What I know about scurvy

What do we know about vitamins? What grade in school would we learn about them? Mission Nutrition has lesson plans for grades 4-5. Other sites have plans for grade 9 to 12.  The lesson plans identify the 13 essential vitamins, what their purpose is, and what foods contain them. I can imagine today that there might be common vitamin deficiencies if people eat processed rather than fresh foods and vegetables. The vitamin I am most acquainted with is Vitamin C. We  learned about scurvy in history class.  It was a problem throughout the period of exploration and settlement in Canada.   I remember the cure was drinking coniferous needles boiled in water.  The explorers didn't stay with the cure, and significant numbers of scurvy deaths continued throughout the period. In the 1950s, mass production and marketing of vitamin supplements made them readily available.  Governments mandated supplementary vitamins in staple foods - flour and milk were the two common ones. So Vitamin C came into our houses in pill bottles. Our lesson plan today is to learn about Vitamin C. You will need: 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch 1 cup water iodine More water Eye dropper Medium sized bowl Several smaller bowls Crushed vitamin C tablet dissolved in 1 cup water Various beverages orange juice, orange soda, cranberry juice, grapefruit juice, punch, etc. Mix 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch into 1 cup cold water; dissolve mixture by heating. Measure 1 cup water into a bowl add 1 teaspoon of the cornstarch mixture. Using an eye dropper add 4 drops of iodine and stir. The mixture should be a pale blue. Put 2 Tablespoons of the mixture into several small bowls. Using a clean eye dropper add the vitamin C solution to one of the blue mixtures. In another bowl add orange juice, another orange soda, etc. Make note of how many drops it takes before the blue color disappears. Discussion: Only foods with vitamin C will make the blue color disappear. The punch and orange soda do not have vitamin C.  If a food does not have vitamin C the solution will not change color. And today's picture makes me think of England with the beautiful setting of the Conservatory in Minneapolis.

And after Thrice...

What comes after once, twice, thrice?  Nothing.  These three are the only words of their type and no further terms in the series have ever existed. There are many researchers out there and the anitmoon.com forum had a post on this, claiming there is a series from Wiktionary.  It turned out to be unverifiable.  However, the entertainment is excellent: ... Wiktionary's list of protologisms as terms coming after "once" for "one time", "twice" for "two times" and "thrice" for "three times".  quarce: Four times  quince: Five times  sess: Six times  sepce: Seven times  okce: Eight times  nince: Nine times  dekce: Ten times  elfce: Eleven times  duss: Twelve times  baikce: Thirteen times" Thrice has fallen out of favour and common usage. Its usage has fallen steadily since 1810, so we can conclude it is no longer in common usage.  I found a reference to this in another response in an English language forum.  It claims that the last straw for the expression thrice occurred in It Happened on the Way to the Forum.  The blame is put Zero Mostel with his witty line "He raped Thrace thrice". A comeback may be on the way:  when William and Kate had their third baby, William was buckling his new son's car seat into the car. He had a short interaction with the adoring media and crowd outside of the hospital, where he held up three fingers and joked, "Thrice the worry now!" There are at least 2 thrice jokes: Jarul goes to church and he decided to get baptized. The pastor dipped him thrice in the baptizimal pool and said, "You are baptized in the name of the father, and of the son and of the holy spirit. From now on you are no longer to be called Jarul but Joseph, and you should never drink beer again." Jarul went home and took a cold pint of beer, recalling what the pastor said he headed for the kitchen and dipped the pint of beer in a bowl of water thrice saying from now on you are nolonger to be called Budweiser but orange juice.  And another: Q. What happens when a lion roars thrice? A. Tom & Jerry cartoon begins. I drove to Acton yesterday to see Lost Horizons - a garden nursery with beautiful display gardens  It was definitely worth the drive to Acton.

Hooyah! Mission accomplished

Yesterday we looked at the Guinness records about roofs.  Today, in celebration of the rescue of the cave-bound Thailand boys, we look at underground records.   We were there for that record too. It was August 2010 and 33 miners were trapped underground in Chile for 69 days.   But how about this record?  It would be on a lighter note (!): The deepest concert underground was at 1271 m (4,169 ft 11 in) below sea level at Pyhäsalmi Mine Oy, Pyhäjärvi, Finland and was performed by Agonizer (Finland) on 4 August 2007. My Google search goes off-course with a fascinating title: 20 Guinness World Record-breaking destinations to visit around the world.  1.  The largest railway station by number of platforms is New York City's Grand Central Terminal. 2. World's narrowest Street - Germany's Spreuerhofstrasse street. Located in Reutlingen, the thin street is only a foot wide at its narrowest point. ... World's Oldest Restaurant:  You can still dine at the world's oldest restaurant - Restaurante Botín - located in Madrid, Spain. Created in 1725, it still maintains its original 18th-century interiors and firewood oven today. Then Google results return to the topic in a bizarre headline:  "A man who has been buried alive in a pub garden for more than three months has broken the record for the length of time spent in a wooden box underground". Geoff Smith, 37, beat the European record of 101 days - set by his mother - at midnight on Monday. Could you make these stories up?  His mother did it when he was seven years old. "He did it at 37, and it has been his ambition to go and bury himself in a box". Back above ground, it is Lilycrest blooming time.

Who is that Mansard of the Roof?

How is it that the Mansard roof is named after Francois Mansard.  The word mansard has the French origin of mansard  and the English origin of "Mansard, Francois".  The earliest known example is credited to Pierre Lescot on part of the Louvre, built around 1550.  It was named after the person who popularized it in the early 17th century. A search on roof shapes will retrieve dozens of different ones.  And then there are ones that have no name to describe their unusual shape.  Here's the Lighter Side of Real Estate's 12 most unique roofs.  In comparison, the BBC article is about the world's most unusual rooftops - typically with gardens.  It is HERE.   I thought that perhaps the Guinness Book of Records might give us insight into roofs.  Here are a few records involving roofs: Longest cantilever roof Largest reinforced concrete cement flat roof span Longest roof span covered by a single metal corrugated sheet ... and then it moves on to other roof-related items: Most consecutive donut spins while standing on the roof of a car Fastest time to flip 10 cars on the roof Fastest time to break 1,000 roof tiles (male) (female) And then an array of records involving centipedes, slime, the loudest drummer... these might really be advertisements/news items. I refrained from reading the centipede one. Here's our pretty roof from the Niagara-on-the-Lake garden tour over the weekend. The house is located on the most prestigious place on the street facing the Lake with the view of the American historic fort.  However this gazebo seems like an unlikely lover's rendezvous:  it sits under a chestnut tree and it faces away from the lake.  Perhaps there is a story in this.

Niagara's String of Pearls

I visited two of Niagara's Pearls yesterday.  The first was Niagara-on-the-Lake with its garden tour.  This year's garden tour was a walking tour through what is now named "Old Town".   But you know about Niagara-on-the-Lake as the prettiest town in Canada.  Let's go to the second pearl. The second pearl is the winery in Jordan - Pearl Morissette. The pictures below show the modern black barn on the horizon.  The window reveals two diners in the restaurant. There is nothing ordinary here - even the website - it has an Ethos tab rather than About us.   "François Morissette doesn’t make wine for Ontario. He makes wine for the world, especially for those who appreciate his approach of minimal-intervention, purity, and low sulphur. He is classically trained, having worked on the Grand Cru terroirs of Frédéric Mugnier of Chambolle Musigny, Christian Gouges of Domaine Henri Gouges, and Jean-Marc of Domaine Roulot. Further oenological training was also undertaken at L’Université de Dijon. He attempts to uncover the inherent nature of each and every vintage. The result of this focused dedication is a selection of wines that speak for themselves. At Pearl Morissette, no two wines are ever the same." The restaurant offers a blind tasting menu only.  The approach seemed to be French - where the components of a meal are separated into very small dishes.  I later discovered the chefs have trained and worked in France. Our meal was flavoured with whey and vinegars.  There were herbs and flowers from the field below us.  Included was everyone's favourite little garden weed - oxalis.   We enter a new realm with Pearl Morissette.  Like Stadtlander (Eigensinn Farm) and Susur Lee, the tastes and textures are original, and of course, delicious. Here's a Globe and Mail article about the Chefs. And here's a Hamilton Press article on therestaurant.  Here's the article from the New York Times on the wines.

THE FOURTH of JULY

No one in North America would consider the fourth day of the month of July as anything but: The Fourth of July.   For us, it is a formal name, paired with Independence Day in the United States. The tradition of Independence Day goes back to the 18th century with the American Revolution.  It was made a federal holiday in 1870, and finally a paid holiday to all federal employees in 1941. There had been debate on which day should be the celebrated day.  John Adams considered July 2nd the correct date to celebrate American independence. It was on July 2nd that the Continental Congress voted in favour of Lee's resolution for independence. The Continental Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, and this is the date that became cemented in American tradition. The famous name of John Hancock:  he is the only one who actually signed the Declaration on July 4, 1776.  The others signed it later.  It was first read in public on July 8th, 1776 and the first celebration took place then. Both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on July 4th 1826, the 50th anniversary of the the Declaration's adoption.   On Saturday, there were 40 open gardens in Watertown, a beautiful town on the escarpment.  Here's a beautiful espalier.

Randomly Canadian on July 1st

Happy Canada Day! Huffington Post has an article titled "20 Random Facts You Probably Didn't Know About Canada."  I declare on July 1st that these could only be random to citizens of the United States.  Here are Four:   Queen Elizabeth II is Canada’s official Head of State.  The Canadian government has declared Santa as a Canadian citizen. In fact, you can mail your letter to the North Pole in any language (including Braille), and his trusted elves will answer them all. Yes, all 1.5 million of them. Hockey and lacrosse are Canada’s national sports. There are more donut shops per capita in Canada than any other country in the world. But who’s saying that’s a bad thing? You can read the others HERE.  These four topiaries are in a garden in St. Catharines.  Three sisters and a presiding grandmother. We can't miss out on a Maple Leaf today - here it is  - this photo in Winnipeg last year by Dan Harper at danharper.com

Repeat Again

This is Groundhog Week!  The Groundhog Day movie is a movie on the theme of repetition.  What about unnecessary repetition?  Wouldn't that be what redundancy is?  Do you think Bill Murray's character felt the repetitions were redundant? Here are expressions that could be termed 'groundhog moments' in celebration of the movie.  Redundant is what they are: a moment in time – A moment is essentially a period of time. ATM machine – ATM already stands for “Automated Teller Machine” true fact – By definition, facts are true. join together – How else would something join? free gift – Because when’s the last time you had to pay for a gift? added bonus – The word bonus indicates something outside of what’s expected, so of course it’s added. end result – Results always come at the end. final outcome – Related to the above, an outcome signifies the end, or finality. plan ahead – Planning always refers to the future, or what’s ahead. repeat again – Ah, the irony here! close proximity – To be close to something is to be in proximity. past experience – Experience refers to what has happened in the past. most unique – Unique implies there’s nothing like it, so one cannot compare it to something else. rise up – When rising, there’s no other way to go but up. the reason why – A reason explains the why. new innovations – An innovation is something that did not exist before, i.e., it is new in and of itself. unexpected surprise – If you were expecting it, it wouldn’t be a surprise. advance notice – When giving someone notice, you’re always doing so in advance. What redundant phrase do you find yourself using most often? Are you having Groundhog moments? This wonderful list is courtesy of proofreadnow.com  The orchid arch at Longwood is twelve feet high and contains more than 600 orchids. The reconstruction of the Longwood Main Found Garden is shown in this youtube video time-lapse :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjuioDG74Jk

Two of a Kind

Jazz FM knows a lot of musical stuff.  The other day I found out that Paul McCartney tried to meet Johnny Mercer to collaborate with him in the 1970's.  But Johnny Mercer was already ill and near the end of his life.  Johnny Mercer had remarkable musical accomplishments besides being a composer- he was the co-founder of capital Records, where the Beatles were signed in 1963.  JazzFM frequently plays is Mercer's "Two of a Kind" - and Mercer sings it with Bobby Darin. This is the most famous version. Two other American vocalists sang this - Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.  Recently I think John Pizzarelli and Harry Conick Jr covered it.  Here are the delightful lyrics of this American classic. Two of a kind For your information We're two of a kind Two of a kind It's my observation We're two of a kind Like peas in a pod And birds of a feather Alone or together you'll find That we are two of a kind What's so wrong thinkin' life is a song and reachin' for a star And who's to say if we'll go the whole way - at least we got this far Sharin' our lot, our vittles and viands, we're two of an ilk Say, what if we've got rare Chateaubriands or crackers and milk Makin' it plain Explainin' it fully We're simila-la-larly inclined Because we're two of a kind Two of a kind When he's out of rhythm, I'm singin' off key (I never heard ya do that, John) Say, never you mind, cause I'm stickin' with 'im, to C above C (He's-a for me) Oh, need we explain When he warbles sweetly, I'm flat and completely behind Because we're two of a kind I get kicks when I meet the cute chicks who hang around this lad And especially when they whisper to me, "Hey, honey, who's your dad?" Two of a sort Like two pomegranates from off the same tree I'm with ya sport, whatever you plan it's-a goes double with me (It's-a goes double with you, huh?) (Yeah!) Yeah, I got a terrible thought Most frightfully upsetting And yet we are getting resigned To being two of a kind We're two of a kind We like workin' single Or workin' in twos Keep us in mind, give us a jingle, we've got taps on our shoes (We'll dance!) We're both of us like, the Tower of Pisa I'm-a lean-a like he's-a inclined Because we're two of a kind Because we're Two of a kind So our pictures today show the CosMic orchid growing facility in Beamsville.  More than 800,000 orchids in production with Mike in front of their well know branding.  Maybe Orchids and Poinsettias are two of a kind.

The Five Minute Best Practice

Best practices are an important area of organization operation.  There can be dozens, hundreds and thousands of employees doing the similar things in different ways resulting in lesser and greater degrees of success in terms of efficiency, effectiveness and quality.  The idea of best practices is to use/do what is best to improvements.  Most often best practices can be small changes that make a big difference. What about best practices at the individual human level?  We've had a few decades of performance improvement and quality management in the organization.  Let's explore how this wealth of knowledge has been applied to living our lives. Here is the start of looking into this topic: The First Five Minutes:  Best Practices Approach to Motor Vehicle Collisions. This site -fireengineering.com is advice for what to do when you are involved in or arrive at a collision.  Small Changes in Teaching:  The Last 5 Minutes of Class. This article comes from The Chronicle of Higher Education - chronicle.com - the author proposes two questions to students:  What was the most important thing you learned today?  and What question still remains in your mind? James M. Lang has a number of practices like this - the First 5 minutes of class, small changes in teaching, etc. Five Good Minutes:  100 Morning Practices to Help You Stay Calm and Focused All Day Long (The Five Good Minutes Series). This is a book available on Amazon and its summary says that with five minutes of mindfulness, relaxation, or imagery techniques during their morning routes, readers can set their intentions and greet the day feeling calm, centred and energized.  This is part of a series titled Five Good Minutes. I think they have a similar practice for the end of the day. The Five Minute Journal - Simplest most effective way to be happier...from self-improvement theory to action.  There's an app for this one at intelligentchange.com  Today we're looking at a Grimsby Painted Lady garden with Floyd Elzinga's pine cone as the sculptural focal point.  This a calm, meditative garden, perhaps a best practice for gardeners.

Fall's Last Flowers

Yesterday was a bird day in the garden.  Little birds were flitting about and a flock of Robins was eating these berries on my Beautyberry bush.  This is its moment in the sun - these gorgeous purple berries on red stems with yellow-green leaves.  Its latin name is Callicarpa.  Mine seems to be the largest I've ever seen.  The variety is Callicarpa dichotoma Early Amethyst.    With this year's rain, it is over four feet tall and five feet wide.  Obviously the Robins could spot the many berries very easily.  So I don't know if I will get to see the yellow foliage with the contrasting Amethyst flowers. We're at the very end of the Morning Glories.  Even though the weather isn't cold, the leaves are dropping and that makes the beautiful blue flowers stand out. We'll keep the roses until the hard frost comes. They've bloomed until Christmas in my Toronto garden. And if you have Victoria Salvia, Snapdragons, and Alyssum, these will bloom past the first frosts.

Earth - Bare or Not Bare

I was just reading a post from the Middle-Sized Garden blog.  It was on creating a terrarium.  The workshop leader says there is no bare earth in nature.  It is all covered.  So one covers the bare earth in the terrarium. Doing a little searching, I find this: "There are really only two big patches of intact forest left on Earth, the Amazon and the Congo, and they shine out like eyes from the centre of the map," lead author Nick Haddad, a professor at North Carolina State University, told the New Yorker.  The article in the UK Independent examined the negative impact of roads in forests. I haven't found anything on whether there is naturally occurring bare earth/dirt.  Instead the articles are on the notion of bare feet - bare earth - of 'grounding' - walking with bare feet in nature.  The alive.com article discussion is about the bioelectrical nature of our bodies and the role of the earth's energy in our well-being.  "Getting grounded - coming back into contact with the surface of the earth." Here are two of Grimsby's pretty gardens - the first one seems like a doll's house - always decorated in pretty pinks with lush plantings, and the second a sophisticated romantic garden.

Come Clean

Do we have a cleanliness fixation?   "Are Americans Too Obsessed with Cleanliness?" "Compared with the rest of the world, Americans take personal hygiene and general disinfection to another level. From our appreciation of white teeth and the daily shower, to our manicured lawns and store aisles full of bleach products, most of us cherish our unsoiled, unstained existence." We all think of progress as good, but the days of simple soap and water hygiene significantly reducing mortality are clearly long gone. I experienced lawns so perfect this week, that I thought I could roll them up like carpets and take them home, or sit down and eat from them - there seemed to be no soil or dirt in sight. It looked wonderful. But then... when we combine that with neatness, we might have an obsessive social mentality.  The gardens on the St. Catharines tour coming up this weekend had living rooms - we've taken our cleanliness and neatness outdoors and seem to be eliminating nature and its life forms from the sitting areas.  This trend is so very popular.   My driveway and walkways and patios were power-washed yesterday, and look wonderful today.  Have I joined the neat brigade on a wave of tidiness that seems to have reached a peak? Here's an analogy from Sarah Hampson of the Globe and Mail in her article on neatness: "But it may be that what’s at play in the culture is far more profound. As Grant McCracken sees it, “Contemporary culture used to look a little bit like a French garden. It was all symmetrical and ordered. And now it looks a lot like an English garden with things busting out all over. It’s hard to see the pattern of an English garden, if you can at all,” observes the Canadian-born culture guru, who was founder and director of the Institute of Contemporary Culture at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto and is now a consultant, author and speaker, affiliated with the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard."