Cats at Work

There were a few cats out and about at Longwood.  All the cats at Longwood have names, and the docents assured me that they are well cared for. This one was mousing amongst the ferns.  Look at the tail - its position tells the story.  She was very friendly, even though she thought she shouldn't be disturbed from her work.  This would be important work - orchids are edible. I've had a few flowers disappear in my own greenhouse.  I was sure a while ago that there was a lady slipper in bud, and the next time I looked there was a stump of a stem.  Maybe Baxter should work harder in the greenhouse. I found a blog that covers the Longwood cats completely.    My pictures today show Persimmon. Take a browse through chatsworthlady's Longwood story of cats HERE

Super Blue Blood Moon Ahead

Isn't it a Super Blue Blood Moon solar eclipse this month?  What a headline - go to space.com and it shows an animation of the moon's path through the shadow of the earth.  It gives all the information on how to see it. Here's the definition: "A Blue Moon is when two full moons happen in the same calendar month; lunar eclipses occur when the moon passes into Earth's shadow; and supermoons happen when the moon's perigee — its closest approach to Earth in a single orbit — coincides with a full moon. In this case, the supermoon also happens to be the day of the lunar eclipse". The best places to see the "Super Blue Blood Moon" are Alaska, the Hawaiian islands and the western part of North America.  It will take place in the early morning of January 31st between 4:51 and 6:08 PST.   In parts of the world the eclipse will happen at Moon Rise and for others at Moon Set.  For us in the east it will begin at 5:51am and at 6:48am the darker part of the Earth's shadow will begin to "blanket" the moon and create the blood-red tint.  The instructions are to get to a high place and make sure you have a clear line of sight to the horizon in the west-northwest.  Opposite from where the sun will rise. Today we're looking at some motion blur pictures, taken on our drive down to Longwood.

Longwood Heating

Longwood's nine production greenhouses are 378' x 80'. I met the supervisor of heating and mechanical while visiting earlier in the week.  He was walking through the greenhouses and checking in corners, so I thought he must be in charge of something.  He briefly outlined the two heating systems - one for the show greenhouses and the second for the production greenhouses.  He said that it takes a lot of manual monitoring in addition to the automation. Longwood's main boiler plant has three boilers fuelled by oil or gas to produce steam for heating.  That's how we heat our greenhouse here, too.  In addition, they have a 10-acre solar field across the road from the garden entrance.  It produces 2 million kilowatt hours per year and accounts for 30% of energy consumption.  Within the greenhouses, their computerized system controls temperature, bench and perimeter heat, snow melters, and cooling and shading devices.   Do you check out the news around the world?  Whenever I do, I am surprised by the North American names for newspapers in other cultures.  For example, you can't be sure where the "Star" headline might come from.  Here's a great example today: ‘Titis Sakti’: Grand marriage of comedic Shakespeare and dramatic Mak Yong At first glance, the Malay theatre production Mak Yong Titis Sakti seems to be made up of two completely disparate elements. Talk about chalk and cheese. Mak Yong Titis Sakti is one part A Midsummer’s Night Dream – one of the most famous romantic comedies ever written by the English playwright William Shakespeare. The other part is Mak Yong, a traditional form of dance-drama from the northern states of Malaysia. You wouldn’t think they could blend so well. Yet for director/actress Norzizi Zulkifli, who first presented Titis Sakti (Magic Drops) in 2009, these two art forms have a lot more in common than most people think. “Every time I read Shakespeare’s plays, they give me visuals which I realised, ‘Oh, this is very similar to my culture!’ Like Mak Yong, or Bangsawan theatre,” says Norzizi, 41, in a recent interview at KLPAC. Mak Yong Titis Sakti is on at Pentas 1, KLPac, Sentul Park,in Kuala Lumpur from Jan 27 to Feb 4.  Look at the google map,  and you'll see place names that are definitely not in North American. It would be interesting to see this show - maybe it will travel some day. Read more about the show. Our "flowers" today are illuminated by a little afternoon light in the Longwood Conservatory.  They are Anthurium - known as Flamingo Lilies.

Witticisms

It is easy to find humour on the internet. Here are some sayings from witty-quotes.com The real trouble with reality is that there's no background music. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car. House Guarded By Shotgun 3 Days A Week. Guess Which Days. Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege. War doesn't determine who's right. War determines who's left. And famous people have said very humorous, entertaining things. Here are some from tk421.net "Don’t be so humble - you are not that great." - Golda Meir (1898-1978), to a visiting diplomat "Give me a museum and I’ll fill it." - Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) "The longer I live the more I see that I am never wrong about anything, and that all the pains that I have so humbly taken to verify my notions have only wasted my time." - George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) "I have an existential map; it has ‘you are here’ written all over it." - Steven Wright "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein (1879-1955) Here are some of the images from the Series Niagara's Blossom Trail, 2017.

Wintermission Soon

Remember the Portmanteau?  What is Wintermission?  The Weather Network says it is coming to us shortly.  What are we getting?  We are getting an unseasonably low-temeratured day or days, sandwiched by two days of milder temperatures. So I guessed it is a combination of winter and intermission.  Although it could also be a combination of winter and remission. Wintermission shows up in google searches back to 2007 - with the headline name that season. (see below). There are now numerous winter festivals using the name - in St. Paul, MN there are shows, signature winter drink competitions, outdoor movies, and snowy fun runs. Promotional lines for vacationing in Orlando abound: Break the ice with a #wintermission in the park - that is, an Orlando park.  So now it typically has become an expression for taking a vacation - from a winter climate to a warm climate. What about this term - Wintermittent?  The Toronto Star had a story in February 2007 ' Name that season. They challenged readers to come up with a new name for winter.  Wintermission was the winner.  The close second was Wintermittent - "It also contains the words mitten and tent.  Wintermittent may entice you to go camping, or, on the other hand, you may need your mittens!" Are there Wintermittent and Wintermission jokes?  No, none found.  More interesting is that the google search comes up with weekly diet menus for weight loss - "best vegetarian diet next to how to gain wintermittent fast on low-fat" - nonsense sentences inserting one's search term as an expression. Here are a few winter weather jokes: We had to chop up the piano for firewood - but we only got two chords.  The snowstorm arrived at a fortuitous moment. It was white on time. If you are going to play cards in a snowstorm, shovel your deck. We pulled everything out of the freezer and huddled inside it to warm up!

Don't Know

What happens the day after do nothing day?  Could it be a day of something and knowing about something?  Today isn't Epistemology Day, though.  There doesn't seem to be a day that celebrates the theory of knowledge, of knowing.  It could be Ontology Day - that's the study of existence.  No day of celebration there, either.   So perhaps the day after doing nothing is the day of knowing nothing or not knowing something. We can trace this back to the Greeks.  "You don't know what you don't know," and  "Wisdom is knowing what you don't know."  These are attributed to Socrates. Modern variations on this: "Intelligence is what you use when you don't know what to do".  Jean Piaget "Knowing what you don't know is more useful than being brilliant".  Charles Munger So today we can be practical, as it is Ditch New Year's Resolutions Day or we can wait for tomorrow and celebrate Thesaurus Day. We're looking at the historic house at Peninsula Ridge Winery.  These are pictures from previous winters.

This is Blue Monday

Today is known as  Blue Monday - the most depressing day of the year.  "It is calculated using a series of factors in a (not particularly scientific) mathematical formula. The factors are: the weather, debt level (specifically, the difference between debt and our ability to pay), the amount of time since Christmas, time since failing our new year's resolutions, low motivational levels and the feeling of a need to take charge of the situation".  This was started as a public relations invention in 2005, and January 24th was the first Blue Monday.  It generally falls on the third Monday in January.  I noticed it this year as there are Blue Monday sales being advertised.  The equation has been called farcical and nonsensical, but it seems to live on as an observed day. I took a look at what the Snopes rating is for Blue Monday - true or false - the most depressing day of the year. Of course, they rated it false.   What is Blue Monday competing with for national observances?  This is Martin Luther King Day, Civil Rights Day, Hat Day, National Crowd Feed Day, Strawberry Ice Cream Day.  If we were to skip to tomorrow, Tuesday January 16th is Nothing Day.  Is that 0 day, null day, nought day?  It was started by newspaper columnist Harld Pullman Coffin in 1973. The unofficial holiday aims to provide people "with a day where they can just sit without celebrating, observing or honouring anything."  It is considered an "un-event."   Isn't this picture amazing for its vivid green?  This was taken in July 2017 on a rainy day in Niagara-on-the-Lake.  What I notice about the composition that makes me laugh is the contrast between the pattern of graceful arching maple trees and the vertical tree slicing up the image.  Oh well...

Ba + Na2

Do you know about the banana peels and how they became a familiar joke?  Mental Floss has the story on this. In the mid-1800s bananas started being shipped from Panama to New York City. They became a popular street food.  At the time, people tossed their garbage  (I gather lots of it) into the streets, and this included bananas, so they would linger there accumulating and decaying. It was so prevalent, that Harper's Weekly in 1880 admonished anyone who tossed their banana peels on a public walkway, as this would likely result in broke limbs.  Virginia Scott Jenkins in her book   Bananas:  An American History says that in 1909 the St. Louis city council completely outlawed "throwing or casting" a banana rind on public thoroughfares because of falls and broken limbs.  Dan Keppel's book on the banana describes how the banana peel epidemic in New York City resulted in the first large-scale recycling effort in the United States:  a fleet or uniformed workers swept the streets in shifts and disposed of the waste. Vaudeville comedians took up the cause with the banana-peel pratfall. It became a fixture of physical comedy.  Harold Lloyd included the gag in his silent film The Flirt, and Buster Keaton in The High Sign.  Even Woody Allen included the gag in Sleeper. I thought today's topic might be advice for 2018, and  I gave up - this is one topic where there is way more than one can get through...well, it is advice!  I did find something that appealed to me (or if put in banana speak 'a-peeled'). Retirement is the beginning of the time when you can sit back and give advice to others, even though you never followed it in your own life. Here are two Niagara crops you may not be familiar with - roses and Gingko trees - these are in the Bakker's growing field near Lilycrest Gardens. And our third picture is a Canadian History moment - this was a poster given to us by our friend in Colorado.

Incoming Epiphany

Today's the day:  Epiphany!  Here are 3 famous Epiphanies we learned in school: Ancient Greek mathematician and physicist Archimedes famously cried out "Eureka" ' "I have found it!" from the bathtub where he realized that his volume displaced the same amount of water in the tub and he could calculate the volume of gold in a crown. Isaac Newton was sitting below an apple tree when an apple fell on his head, which caused him to develop his Universal Law of Gravitation. Albert Einstein developed his Special Theory of Relativity after arriving home one night feeling defeated. He imagined having arrived home at the speed of light, and how the light from the town’s clock tower would not have reached him in his car, even though the clock inside the car would be ticking normally. This would make the time outside the car and inside the car just different enough to be striking. We can look up epiphany on google and immediately discover the seven ways to help you have an epiphany. It starts with: Be observant.  Look around you.  But there's more. Next article is The Atlantic.  It starts with: Go for a hike or a drive.  Walk around the city.  Psychology Today tells us: When one of these amazing gifts comes to us, the way to honour it is to put it to use".  The next is another Psychology Today article that questions what is an epiphany: "By epiphanies I mean the major, life-changing revelations that have the greatest impact on our lives."  Huffington Post says there are 8 Epiphanies everyone should have.  Others have different numbers -  18, 12, 9, 8, 17, or 10 epiphanies? We can take the easy route and google images of epiphany quotes. That is where I found the one that seems to apply to today given this is the Day of Epiphany.  Epiphany Day should be everyday.

Twelfth Night of What You Will

There are quite a few variations for this penultimate day of the Twelve Days.  Ladies dancing, ladies spinning, badgers baiting, lords a-leading, dancers a-dancing, lads a-louping, bulls a-beating.  Our Twelfth Night of Christmas is tomorrow.  It is "always on the evening of 5 January, but the Twelfth Day can either precede or follow the Twelfth Night according to which Christian tradition is followed. Twelfth Night is followed by the Feast of the Epiphany on 6 January. In some traditions, the first day of Epiphany (6 January) and the twelfth day of Christmas overlap". (source:  Wikipedia) So what about "Twelfth Night, or What You Will" - Shakespeare's play?  It is believed to have been written around 1601-02 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The first recorded performance was on 2 February 1602, at Candlemas, the formal end of Christmastide in the year's calendar.  A law student, John Manningham, who was studying in the Middle Temple in London, described the performance which took place in the hall of the Middle Temple.  The Middle Temple is a place with great  architectural history. The western part of "The Temple" was the headquarters of the Knights Templar until they dissolved in 1312.  There are many buildings in the four "Inns of Court" that are listed buildings. There has been damage over the centuries - fires, the Great Fire of London, and the Blitz. But the Halls' magnificent double-hammer beam roof remains along with the 29 foot oak High table. Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis Drake have been known to dine in the Hall.  The buildings in the Temple itself are still held under the 1608 letters patent of James I.  The Middle Temple Hall where our performance took place was constructed between 1562 and 1572, and opened in 1576 by Queen Elizabeth I.  It was thought that Shakespeare himself was probably present for the first performance.  Our heroine in the play is Viola.  Violas and pansies are flowers that are closely related.  I've never considered how they are different.  I found this: If the flower has four petals pointing upward and only one pointing downward – you’re looking at a Pansy. If the flower has two petals pointing upward and three petals pointing downward – you’ve got a Viola.  These words, though, come from one of Shakespeare's other plays.

The Yellow Milkmaid Syndrome

Who was milking on that fateful eighth day?  Was it a domestic servant or a young unmarried woman? Possibly a virgin. Possibly all of the above.  By the Victorian era, a maid was a domestic servant, and there were all types by then.  A milkmaid was a girl who milked cows - our maids may or may not have been milkmaids.  They were a-milking, though. Eight maids is a significant number with historical references:  a queen regnant (e.g. Queen Elizabeth) had the tradition of eight maids of honour.  A maid of honour was a maiden - unmarried, and usually young - commonly in their sixteenth year or older. However, when we move on to an expression about milkmaids, the implication is that they grew older than 16 by quite a bit - "as smooth as milkmaid's skin" means exceptionally smooth. Wikipedia says that "this phrase came about as a result of exposure to cowpox, which causes no serious symptoms, but does convey a partial immunity to the disfiguring (and often fatal) disease smallpox. Thus, milkmaids lacked the "pockmarked" complexion common to smallpox survivors. This observation led to the development of the first vaccine". What is the yellow milkmaid syndrome?  This is a reference to Johannes Vermeer's most famous painting - of a woman in a yellow dress pouring milk.  There are over 10,000 copies on the internet - mostly poor, yellowish reproductions. The colours do not represent the work accurately. "At the national level, for example in the UK, the higher education community has issued the Open Metadata Principles calling on metadata to be openly available for innovative re-use".  This is about open metadata in the cultural heritage sector -  a current issue and the organization dealing with it is known as Europeana. .So we look at our pictures today as two options to enter into the New Year - the portal to the golden landscape and the portal to the sea. Which will it be this year?