Conventional Wisdom

People are talking about: "Last year compared to this year" weather differences.  Our fitness instructor mowed the lawn three times by yesterday's date last year.  I'd sent out pictures of orchards in bloom, having spotted the first orchard trees blooming in mid-April.  The Magnolias were in bloom in Queenston, a beautiful town on the Niagara River.   I was thinking of what conventional wisdoms have become common practice in the 20th century. I expected to find things like the 80-20 principle.  While the term dates back to 1838,  it is associated with John Kenneth Galbraith in his 1958 book The Affluent Society in which he displayed his contrarian view of economic theories of the day. Conventional wisdom is considered a derogatory term - it is defined as "ideas so accepted that they go unquestioned".  The example that is cited is that it was once believed that the Earth is flat, and that at the Earth is the centre of the universe.   Wikipedia puts it more specifically:  "It is widely believed that prior to Christopher Columbus people thought the world was flat, but in actuality, scholars of that time had long accepted that the earth is a sphere.  The above sentence is true; people today often think that Columbus discovered the world to be round, when in fact the world's roundness was already widely known by Columbus' time. However, if enough people read and believe the above sentence, the above sentence will eventually supplant the old belief (the old belief in past belief in a flat earth). The above sentence would become the new conventional wisdom. (Ironically, however, this would also turn the above sentence, the new conventional wisdom, into a false claim; because the new conventional wisdom would propose that people are confused about past beliefs in a way that they actually wouldn't be.)" So complicated a term to consider.  In seeking a list of typical conventional wisdoms, I find lead-in paragraphs to research studies and their results and financial investors and their advice. My sense is that this expression has been hijacked by writers. If it is a serious area of investigation, perhaps it is obscure rather than popular. And now what we experience is that it is conventional wisdom to challenge conventional wisdom.  There's something circular about this concept! The fascinating Canada Blooms' wall sculpture is today's subject.  The second picture shows it interpreted by the Flaming Pear plug-in "India Ink".  The third one interprets it with the Topaz Labs plug-in "Glow".  Both interpretations show off its wonderful design structure.

Family Day Butterfly Fly By

"Oreo the skunk and Rucker the North American barn owl are among a menagerie of animals who will celebrate Family Day weekend at the Niagara Parks Butterfly Conservatory".   The Butterfly Conservatory reopened this weekend after being closed for several weeks for pruning, rearranging and restoring the tropical environment.   The Conservatory is home to more than 40 species and 2,000 butterflies. In preparation for our visit, I have sought out a few butterfly jokes. What do you get when you eat Caterpillars? Butterflies in your stomach Why was the butterfly not invited to the dance? Because it was a moth ball Who said I'd win that giant butterfly contest? Me and my big moth How do you make a butterfly? Flick it out of the butter dish with a knife Why did the boy throw the butter out the window? Wanted to see the butter fly Which insect is the ruler of the insect world? The monarch

November is Chrysanthemum Month

We don't usually think of November as a 'highlights in the garden' month.  And yet this is the start of Autumn colours for Japanese Maples, Dawn Redwoods, Cypress,  and Weeping Willows.  Our pictures show the turning colours of Hosta leaves in my garden.   The Chrysanthemum is the 'birth flower' of November.  Longwood announced its Thousand Bloom Chrysanthemum Tree has more than a thousand blossoms again this year - 1,523 flowers on a single stem. The link takes you to a youtube video showing the growing technique over its 18 month life.  Close by to me are the Chrysanthemum Festivals of Gage Park in Hamilton (finished October 30th), the Niagara Falls Showcase Greenhouses (all of November),  and then Allan Gardens and Centennial Greenhouses in Toronto. Their growers have been to Longwood for training and expert guidance, and the results are displays of beautiful, large blossoms standing tall on single stems in many colours and shapes.

Back Doors in Toronto

Doors are everywhere in the city.  Mostly they are standard, consistent, and ordinary.  Typically, we want doors to be easy to navigate for commercial and retail use. Every once in a while a distinctive door shows up - like this one.  One can see that there is construction and renovation going on inside.  Workmen avoided the camera and dodged the picture-taking.  The door opening and door are made up a molded material in a wavy, bumpy pattern. This door isn't a secret door - one can clearly see the handle.  It seems a sister design to secret door designs.  I looked for a site covering Toronto's unusual doors, but haven't found one.  It would be fun to find out about this.

This Old House

We return to the scene of the sagging barn/shed.  I thought I'd show you the story from all of its angles.  The road view is what you see in the first two pictures. The surprise back is the third picture.  Then we met the second urprise of the old car.  Every old car has a story, so there's an abstract grunge photo to complete our trip around this old house. Today is the last day we can declare  "Until the end of August".  Other than that there doesn't seem to be a lot of significance to the last day of August.  It is tomorrow that has significance!

Betterphoto February Contest Winner

Betterphoto's contest for February had 4700 .  My image of Peacock Feathers is one of the Second Place Winners this month int eh Details and Macro category.  Here's a link to all the contest winners. Looking at the calendar, what might we expect today on April Fool's Day? Here are two food jokes offered up on the internet: 1. Buy oreos for the office - then laugh at the bewildered and disappointed faces when they realize you've filled their cookies with toothpaste. 2. Replace the custard filling in donuts with mayonnaise. If you are inspired to participate and looking for jokes, this link has lots of possibilities here.

Congratulations to 'They'!

We're still on the theme of headlines, and the word of the year has been announced with a delightful headline from Voice of America: 'They' Wins as Linguists' Word of the Year  "Its usage has been a source of contention since the times of Shakespeare and Chaucer — both of whom, for your Grade 3 teacher’s information, used “they” to refer to a single person on occasion. Puritanical grammar nerds have been sticklers, however, for pairing singular subjects (for example, “the suspect”) with singular pronouns (“he” or “she”) — even when the person’s gender is not known. The rationale is that “they” should only refer to multiple persons, not just one. So traditionalists would rather see this: “Everyone took his or her chances on the roads that day.” Than this: “Everyone took their chances on the roads that day.” That’s started to change, slowly: The Washington Post, for example, changed its style guide last year to accept a singular “they.” But this kind of “they” got a thumbs up from some of the nerdiest word nerds Friday evening, when an overwhelming majority of the American Dialect Society cast their annual words of the year ballots for:  “they: gender-neutral singular pronoun for a known person, particularly as a nonbinary identifier.” Congratulations to "They"! On to our pictures of the day:  The Ontario Regional Lily Society has its flower show at the Royal Botanical Gardens atrium each year.  The natural light in the atrium and the tall open space showcase the flower colours and forms beautifully.  I stopped in the perennial gardens and the conservatory, and found a cornucopia of flowers and model trains. They seem to be together a lot.

Look Down and See the Abstracts

Look Down What do you see in Asphalt?  Do you see a parking place that you are not allowed to park in or has preference for someone else? This is a lucky find in Burlington.  It is a 'family parking' spot with the usual pink and orange/yellow and the white stroller.  This one is layered with a previous life as a wheelchair space and has blue is showing through. Asphalt is like mosaic with its textured pieces fitting together.  There's a lot of room to create abstracts. I found these files yesterday on a camera memory disk that is corrupted so it was run through a recovery program.

Between Christmas and New Year's

Here we are at the holiday between the holidays, starting with Boxing Day.  This has become a secular holiday that seems to have extended into Boxing Week with the advertising that goes with this.  

The tradition started in the UK about 800 years ago. It was the day when the alms box for the poor was opened so that the contents could be distributed to the poor.

In the 1600's we would be servants and tradespeople and would receive gifts today, known as a "Christmas box".  Our Christmas Day would have been busy, waiting on our masters.  This is the day that Good King Wenceslas looked upon the Feast of Stephen.  St. Stephen's Day is celebrated as the 2nd day of Christmas.  The Germans had an original tradition - horses would be ridden around the inside of the church during the St. Stephen's Day service. 

We are into the Twelve Days of Christmas.  This is the twelve day period that starts with Christmas day and ends on Epiphaby (Jan 6th).The 'true love' who gave the gifts was meant to represent God, the true love of the world.  On the "first day", the partridge in a pear tree is Jesus who died on the cross.  The two turtle doves of the "second day", are the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.  The three French hens are faith, hope and love - the three gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Today's image explores the countdown of the 12 days through the language of urban grunge.