Marilyn's Photos - July 6 2026 - Fall from the sky

 

As we look for fireflies at night, it is also time to gaze at the sky and ask this question:  what bizarre and extreme things have fallen from the sky? The largest snowflake: in 1887 in Montana.  It measured 15 inches wide and 8 inches thick.  That might have given rise to Snowflake Pie. The largest piece of ice:  in August 1849, a 20 foot long piece of ice fell in Scotland.   The heaviest hailstones on record weighed more than 2 pounds and reportedly killed 92 people in Bangladesh in 1986. The things like fish and frogs come from the sky due to weather formations such as waterspouts.  They suck marine life from the water and rain it down below somewhere else.  In Punta Gorda, Florida there was a hail storm of golf balls in 1969.  The reason was never confirmed but the theory that "stuck" is that a waterspout scooped up all the golf balls languishing in the golf ponds.    This could only happen in the 20th century - in 1969 a South Carolina factory producing non-dairy creamer had malfunctioning air vents. The clogged vents allowed the powder mixture to leak into the air where it mixed with falling rain and fell in glops in Chester, South Carolina.  Of course - money - in 2015 United Arab Emirates dirham currency showered over Kuwait City.  In Servia, a plane carrying gold and diamonds spilled cargo over the runway in 2018.  And then there's space junk. But the claim is that the machinery won't survive re-entry intact and will splinter into sufficiently small pieces.  When there's enough rain on the windshield, the distortions are excellent.  You need lots of gloppy rain.  Here are the kinds of images that happen. Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - July 5 2026 - American as...

 

I receive the New York Times daily post that they offer for free.  It is always  interesting in its perspective.  Today, it gives us a sampling of what people consider "The most American thing".   Here are the selections: Horror movies. Workout clothes. The Grand Theft Auto video game series and The Beast roller coaster in Mason, Ohio. Amazon Prime, offers Kevin Roose, who covers technology: “It is based on a fundamentally American premise — that people want things fast, cheap and all the time.” (I feel so seen!) James Poniewozik, our television critic, picked “Survivor.” “A bunch of people come from somewhere else, and they are stuck with each other and they have to set up a society and figure out how to get along or not get along,” he says. People compete, but they also collaborate. Then there’s Kim Severson, the food writer, who says the story of America can be told through … the M&M. It was created by a pair of nepo babies. It flew on the space shuttle. It has its own store in Manhattan, plus spokescandies. The most American artwork, according to our critic Jason Farago, is actually French: the Statue of Liberty. He went inside it for the first time only a few weeks ago, and marveled at the thinness and malleability of the copper. “There’s this sort of extraordinary symbol that’s also an empty shell — it’s something that’s very, very strong, but it’s also vacant,” Jason explains. “You could spend a lot of time with your therapist talking about how these contradictions might embody a certain American ideal.” The Echinaceas are opening - here's a watercolour interpretation.  Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - July 4 2026 - Laugh Out Loud

 

A little light-hearted humour is in order for the July 4th this year.  "The 2025 Washington Post Neologism Contest, now run by the community as the WPM Invitational, featured winners including Matrimoney (motivation for a gold digger), Astocrab (a noble crustacean), Cantalope (lovers without a ladder), and Bureaucrazy (the frustrating, circular nature of red tape).   Background and Viral Classics Originating in the Washington Post’s "Style Invitational," the contest challenges readers to create clever, alternative definitions for existing words. While many lists circulating online are recent, the term "Washington Post Neologisms" is often used to refer to a collection of perennial, viral favourites from over the years, such as:  Cashtration: Financial impotence caused by buying a house. Sarchasm: The gulf between a wit and the person who doesn't get it. Inoculatte: Taking coffee intravenously when late. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when coming at you rapidly. Flabbergasted: Being appalled by your own weight gain. Esplanade: Trying to explain something while drunk. Frisbeetarianism: Believing your soul gets stuck on the roof when you die. " A happy summer watercolour. Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - July 3 2026 - There's Always Hope

 

Let's check out that Zombie Movie I found the other day.  I think that the plot explains what made Bob Hope so amazing and funny.  This from Wikipedia: The film opens in 1940 Manhattan during a violent evening thunderstorm. From a radio studio, broadcaster Larry Lawrence exposes the crimes of underworld boss Frenchy Duval. In her hotel suite, while listening to the broadcast, Mary Carter is visited by Mr. Parada, a sinister Cuban solicitor. He delivers her the deed to her inheritance—a plantation and mansion in Cuba. Despite Parada's objections, Mary decides to travel there by ship to inspect the property. As Larry finishes his program, he takes a phone call from Frenchy himself, inviting Larry to his hotel. Coincidentally, Frenchy lives on the same floor as Mary. When Larry arrives, he fires his gun and becomes convinced he killed a man, initially unaware that the actual assailant is further down the hall. Looking for cover, Larry ducks into Mary's suite, where he takes refuge in her large open trunk. Unaware of Larry's presence, Mary locks the trunk and arranges for its transport to the harbor. At the dock, Larry's valet Alex searches among the luggage and finds Larry. Although not in time to prevent the trunk's transfer to the ship's hold, Alex manages to get on board to extricate his employer before the ship sails. During the trip, Larry and Mary strike up a flirtation. They then meet an acquaintance of Mary's, Geoff Montgomery, a young intellectual who regales them with tales of Caribbean superstitions, particularly voodoo, ghosts, and zombies. Upon reaching Havana, Larry, and Alex travel to her new island estate. En route, they find a shack occupied by an old woman and her catatonic son, whom they suspect is a zombie. Mary arrives on the island and the three explore the old, abandoned mansion and discover the large portrait of a woman who is a mirror image of Mary. Soon, they are terrorized by a ghost. Then, they encounter the "zombie", whom Alex traps in a closet. Parada arrives next, but he's fatally stabbed and placed in a casket. Larry and Mary discover him; Parada's last act is to reveal to them access to a secret passage under the house. As the couple draw closer to the lost treasure, Parada's murderer attempts to kill them, but this sets off a trap that causes him to plummet through the basement floor to his death. Larry, Mary, and Alex leave the island after claiming Mary's right to her fortune. As Larry alludes to his plans for his and Mary's eventual honeymoon, the film draws to a close."

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Marilyn's Photos - July 2 2026 - After Canada Day

 

That's my recommendation for mid-week Canada Days.  We have an automatic After Canada Day holiday.  So far, there is the only idea in the press - Terry Fox Day.  I would vote for that.  Would that be a referendum? How often should we be voting directly? It would keep us active in decisions that relate to our daily life.  Burt it doesn't seem to be Canadian-style to have referendums. One big referendum was in 1898 on prohibition.  It is a telling chart.  All the provinces voted against prohibition except Quebec.  Is that an indicator of how differently Quebekers thought compared to the rest of the provinces?  The government did not adopt Prohibition, saying the overall majority in favour was slight and turn-out was low. Then there was conscription in 1942. (Again Quebec voted the opposite of everyone else). The government "adopted conscription but with a light touch, initially adopting the policy that those conscripted would not be sent overseas to active fighting."  Do you know what these conscripts were nicknamed?  Zombies. Who would have thought zombies were already ingrained in our social psyche in 1942.  Maybe it was the 1940 film The Ghost Breakers with Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard. The big national referendum so far was the Charlottetown Accord. While most of the politicians at national and provincial levels supported it, it had some notable opponents, and eventually the no vote won over.   With the Alberta referendum is coming up, so we're getting prepared for political stress.  We don't seem to do well on referendums historically.  In that light, would we really have a referendum on Terry Fox Day being the After Canada Day holiday?  Messy thoughts all-round. Here is Grimsby's Rotary Clock.

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