Marilyn's Photos - Sep 29 2025 - A Good Signature

 

We never got direction or advice on our signatures in school.  We learned how to spell then write our names very early on.  I expect many notable people have created their signatures, but for most of us, it just happened. Today is different.  There are young people who can't read or write cursively so can't really "sign" their name. A printed name or a big "X" does not make it for most legal documents and transactions. That's why there is now advice on creating a signature.  Here's the sort of advice I came upon: A good signature gives you brand and identity awareness.  Decide what you want your signature to convey and to reflect you as a person. Consider making it clear and unique so as not to be easy to forge.   Determine what parts of your name you want to include Consider which parts of your name you want to emphasize. For example, while some people sign their full name, others only sign with their first name or their initials. If you are known by your first name, consider only using that name. If you are a teacher who goes by their last name, consider signing using only your surname. Experiment with different styles Once you have an idea of how you want your signature to look, start experimenting. Rewrite your signature multiple times to discover new possibilities and ideas. Playing with different styles can help you determine the direction you want to go in. If you are updating your old signature, consider what you like about your current style and identify what needs work. Think outside of the box It is important to create a signature that is uniquely yours. Since it is not like your everyday writing, you do not need a legible signature—especially if your signature can make up for it in distinctiveness. Use your creative skills to come up with fun ways to make your signature stand out.Try making a letter larger to make it stand out or making a letter smaller for it to blend in with the rest of your signature. For example, consider emphasizing the first letter of your name and making the rest of your letters small. You can also have fun with certain elements of your name or underline your signature if you want to add emphasis. Add flourishes, loops, zigzags, and other designs as you see fit. Aren't you now interested in what signatures look like?  Take a browse through historical figures and celebrities HERE. The most expensive signature sold at auction is George Washington's personal copy of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights - $9.8 million in 2012. Second most valuable is William Shakespeare, with only six known signatures to exist.  All of them incomplete - and so another one of the Shakespeare mysteries. Here they are.

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Marilyn's Photos - Sep 28 2025 - Attack Squirrel

 

Squirrels seem to attract love it or hate it responses.  We don't worry about squirrel attacks.  Think bear attacks and a different concern arises.  So the poster below and story are a bit of a surprise  This happened in California.  Things happen in California don't they?  Here's the AP article.   It turns out that squirrels are well known for causing power outages in the U.S.  They are responsible for 15,000 of animal related outages across five states. They are considered the number one threat to the U.S. electrical grid.  Toronto Hydro reported squirrels caused 80 outages in the city in 2023.  A notable one occurred in the winter in the Financial district.  They call it "wildlife interference."  A perfect phrase. I have found a Sunday Squirrel Joke! The churches in town were all suffering from a squirrel problem. The Presbyterian church called a meeting to decide what to do about their squirrel infestation. After much prayer and consideration, they concluded that the squirrels were predestined to be there, and they certainly should not interfere with God’s will.   At the Baptist church, the squirrels had taken an interest in the baptistry. The deacons met and decided to put a water-slide on the baptistry and let the squirrels drown themselves. The squirrels really liked the slide and, unfortunately, all knew how to swim, so there were twice as many squirrels the following week.   The Lutheran church decided that they were not in a position to harm any of God’s creatures. So, they humanely trapped their squirrels and set them free behind the Baptist church. Two weeks later, the squirrels were back when the Baptists took down the waterslide.   The Episcopalians tried a much more unique path by setting out bowls of whiskey around their church in an effort to kill the squirrels with alcohol poisoning. They sadly learned how much vandalism a band of drunk squirrels can do. The Catholic church came up with a more creative strategy—they baptized all the squirrels and made them members of the church, so that now they only ever see them at Christmas and Easter. The squirrel problem at the Jewish synagogue lasted about a half hour. They grabbed the first squirrel they saw and circumcised it. They haven’t seen another squirrel since. My "mighty squirrel" picture was taken at Hamilton Gage Park - quite the noble stance.

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Marilyn's Photos - Sep 27 2025 - Op-en House Today

 

It is very easy to choose between a garbage open house and a model train layout open house tour.   The City of Hamilton is holding a free  Waste Facility Open House & Facility Tour on Saturday, September 27, 2025, from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM at the Resource Recovery Centre (1579 Burlington St E, Hamilton). Attendees can take a free 45-minute walking tour to see how waste is managed in Hamilton, and there is also an opportunity to drop off clean, dry clothing and textiles for donation.  Then there is the 23rd Annual Hamilton & District Layout Tour in the Hamilton and Niagara area with 23 home and club layouts to visit between 9:00 and 5:00.   Gerry has been getting ready - his layout is on the tour,  I expect lots of people through today.  It won't be very difficult to decide which open house is more fun. Here are two  scene on his layout from a few years ago.  There is a lot of work done since then.

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Mairlyn's Photos - Sep 26 2025 - Chrysanthemums

 

When I look out my office window there is a pot of Chrysanthemums next door beside the walkway.  I put them there to have an enjoyablel floral display.  That rounded head of flowers isn't trained or manipulated to have the tight pack of buds.  I am told that the depth of planting is what makes these ball of flower displays.  When I look up how to pot them for the commercial trade, the only instructions involve pinching - taking out the shoots so the plants stay compact.  I think that's the advice of the past and the commercial growers may be keeping things to themselves. And there is no information on the size of the commercial chrysanthemum market in Niagara. You can drive around and see fields and fields of chrysanthemums in pots with the little drip lines between them.  They have tarps down so no weeds come up.  It probably is strange to see for the first time.  Similar to when we had the tour of the Gerbera greenhouse and it was so large that the central aisle ended in a vanishing point.  So many developments in the last 20 to 25 years.  In comparison to the origins of cultivation in China, a long time has passed. Chrysanthemums were first cultivated around 1500 BCE for herbal and medicinal properties. they got to Japan in the 8th century and to Europe in the late 17th century.  That was when they came to North America as well. So we are about to be indulged with Chrysanthemum Shows - Hamilton, Niagara Falls and Toronto public gardens will have beautiful displays. Here are two different years of past Niagara Falls display below. And the greenhouses are already growing the next big seasonal "crop" - Poinsettias.

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Marilyn's Photos - Sep 25 2025 - Soft and Fluffy

 

Do you look up at clouds as see fluffy, airy things that seem impossibly fragile?  Can this be the case? - that a cloud weights around a million tonnes.  It typically has a volume of around 1km3 and a density of around 1.003kg per m3 – that's a density that’s around 0.4 per cent lower than the air surrounding it. In the same vein of light and fluffy and seemingly "nothing", there are no zero calorie foods.  Even celery, lettuce and watercress. They are a bit crunchy though -  other fluffy foods are divine - like buttermilk pancakes and angel food cake.  And what about fluffy fat?  This is the soft, jiggly fat on stomachs, hips, thighs, and backs of arms.  That's quite a few places, isn't it?  Also called subcutaneous fat, it accumulates between the skin and muscle, making it easy to see. Of coure it turns out to be harder and longer to lose - just so much of it.  Anothe fluffy thing is fluffy poop.  Today's topic is supposed to be fun and not icky and yucky, so go look that up for yourself. And of course, there are undeniable soft/fluffy things like kittens. While Sophie has a vast amount of fur that looks amazingly fluffy, she isn't quite as soft and fluffy as when she was a kitten. Her fur is still like silk and hangs in the air like little clouds.  There could be a biggest cat fur cloud in the Guinness Book of Records. There are many soft and fluffy things.  All these soft and fluffy things trigger a comfort response in us:  they lower cortisol, the stress hormone, they create a sense of predictability and ritual, they help regulate emotions through tactile stimulation, and they can create and recall memories, nostalgia and identity.   One article's conclusion says it all:  In a fast-paced world where we’re often told to “toughen up” or push through discomfort, comfort objects offer us something gentler: presence, safety, and emotional warmth.  So a direct link to that little plush toy Labubu - no wonder it is causing a frenzy.   Look at these clouds - this is the season for them - they look like huge swaths of whipped cream across the sky.  Two soft and fluffy things in one.

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