Taking Things for Granted

I looked up the expression to take things for granted. "There are things we consider to be true, to exist, to be present.  We take them for granted. By doing so we underestimate its value and don't give recognition or thanks".   Then there's surmise - to suppose that something is true without having evidence to confirm it. What about assumptions? This is a thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen, without proof. And presumption?  This is an idea that is taken to be true, and often used as the basis for other ideas, although it is not known for certain. It can also indicate behaviour perceived as arrogant, disrespectful, and transgressing the limits of what is permitted or appropriate. Comparing presumption and assumption I found this: A presumption is something you think is true before you know any facts about the matter. An assumption is something you think is true when you miss information, but you think you have it. The difference can be subtle. When you have certain set ideas about some things, they are also presumptions. Women can not drive cars is a presumption. Based on the presumption, I can assume that you can not drive, because you are a woman. Isn't that so interesting in its subtlety. We might even move on to inferences.  However, I say lets stop - this involves too much logic and philosophy.  So to conclude here are a few assumption jokes: Q. Is there a Fourth of July in England? A. Yes, it comes after the third of July! Q. How many birthdays does the average man have? A. Just one! Q. Some months have 31 days; how many have 28? A. All of them! Here's a picture of our front garden taken last week.

Dignity and Veltheimia

Dignity is defined as the state or quality of being worthy of honour or respect. Other definitions speak to the having a composed or serious manner.   A common association  with dignity is mastery over our bodily functions and the presence/lack of clothing.  We seem to consider naked to be undignified.  This is so much the case that it is illegal in most places. I went in search of some context for this and I found this article at the National Catholic Register HERE: Clothe the Naked:  Acknowledging the Need for Human Dignity.  "Nake is an archaic English word meaning “to strip clothes off.” To be “naked,” therefore, is to be in a state of “having had your clothes stripped off.” Why does this bit of pedantry matter? Because it speaks volumes about what our ancestors regarded as the natural state of man. While a couple of groups attempted it in warmer Mediterranean climates in early Christendom, it is not until after the Reformation, the rise of the Enlightenment and, especially, the rise of technologies that allowed Northern Europeans to maintain a bit of comfort in chill weather that Northerners really started to see the rise of so-called “Adamite” movements (later frankly renamed nudist movements), which propose that our natural state is to walk around buck naked on the theory that clothes are an unnatural encumbrance on our glorious childlike freedom. For our ancestors of not many generations back, such a proposal was not just silly in a practical sense; it was also just about 180 degrees backwards from normality. Fallen man was, so to speak, born clothed. Something unnatural had to be done — he had to undergo some process of naking — for him to end up naked. It was seen, not as a return to simplicity and beauty, but as a shameful state. Pity — or scorn — was heaped on those found to be naked, not breezy “Flower Child” approval". It is because clothes have so very much to do with our human dignity that Jesus urges us to clothe the naked. But this confronts us with a problem. As with every counsel of Jesus, the command to clothe the naked has both a practical and spiritual dimension, because grace builds on nature. And there’s the rub: Our encounters with the naked beggar are fairly rare. The people I meet in the soup kitchen line at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Seattle are not naked. Nor are the homeless folk you meet in your town. This is the beautiful Veltheimia flower - this picture is at Butchart Gardens in the restaurant.

Up on the Roof

The contents of my conservatory greenhouse are still in the garden.   Compared to yesterday morning, it is very clean outside and in. How does one clean the outside of a greenhouse?  From the roof!  The little yellow chord in the picture is the water supply. What is the difference between a conservatory and a greenhouse?  Wikipedia gives us three options: Conservatory (greenhouse), a substantial building or room where plants are cultivated, including medicinal ones and including attached residential solariums Music school, or a school devoted to other arts such as dance Sunroom, a smaller glass enclosure or garden shed attached to a house, also called a conservatory So greenhouse and conservatory are interchangeable.   Along the way, I saw that a conservatory and musikgymnasium appear similar.  Musikgymnasiums are in Germany.  In Germany, this term describes one of three types of the most advanced types of German secondary schools.  It sounds similar to the Royal Conservatory of Music - musical education for youth.  The Royal Conservatory is outside the regulated education system in Ontario. Its is an independent institution, although it used to be governed by the University of Toronto.  Its royal charter came from King George VI in 1947.   Who would be considered its most famous pupil?  Would it be Glenn Gould or Oscar Peterson?  There's a very long list of graduates HERE.  They include Gordon Lightfoot, Diana Krall, Gordon Pinsent, Norman Jewish, and Randy Bachman.  Jeff Healey is listed, but I heard him on his JazzFM show say that he was disgusted by their lack of interest in early Jazz (his specialty), and he left in the first semester.  In his biography it says he received an Honorary Licentiate from the Royal Conservatory of Music.

Bees Come Down

We think we're the only ones who understand that zero is less than one.  Livescience.com (which brought the exploding rotten fish art story) says that dolphins, African gray parrots and nonhuman primates understand "zero".  And that bees are considered to understand zero - with a brain of less than a million neurons  (compared to our 86 billion neurons). 'The researchers set up two cards, each of which had a set of symbols on them, like triangles or circles. Then, they trained a group of the bees to fly to the card with the lower number of symbols. (The bees quickly learned what the humans wanted them to do to get their delicious, sugary rewards). The trained bees were then shown a card that was empty versus one that had symbols on it. Without any prior training, the bees flew more often to the empty card — thereby demonstrating that they understood that "zero" was a number less than the others, according to the study, which was published Thursday (June 7) in the journal Science. Although they flew more often to an empty card than to one that had one symbol on it, it became easier for them to differentiate when the symbols' card increased in number. For example, they more often flew to the zero when the other card had four symbols than when it had one, according to NPR.' Today's pictures show our newest restaurant in Grimsby - Casa Toscana.  The beautiful turreted house in the middle of the downtown section used to be a real estate office and now is a lively patio/restaurant.  Luca Vitali is pictured with Therese de Grace, the chef previously with The Good Earth.  Now we can savour fine food along with the finest extra-virgin Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar imported from his mother's farm in Tuscany. I planted the little herb garden for him out in front of the porch.

Exploding Art

The news this week included the following headline: Rotting Fish Art Explodes, causes Fire in London Gallery "The installation — a piece called "Majestic Splendor" by Lee Bul — was part of an exhibition of the Korean artist's work, scheduled to open at the Hayward Gallery on May 30. Then, hours before the show's first preview, the gassy art blew up, causing a fire that damaged part of the gallery, artnet News reported. Even though the exhibit was not yet open to the public, gallery officials had already decided to remove "Majestic Splendor" from the show for safety reasons. They had learned earlier that a chemical added to the fishes' bags to dampen their smell could become flammable after combining with gases released by the decomposing flesh, and art handlers were taking down the art as a precaution when it suddenly combusted and sparked a fire, a gallery spokesperson told frieze magazine. This experience had occurred at MOMA in 1997 with the same installation.  Dozens of small, transparent bags were fixed to a wall; each contained a rotting fish decorated with stitched-on sequins and beads, representing Bul's scathing commentary on the fleeting nature of beauty for highly ornamented women.  At that installation, the special refrigeration failed, and the smell was so bad that it caused the display to be removed... Then subsequent showings included an odour-reducing chemical. When combined with combustible material, the chemical is known to trigger violent explosions." All of this comes from the Livescience story HERE.  This is a site that covers science news so the rotting fish story appears under strange news of the week. Another story was about the eruption of Hawaii's Mount Kilauea causing the largest freshwater lake to evaporate because so much boiling lava poured into it.   Garden tour season has begun, and we're looking at this perfect garden in St. Catharines on Henry Street in 2017.

Wetsuit Weather on Lake Ontario

Right now the water temperature of Lake Ontario is 10 degrees and the air temperature is 12 degrees.  So I guess we have to wait a while before considering swimming.  The perfect water temperature for swimming is between 18 and 24 degrees. It doesn't get to peak range in Lake Ontario until the middle of August.  I wondered what made that so.  There are a number of factors and one is how deep the water is - Lake Ontario has deep water.  So considering that there is very deep water,  why doesn't it freeze at the bottom in the winter? The answer is this:  It is because as the water gets close enough to freezing, the colder water is less dense and floats to the top.  So at the bottom of deep lakes the water can be cold without freezing into ice.  Right now - should I wear a wet suit to swim in the lake? I found out this result as an answer.  According to Surf Forecast,  it says that "surfers should use a 2mm long sleeve shorty or a 3/2mm spring wetsuit if the wind is up. The coldest sea water temperatures at Toronto Breaks mean that you will need a flexible 6/5/4mm wetsuit or a well fitting 5/4mm wetsuit with gloves and 5mm neoprene booties and a hood to surf here in the third week of February".  I can't imagine who would assess surfing conditions in Lake Ontario in February.  I would think that would bring out the life guard patrol.  There are five beaches listed in Grimsby - Casablanca,  Murray Park, Nelles Park, Grimsby Beach and Bal Harbour.  The water quality is monitored weekly and reported in theswimguide.org but not the temperatures.  Nelles Beach, in particular reminds me of ocean beaches the west coast, with those long expanses that disappear on the horizon.  Last year the water was so high that they were inaccessible all summer.  Charles Daley Park was fenced off.  Grimsby Beach pier was fenced off. This photo was taken in October last year - it is Sunrise Beach (formerly Municipal Beach) in St. Catharines.  This is one of those great long expanses that makes you realize that Lake Ontario has a 'coast'.

Party Plates

My friend Carol, sent me the history of the paper plate.  The surprising fact she found was that they were invented in 1904 by Martin Keyes.  He saw workers eating their lunches at a veneer plant in New York on thin waste pieces of maple veneer.   Wikipedia gives the date even earlier - German bookbinder Hermann Henschel, in Luckenwalde in 1867. The paper cup was invented as a health cup in 1908 - it was a crusade to ban publicly shared utensils in public places.  The motivation was seeing a tuberculosis patient drinking from a common dipper in a train car.  Hugh Moore's invention later became the dixie cup.  Popularization of disposable food packaging/serving items came about in the 1930s when they were used to feed remote workers and defense factory workers.  It seems that an explosion of variations developed after the war. McDonald's who made a revolutionary decision in 1948 to only serve meals in 'take-away' containers.  They caused a tectonic shift (or is it a Titanic shift?) in the restaurant business.  Fast forward to our current time and we find ourselves in the global Ocean Plastic Crisis.  Today our view of single service packaging has changed from healthy to harmful, and is presented as a world epidemic for human and other creatures' health. Consider my generation's experience of the transformation of this product: we can recall an innocent time when a paper plate meant a picnic in the park by the lake. Our pictures show the Paulownia (Empress Splendour Tree) blooming at Longwood Gardens.  This is an invasive species in North America - it is considered the fastest-growing tree int he world. Here in Niagara, it is a difficult tree to get to bloom - I know of three trees in the area.  There's a large one at Vineland Research, next to the Foreign Affair Winery and it is blooming now. There are two tiny trees in my garden.  I didn't mean to have two, I moved the tree, and this spring a second one has popped up in the original location.  They are known to survive wildfire because the roots can regenerate new, very fast-growing stems. My version is said to have white blossoms rather than the soft purple-lilac. A Paulownia's leaves and flowers are edible and used to feed livestock.  Its wood is desirable and used for jewellery boxes in Japan.  There are many positive attributes where it is native, but alas a persistent, exotic invasive in North America.

Start the Mower

There is a new lawn mower - the Husqvarna automower.  It has no handle. There isn't one in the picture as it is a little robot.  It works safely around pets and children, it remains discreet and silent, it mows both day and night and even in nasty weather.  It 'clips' rather than cuts, and mows based on grass growth rate.  Given you can monitor it from you smart phone, wouldn't it qualify as part of the Internet of Things?  Other selling features include being able to find its charging station by following a boundary wire.  Here is Reader's digest's advise on how to 'treat your lawn to a healthy tonic':   Many homeowners have had great success with homemade lawn “tonics” made from simple products that might already be on your pantry shelves. The recipes vary, but most share these common ingredients: 1 can non-light beer 1 can non-diet soda pop 1 cup ammonia 1 cup liquid dish soap 1 cup molasses or corn syrup 1/2 cup mouthwash There's an explanation for this recipe of ingredients and their benefits.  (really!) We're looking at the newly renovated Longwood Fountain Garden.  Over $90 million was spent to re-landscape the area and to introduce the latest technology in fountain displays.