it. How do the people there sleep at night? What does an Icelandic dogs bark sound like? Björk What do you do if you're lost in an Icelandic forest? Stand up! Doesn't it look like the Disney Music Hall is a collapsing moment in an Icelandic volcano!

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Nov 29 2022 - A Christmas Volcano

 

Hawaii's Mauna Loa has erupted for the first time in 40 years.  It is the world's largest active volcano.  Can you imagine a volcano advisory?  We have a high winds advisory today.  Not exactly the same sense of urgency, is there? I should no longer be surprised when that's not the top story on google.  The top story is Christmas.  So the headlines (that I assume are paid) are this:   How'd you like to spend Christmas on a South Pacific Island ... If you ever do spend Christmas on that South Pacific Island named Christmas Island.  Make sure Santa knows where to land his canoe of presents for you, as there are two Christmas Islands.  We know the famous one  James Cook's arrival on Christmas Eve in 1777 likely clinched the name.  It makes me think of how Emerald Lake got its name - it was emerald green.  Poor Christmas Island has been troubled with invades/colonists ever since then.  What was the reason Britain carried out nuclear tests on Christmas Island in the 1950s?  In between it seems to have been annexed, invaded, and then transferred to Australia.  Then it was inundated by asylum seekers in the late 1980s and early 1990s.  Not a place to visit for Christmas, to my mind, ever.  Forget the millions of crabs in the national park.   These events are in the mix of the Christmas-related towns and cities in the U.S. There are lots of towns in the U.S. with Christmas names.  Outside the U.S. there are a few - Natal, Brazil, Int-Niklaas, Belgium, Bethlehem, Wales.  But really the naming of Christmas-themed places seems to be the U.S. North Pole, New York  Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Santa Claus, Indiana North Pole, Alaska Donner Lake, California Christmas Cove, Maine Christmas Valley, Oregon Christmas, Florida I asked this question.  What does Europe have in relation to Christmas with no Christmas-named towns? Europe has the magical and adorable towns that look like Christmas villages and they go all out for Christmas.  They have Christmas Markets in heritage town squares.  These places are "enchanting".   Looking at the pictures is enough proof.   We have great horticulture in the Golden Horseshoe.  Here's a mosaic culture gingerbread house in a Christmas display.  Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Words are Actions

Today's news is being called 'shocking', 'catastrophic', and 'Democracy failed us'. Brexit turned from idea into action.  U.K. voted to leave the European Union. It seems like an atomic explosion, so today's first image gives a portrayal of the emotion of the vote.  And the second image?  What will be seen behind the curtain next - what will happen?  Well, the first impact is in the headlines:  'Pound tumbles to more than 30-year low." There is much ahead of us this summer.  The roller coaster has left the station and about to embark on its journey of climbs and falls, twists and turns.

Shakespeare is In Us

The topic of the interconnectedness of planets in Astrology led me to a memory. I remember reading that energy cannot be created or destroyed so that Shakespeare's atoms have dispersed throughout our planet and we have atoms of Shakespeare in us - all of us. I found this Scientific American  article:  Is energy always conserved, even in the case of the expanding universe? It turns out to be the case. This metaphor of our connectedness to Shakespeare is charming and real.  Here's the article that estimates the number of Shakespeare's atoms in a living human being.  "If you live to 75 years, some 500 trillion of his atoms enter you during your life." The interconnectedness also shows up for me when I take photos of urban grunge.  These are pictures of decay of various surfaces - e.g. paint on wood or metal, on asphalt, rust patterns.  The patterns and shapes of their decay are consistent with the patterns and shapes in organic materials in nature. This is a picture of decaying metal on a rail car at Strasburg last year.  Black paint in crackling with red paint underneath.  Most viewers see something in the range of a volcano's lava flow.  Isn't it remarkable for this quality?

Lavaland in St. Catharines

Today's images come from downtown St. Catharines.  These are a storefront window that has wear and tear on its window coverings.  The brilliant red made me think of lava - and so Lavaland came up as a title. Looking up Lavaland to check on the name brought forth a diverse group with lava lands all over the world - particularly the new world.  There is a Lavaland in Hawaii where there are tours of the active volcano.  There is a 's a Lavaland Elementary School in Albuquerque, NM. Alternately, one can go to the Lavaland RV Park in NM with the 'new platinum pull through' (ask about our new 135 ft long spaces). The one with the best pictures is 'Lost in Lava Land: The Church that Rose from the Ashes':http://www.messynessychic.com/2014/05/27/lost-in-lava-land-the-church-that-rose-from-the-ashes/ - located in Mexico.