Russia - a Nation of Humour!

Did you know there is a very long tradition of Russian Political jokes?  I find this out from Wikipedia.  The jokes start with Imperial Russia and conclude with Post-soviet Russia.  They are HERE.  A Bloomberg article with the best jokes is HERE. Bloomberg's article, as with Wikipedia, demonstrates that Russian humour about the way the country is run is an unbroken tradition from the czarist era to the present day.  The article's author, like me, finds that many of them aren't funny.  But there are some great jokes in the article.  Here is Reagan's joke. "The CIA-Reagan Soviet joke pipeline was no secret at the time. One from a list declassified in 2013 was a particular favorite — Reagan told it repeatedly, once adding he’d shared it with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and gotten a laugh from him. The CIA version goes like this: An American tells a Russian that the United States is so free he can stand in front of the White House and yell, “To hell with Ronald Reagan.” The Russian replies: “That’s nothing. I can stand in front of the Kremlin and yell, ‘To hell with Ronald Reagan,” too. Two more from Wikipedia: A Gulag joke: Three men are sitting in a cell in the (KGB headquarters) Dzerzhinsky Square. The first asks the second why he has been imprisoned, who replies, "Because I criticized Karl Radek." The first man responds, "But I am here because I spoke out in favor of Radek!" They turn to the third man who has been sitting quietly in the back, and ask him why he is in jail. He answers, "I'm Karl Radek." A Stalin joke: Stalin reads his report to the Party Congress. Suddenly someone sneezes. "Who sneezed?" Silence. "First row! On your feet! Shoot them!" They are shot, and he asks again, "Who sneezed, Comrades?" No answer. "Second row! On your feet! Shoot them!" They are shot too. "Well, who sneezed?" At last a sobbing cry resounds in the Congress Hall, "It was me! Me!" Stalin says, "Bless you, Comrade!" and resumes his speech. Our pictures today come from Moyer Road - this is the road that Vineland Estates Winery is located on.  This silver barked bush along the side of the road is very photogenic as it is.  It becomes the texture for an abstract pattern created in photoshop.

I Didn't Know What Time It Was

Our title today is a song title by Rogers and Hart. On Saturday I stopped at Moyer Road in Vineland to photograph the solitary oak tree.  I've taken this tree's portrait for a while now and there are two pictures of it - one of these pictures is from December and one from Saturday.  They seem indistinguishable to me.  It will be interesting to see how spring unfolds on the landscape and shows its presence.

Skies Count

What a difference a week makes - Niagara had beautiful colours yesterday - golden yellows were in abundance on the escarpment. What I noticed was the difference the sky makes in a photography.  Look at the top two - same view at Locust Lane (Hidden Bench winery) towards the Lake, which can just barely be seen in the background.  The first image has more emotional appeal with the clouds 'pulling' the trees upward. Our second comparison is the tree that I've been photographing on Moyer Road, in Vineland, where Vineland Estates is located.  The second image seems to have greater appeal - with the clouds higher on the horizon, giving the tree room in the landscape to be fully appreciated.

How Long is A Day?

The Autumn Equinox this year is Wednesday September 23rd.  This is the day when the night and day are nearly exactly the same length - 12 hours - all over the world.  Equinox comes from Latin, meaning 'equal night'.  The equinoxes marks the exact moment twice a year when the Earth's axis is not tilted toward or away from the Sun at all. However, the axis tilt of around 23.4 degrees toward the celestial pole, remains the same. On the equator, the day and night stay approximately the same length all year round, but the day will always appear a little longer than 12 hours, due to the reasons below. On the equinoxes, the geometric center of the sun is above the horizon for 12 hours, and you might think that the length of the day (hours of daylight) would be 12 hours too. However, ‘sunrise’ is defined as the moment the upper edge of the sun's disk becomes visible above the horizon – not when the center of the sun is visible. In the same sense, ‘sunset’ refers to the moment the Sun's upper edge, not the center, disappears below the horizon. The time it takes for the sun to fully rise and set, which is several minutes, is added to the day and subtracted from the night, and therefore the equinox day lasts a little longer than 12 hours. Another reason why the day is longer than 12 hours on an equinox is that the Earth's atmosphere refracts sunlight. This refraction, or bending of the light, causes the Sun’s upper edge to be visible from Earth several minutes before the edge actually reaches the horizon. The same thing happens at sunset, when you can see the sun for several minutes after it has actually dipped under the horizon. This causes every day on Earth – including the days of the equinoxes – to be at least 6 minutes longer than it would have been without this refraction. I took this picture last week and can see Autumn starting. It is Moyer Road, where Vineland Estates Winery is located, and there's a yellowness to the leaves.   I'll keep this picture going as the leaves turn, and in the winter. It is at its best in the winter, as one can see the road stretch out to the sky.

Niagara and the Lake Effects

"The Lake Effects" - that's the phenomenon that gave Buffalo the terrible snow storm last year.  The one with the snow that came up to house roofs. In Niagara, the Lake Effects are/is credited with 'giving rise to remarkable flavour distinctions between grapes of leakier sub-appellations and those from further inland. " Here's the link that describes more about this: http://www.vqaontario.ca/Library/Appellations/NiagaraPeninsula_Maps.pdf We've been experiencing Lake Effects with the recent rain.  These pictures show the fog effects at Vineland Estates winery.  Fog can role in before or after a rain.  The third picture is Moyer Road - the road that leads to Vineland Estates.  Isn't this a beautiful country road!