Mairlyn's Photos - Jan 21 2026 - At the Table

 

Will Mark Carney’s statement about the new world order be the quote of the year ? “If we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu.” I think it will be the quote of the year if it comes to pass - Greenland gets invaded, Cuba gets invaded, and there’s news we’re starting military preparations for Canada being invaded. And what about this phrase? Quoteinvestigator.com looked into this idiom and gives a chronological sampling of variations: 1993 Sep: At the Table or on the Menu? 2002 Jul: If you are not at the table, then you could be on the menu 2003 Mar: Instead of being on the menu, we have a seat at the table 2003 Jun: You’re either at the table, or you’re on the menu 2004 Apr: If you’re not at the table, you’re probably on the menu The sources of the people and events are HERE.  It is interesting that more than a few are attributed to women.    I wonder when or if AI will be able to give a count of the number of occurrences it has in its databases. It claims this expression has been used “countless times.”  AI seems more human than not as it claims it can count specific phrases in text  but somehow then can’t count this one. And then that it uses the phrase “countless times” like some excuse. Take a look at the idiom “countless” with its meaning “very, very many times, too many to actually count.”  This is an AI euphemism - because the actual definition of countless is: “an extremely large, innumerable, or infinite number that is impossible or impractical to count, like countless stars.” So AI concludes, after my several promptings, that given the widespread use of this idiom in business, politics, and daily life over the past 30+ years, the phrase “at the table” has been used in this context thousands, if not millions, of times.” And I’ve noticed that Google has stopped giving the retrieval count in the overview.  In the Tools section, it says 4,400,400 results.  I guess AI and Google don’t really talk to each other. Here’s a graffiti image - paint over leaves on a wall.

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Marilyn's Photos - Jan 20 2026 - Valentino

 

The last of the 20th Century fashion designers is dead.  Valentino.  There will be no replacement for him, like there is for a pope.  He was considered like an Emperor of the fashion world. His designs were called “sumptuous.”  He had his own signature red, very much like the way Tiffany has its own blue.   He also had a signature “tan” that looked more orange or mahogany than any person should be in my view.  It is described in the articles as being perpetual.   There are many Valentino dresses on Oscar-winning actresses.  He had his own winning streak. His work was considered elegant, incorporating traditional feminine elements such as bows, ruffles, lace and embroidery.  There likely weren’t many famous women of the 20th century who didn’t wear his dresses.  And then there was that red. It is considered a poppy red and is now named Valentino red - the Pantone colour mixes 100% magenta, 100% yellow, and 10% black.   Isn’t this picture stunning!  You can see his mahogany skin tone, and then those luxurious dresses all lined up.  Their arms look like they are in supplication to the Emperor.  There are lots of sponsored red dress content today under the title: Valentino Garavani ,  A cape detail cotton dress is $4,196.00 reduced from $6,170.  Or go to his website HERE.  There’s a short chiffon red dress there for $12,000. I wonder what colour the RCMP uniform is?  It is known as “Red Serge” and is called traditional scarlet.

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happened upon this thread on Freddie Mercury’s voice colours - I’ve copied in the question that started the conversation:  “As someone with synaesthesia, Freddie's voice has always been green. The whole songs have smatterings of other colours like red and gold, but ones like Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy and Killer Queen are very much lime green. Does anyone else with synaesthesia have a similar experience?” Comments Section groxicot •5mo ago For me it's always yellow and purple for Freddie, Orange for Brian Dark green for Deacon's bass guitar and Roger is a bone gray 21 shroomindisguise •5mo ago interesting! i love hearing what colors and such ppl with synaesthesia view things as. i don’t have synaesthesia, but i do like relating colors to things/concepts. for me, freddie’s voice in the 70s is a dark plum color, and the 80s is a bright red 9 MadMeddows •5mo ago What color is "The march of the black Queen"? Or 39'? 8 doogooru •5mo ago March is dark purple and matte black. 39' is blue green, and cobalt blue Isn’t this a curious conversation. I hadn’t thought much about how diverse our experiences could be - it seems like the physical senses of hearing and seeing would be the same.  But it turns out that there is seeing colours when hearing music, tasting something when hearing words, feeling touch or phsycial sensations when hearing words.  This applies to 4% of the population.  Doesn’t it make you wonder if it is someone you already know. This is the likely final version of the salt montage image - it has been combined with a Queen Anne’s Lace floer picture to get this montage.

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Marilyn's Photos - Jan 18 2026 - What Colour is that Note?

 

When did colour get associated with music? We think of colour as relating to eye sight.  The origins say it started out meaning skin colour, hue or appearance.   It has a few meanings that developed from Middle English on.  There’s the heraldry meaning, a figurative meaning - “to use words to a certain effect; to make something appear different from reality or better than it is.”  And there’s that influence or affect meaning,as in - coloured her whole experience. The Greeks had a chromatic scale - chroma, meaning colour. Our modern usage came into common use in the late 1800s. It is used to describe timbre with adjectives like bright, dark, warm, reedy, brassy, nasal, mellow, airy, or piercing. This comes from the arabesqueconservatory.com website.  The website is full of information on this subject HERE.  What about the condition of synesthesia - where the brain experiences colours in response to visual cues like letters or auditory cues like sounds? This occurs for a small percentage of the population.  The sound to colour version is chromesthesia - where a sound involuntarily evokes an experience of colour, shape and movement.  Franz Liszt  spoke in colour terms to his orchestra:  “O please, gentlemen, a little bluer, if you please! This tone type requires it!”  I wonder what they did to satisfy that request!  Or what about:  “That is a deep violet, please, depend on it! Not so rose!”  You can imagine how they at first responded to such commands - I’d be shaking my head. Duke Ellington’s chromesthesia was documented in his 1981 biography.  “I hear a note by one of the fellows in the band and it’s one colour.  I hear the same note played by someone else and it’s a different colour.” Billy Joel has spoken of his chromesthesia.  Quite a few musician and composers have this condition.  I wonder if today’s topic can fulfill a challenge to have a joke every day.  What Chromesthesia jokes might there be?  Here they are: Why was the note C so angry?  It was seeing red. Why do bass players prefer the colour blue?  Because they are always feeling a little flat. And what about this non-Chromesthesia joke: A drummer walks into a music store and says, "I'd like the red trumpet and the white accordion." The owner answers: "You can have the fire extinguisher, but the radiator stays where it is!" This picture is the result of a watercolour technique of putting salt - table salt, sea salt, etc on the wet paint and textures will result. Sometimes they look like flowers and other times like frost.

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