Mairlyn's Photos - Oct 11 2026 - Is there Thankful Thinking?

 

Once a year - that's it.  That's right.  It is once a year that we all pause for thanks.  How curious. Is thanks a thought or an emotion?  Do we "pause" because it is both - the thought of recognizing, the emotion of gratitude, and then the action is to say thanks.  Expressing thanks affects our mental reward system.   Here's an article that gives some advice on how to go from a complaining life to one which cultivates, and is grounded in, a spirit of Thanksgiving.  First, become aware of how much we complain and how complaining creates suffering for ourselves and those around us.  We become aware of this by doing an exercise called "not complaining" - for an entire day.  Included is not complaining about not being able to complain!   To refrain from complaining is one thing, and to be grateful takes a lot more.  Somehow Thanksgiving focuses on this "meal" - the turkey, its stuffing, the pumpkin pie.  I guess the original colonists were thankful that they had enough to eat in this new continent, and so the tradition.  The advice above is in this article HERE - it has seven stages of gratitude.   That's quite a few to my mind.  And quite the challenge to accomplish.  Maybe that's why we remain with Thanksgiving as a big food event.  So much simpler and not much work, really. Yesterday I drove by this year's version of the display below - it is on Victoria Avenue in Vineland.  I was on my way to pick up my Thanksgiving turkey. What an experience!  It was the annual festival of arts, and there were hundreds, maybe even a thousand people all up and down Victoria Ave.  There can be up to 7,000 people at the festival on a single day of the Thanksgiving weekend.  Cars were parked in fields as far as one could see. They were all smiling and having fun - quite unusual and definitely pleasant to see so many happy people.   Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - Oct 10 2026 - Copium comes of age

 

Copium - how do you serve it?  In a cup?  Here, have a cup of copium.  In a pill?  Take your copium, and you will feel better.   Copium is being described as a metaphorical drug to deal with loss, failure, or disappointment.  Irrational excuses, false hope or denial are the mechanisms.   That takes us to the Maple Leafs who have not won the Stanley Cup for 59 years.  So are we the champion country of copium?  We might be the champion country, but there are sports teams who have not won a championship for longer than the Maple Leafs.  Arizona Cardinals NFL - 78 years Cleveland Guardians - MLB - 77 years Sacramento Kings - NBA - 75 years Detroit Lions - NFL - 68 years Atlanta Haws - NBA - 68 years My case for the Maple Leafs is stronger because hockey is our beloved and national sport.  This goes straight to the heart.  It would likely have to be baseball as similar in the U.S. although it is not designated a national sport.  The Cleveland Guardians have gone 77 seasons without a title.   The most active application of the word copium is in gaming and esports.  "Viewers and players spam "copium" in Twitch Chat or Discord when a streamer, pro player, or fanbase makes excuses for losing a match, bad patch notes or a blown tournament run?" We can go down the parallel path here - "hopium" - predictably,  it is used as a blend of hope and opium in the face of contrary proof or failure.  Its application is highest in finance and crypto. Not knowing this field, I did enjoy the terminology: "It is a staple of crypto Twitter/X, Reddit, and trading forums to describe investors who hold onto failing tokens, dead coins, or crashing stocks with irrational, blind optimism ("I just know this unknown altcoin will be the next Bitcoin") despite all market evidence." I see tokens, coins, and stocks falling from the sky in this scenario as though transported by hurricane and tropical storm winds from Florida.   A pumpkin display from 2025 at the Royal Botanical Gardens.  Time to go see this year's extravaganza. Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - Ot 9 2026 - Cinnamon Season

 

Cinnamon season is here.  It is a universally beloved spice. Cooking-wise there are two types - the true cinnamon  is Ceylon Cinnamon.  It is light brown colour, thin and papery, with a mild, sweet flavour.  The other one is Cassia cinnamon, darker and thick and stronger, with a bitter taste.   Our Clubhouse sorts of spices from the grocery store don't tell us where they are from.  They barely tell us anything about them.  But we can look up Clubhouse Spices from McCormick, and it says they use the cassia.   Let's get the good cinnamon this year.  If one wants the Ceylon cinnamon, the Real Canadian Superstore has it.  We can also count on the Peanut Mill, the organic food store in St. Catharines as it sells Ceylon cinnamon.   And even the Bulk Barn - which is now full of candies and sweets in bulk - sells Ceylon cinnamon.  Bulk Barn used to be things like flour, sugar, oatmeal, nuts.  What a lot of "stuff" now.  All manner of cake, muffin, pancake, and other mixes.  Mixes for things I don't even know what they are.   But no matter about having to wade through the Bulk Barn aisles, it is a relief to know it will be contributing to a delicious pumpkin pie!   Here's a novel use for cinnamon sticks - as an art easel.  We know what kind these would be.  Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - Oct 8 2026 - Hoarding my useless skills

 

I saw an article on hoarding where some poor guy had to clean up his parents' house after they died.  The house was in significant disrepair and was full of stuff the parents had hoarded over the years.  From some kind of extreme nostalgia, he was repairing and cleaning up the house, and reporting it all on social media.  This was in Texas - I am never surprised about the depths that occur in Texas.  But then I got to thinking - what about all the skills that I hoard, but are no longer of any use at all?  What are they?  Shorthand/stenography - I am off the hook there as I didn't learn it. Human computation - I am a bit guilty as I like to count change, but I don't calculate anything complex by hand - excel to the rescue, mostly - where is that percent calculation function these days? Typewriter speed and error correction - I am in the bull's eye there - I've turned off error correction as it makes odd words that shouldn't be in any composition anywhere, and I like to whiz away with my fingers on the keyboard. Switchboard patching - I am younger than that so consider this a red herring. Card Catalog and Alphabetical indexing - Should I file my music titled Irving Berlin's White Christmas under Irving Berlin or White Christmas.  It should be under Irving Berlin - guilty of skill hoarding. Paper map and compass navigation - thank goodness for GPS now - that skill wasn't in good shape to start with. Have we even discussed memorization, resume writing - OK, just being able to write well, reading an analog clock, how to tie things like shoelaces.  Have we even walked into the kitchen where we sifted flour, manually defrosted the refrigerator, estimated oven temperatures, and hand-cranked the egg beater?   What do we hoard in our memories?   It is grape time - you can see the grapes hanging on the vines from the road.  Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - Oct 7 2026 - Frost Ahead but when

 

So far, we've had pleasant Fall weather.  No frost expected in the next week or two.  This time of year I bring the tropical plants into the greenhouse. That makes me attentive to the evening temperatures.  Here's what the advice is for predicting whether frost will happen tonight. How warm was it during the day? If the temperature reached 75ºF (in the East or North) or 80ºF (in the desert Southwest), the chance of the mercury falling below 32ºF at nighttime is slim. Is it windy? A still night allows cold air to pool near the ground; a light breeze stirs things up; a heavy, cold wind sweeps away warm air near the ground. Is it cloudy? If the Sun sets through a layer of thickening clouds, the clouds will slow radiational cooling and help stave off a frost. What is the dew point? As a rule of thumb, don’t worry about a frost if the dew point (the temperature at which water vapor condenses) is above 45 degrees on the evening weather report. How is your garden sited? Gardens on slopes or high ground often survive when the coldest air puddles down in the valleys and hollows. How far are your plants from the ground? Those plants that are close to the ground have a better chance of being protected by the warmth of the earth. Here's a sagging building.   Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com