June 30 2023 - Last call for the month of Brides and onto Donkey tales

 

June is the traditional wedding month.  After that is is September and October being considered the most popular months to get married. It has to do with the mild weather.  Maybe also all those roses filling the air with perfume. So we close June and head into July.  This is the month of "summer activities." We have a lot of summer activities compared to winter time.  Dozens of things to do and see.  Caves, hiking, boating, water falls, canoeing, kayaking, carnivals and fairs. It seems endless.  Of all of these what catches my attention? There are two donkey farms listed in Ontario.  The Donkey Sanctuary of Canada and the PrimRose Donkey Sanctuary.  The first is in Puslinch and the second out past Oshawa. Puslinch is very close to me.  Don't you wonder how we got to needing a sanctuary for donkeys when there don't seem to be many or even any around? In North America, donkey work is predator control and guarding animals on farms.  Coyotes and wild dogs would be the main concern in Ontario. While it doesn't say how many animals are at the donkey sanctuary in Puslinch, you can view the page of the donkeys that would like to be sponsored.  They have names like Beans, Big Ben, BlueApollo and Austin. Each has a profile - take a look HERE.    And if we wait for September, the second most popular wedding month, we can take part in the 5K trail run and walk through their nature trails and paddocks.  It is their biggest fundraiser of the year.   Today's picture isn't a donkey, but it came to my mind right away.  I took it in Strasburg as we were taking the train ride.  It seems amazing that a field would be full of flowers like this and to have such a delightful focal point.     Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

June 21 2022 - William Shakespeare vs The Birds Aren't Real

 

Isn't it a mystery that those who knew Shakespeare the playwright did not mention him in Stratford-upon-Avon.  He was famous in his lifetime. He owned the second largest house in Stratford.  This negative evidence has led to questions of his identity and who the playwright might have actually been.   Of the people he knew well, none have made entries in their diaries and letters connecting William Shakespeare the playwright with William Shakespeare of Stratford.  We have some mysteries in our own lifetime: Who shot JFK and RFK? The mystery of Marilyn Monroe's death. Was Natalie Wood's death an accident or murder? What happened to Amelia Earhart? Where is Jimmy Hoffa? The Black Dahlia's death Kenneth Arnold's Flying Saucers and UFOs And in our lifetime, we have film footage that we are able to look at.  There are witnesses at the scene who have been interviewed.  Sophisticated forensic techniques and investigations have been carried out.   It is not surprising that it is during the 20th century that conspiracy theories have become pervasive - the Moon Landing, the 9/11 conspiracies, Princess Diana's "murder",  Roswell crash and "cover-up", The Satanic Panic, and so on.   Here's the ultimate conspiracy story:  "The Birds Aren't Real": a movement developed by Peter McIndoe, 23, who started it in 2017.  Until a December 2021 interview in the New York Times, McIndoe stayed in-character as a true believer, insisting in media interviews and online that birds aren't real, but rather they are surveillance drones made by the U.S. government. Birds Aren't Real has a staff; it has organized real-life protests; it bought real-life billboards; and it emblazoned vans with their claim. The goal, says McIndoe, is to parody the misinformation that Gen Z finds itself stewing in.   "Birds Aren't Real is not a shallow satire of conspiracies from the outside. It is from the deep inside," he told The New York Times. "A lot of people in our generation feel the lunacy in all this, and Birds Aren't Real has been a way for people to process that.  The experiment revealed that conspiracies sometimes grow by credulity: Local media sometimes reported on Birds Aren't Real as if it was something young people really believed rather than an elaborate joke. Birds Aren't Real organizers hope the joke will become a force for good by exposing all the ways misinformation thrives.  "Yes, we have been intentionally spreading misinformation for the past four years, but it's with a purpose," McIndoe said. "It's about holding up a mirror to America in the internet age." It is officially summer - it happened at 5:14 this morning. Let's celebrate with flowers.

Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Facebook Twitter Website Email Share Tweet Forward

Mar 5 2020 - Incredible? The Mona Lisa

What is incredible these days?  Is it different than in previous times?  Incredible means something that is impossible to believe.  I expect we have so much captured in photos that a great deal of what happens today is credible rather than incredible.   But something that caught my attention was the Louvre re-opening.  The New York Times says it isn't providing guards in the Mona Lisa room to keep order. Thousands visit every day.  The measure is to protect guards, but leaves the public to decide for themselves. I realized that I find our fixation on the Mona Lisa an incredible thing. I was shocked to see in when I visited the Louvre.  Dark, dingy, small.  I was dismayed to see this famous painting.  But wait!  Here's the introduction in the Britannica HERE that speaks to my wondering about this painting's elevated status: "Five centuries after Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa (1503–19), the portrait hangs behind bulletproof glass within the Louvre Museum and draws thousands of jostling spectators each day. It is the most famous painting in the world, and yet, when viewers manage to see the artwork up close, they are likely to be baffled by the small subdued portrait of an ordinary woman. She’s dressed modestly in a translucent veil, dark robes, and no jewelry. Much has been said about her smile and gaze, but viewers still might wonder what all the fuss is about. Along with the mysteries of the sitter’s identity and her enigmatic look, the reason for the work’s popularity is one of its many conundrums. Although many theories have attempted to pinpoint one reason for the art piece’s celebrity, the most compelling arguments insist that there is no one explanation. The Mona Lisa’s fame is the result of many chance circumstances combined with the painting’s inherent appeal."   And then the article goes on to outline all the interesting circumstances over the centuries that makes it famous. Another article outlines 7 mysteries that make the work mysterious - it is HERE. The part that fascinates me is da Vinci's relationship with his work: "Leonardo da Vinci worked on the painting for four years, and possibly at intervals after that. He always took it with him when he travelled, and he never signed or dated it." That seems to find incredible for me - Leonardo Da Vinci's passion and fixation for this painting lives on through us.  I found myself an artist to follow the other day on Redbubble.  Love the yellow lily they chose.  Here's a collage.

Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://www.blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

The Loudest Sounds of Spring

Does every season have sounds?  What are the sounds of Spring?  They are bird songs!  You can find music to tweet to by the National Trust.  Or you can find websites that ask you whether you can hear these sounds and if not, it may mean you need hearing aids.  What are the sounds that are the signs of hearing loss? If human conversation is between 60 and 70 decibels, here are sounds that are the signals: 1. Birdsong  - decibels not available 2. Pattering rain - 50 decibels 3. Rustling leaves - 20 decibels 4. Spring peepers - decibels not available 5. Buzzing mosquitoes - 40 decibels 6. Noisy squirrels - 20 decibels  What is the decibel range of birds?  It turns out it is difficult to decide - some parts of their call are outside the range of human hearing. What is known is that the lyrebird of Australia or the American bittern are the loudest.  I would have thought  it must be over 135 decibels as that is what the Moluccan Cockatoo has been recorded at.  However, they are listed at 101 decibels. There was a Great Horned Owl calling in the night last week in our vicinity.  Did you know that the Great Horned Owl can be heard for over 2 miles? And if the forest turns out to be too quiet to hear, move to the ocean.  The loudest animal on earth is the blue whale and it can generate sound levels of 188 decibels. This can be heard for hundreds of miles underwater.  No hearing aid needed there. I haven't found any loud plants so far.  Here's an orchid.

Polka Dots

The subtropical garden has plants that we don't have at all. These little yellow polka dots look more like something fabricated than a product of nature. These turn out to be a Psilotum nudum also known as the Skeleton Fork Fern.  Its name means 'bare naked' in Latin, because it lacks most of the organs of modern plants.  It is considered a'primitive' plant.  It is prized in Japan and called pine needle orchid there.  In the Hawaiian Islands it is known locally as Moa because of its chicken feet like stems.  Hawaiians use the spores like talcum powder. Children have a game called 'moa nahele'  or cock fighting with the branches and stems.  The winner would crow like a rooster.  It also has a common name of Whisk Fern, as a handful of its branches would be tied together and used as  broom.   All this history from an unusual plant in the conservatory of the Marie Selby Gardens in Florida.