Snow Place Like Home and a Betterphoto Finalist

Wake Up on the Bright Side      We're here in December with its many activities and beautiful displays.  While today is a rain day in Niagara, December marks the start of snow and a transformed landscape. There are a lot of pun jokes with snow in them...perhaps it indicates the appeal of winter to children.   1. What time is it when little white flakes fall past the classroom window? Snow and Tell. 2. What is a mountains favorite type of candy? Snow caps. 3. What is it called when a snowman has a temper tantrum? A meltdown! 4. What do you call a snowman with a six pack? An abdominal snowman. 5. What do you call a snowman that tells tall tales? A snow-fake! 6. What do you call a snowman party? A snowball. 7. What did the snowman eat? Icebergs with chilli sauce. 8. What did the snowman and his wife put over their baby’s crib? A snowmobile! 9. What do Snowmen call their offspring? Chill-dren. 10. How do you find Will Smith in the snow? You look for Fresh Prints! 11. Today isn’t the day to be making jokes about the weather. It’s snow joke. There are more HERE at the Thought Catalog - there are 50 of them.  Today's image was a Finalist in the Betterphoto October contest.

All Work and No Play - The Novel

When I researched our expression on all work and no play, the movie The Shining was retrieved - pages and pages of references.  There is extensive writing on this movie, considered in the top ten of greatest horror movies. The book that Jack was writing contained the one sentence (“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”) repeated over and over.  There isn't any evidence of the original remaining. Kubrick had each page individually typed.  "Kubrick realised the importance of the scene and how it would lack impact in foreign language versions of the film if explained via subtitles. He didn't just translate the original phrase however, but came up with different stacks of repeated sentences, many of which can be seen in the Stanley Kubrick Archive" These are at a site dedicated to the Shining that is run by the director of Toy Story 3 at this site HERE: Italian: Il mattino ha l’oro in bocca (The morning has gold in its mouth) (“He who wakes up early meets a golden day”) German: Was du heute kannst besorgen, das verschiebe nicht auf morgen  (Never put off until tomorrow what can be done today) Spanish: No por mucho madrugar amanece más temprano (No matter how early you get up, you can’t make the sun rise any sooner) (“Rising early will not make dawn sooner.”) French: Un Tiens vaut mieux que deux Tu l’auras (What you have is worth much more than what you will have) (“A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”). In 2009, an 80 page book  All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy by Jack Torrance was created and published.  The author is Phil Buehler, a  well-published photographer whose work focuses on modern ruins. This would make a 'novel' Christmas gift and has a purchase site HERE.   About the Book Jack Torrance's first novel, finally published after his untimely death at the Overlook Hotel. Dramatized in the Stephen King book, "The Shining," as well as the film by Stanley Kubrick. See the clip at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dit-7hu1jKg " All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy is nothing short of a complete rethinking of what a novel can and should be. It's true that, taken on its own, All Work is plotless. But like the best of Beckett, the lack of forward momentum is precisely the point. If it's nearly impossible to read, let us take a moment to consider how difficult it must have been to write. One is forced to consider the author, heroically pitting himself against the Sisyphusean sentence. It's that metatextual struggle of Man vs. Typewriter that gives this book its spellbinding power. Some will dismiss it as simplistic; that's like dismissing a Pollock canvas as mere splatters of paint." Matthew Belinkie Overthinkingit.com: 80 unique pages, the first lifted directly from the movie and then getting progressively crazier... (alternative plain text cover also available) Features & Details Category  Humor Size 5×8 in, 13×20 cm 80 Pages Publish Date Dec 22, 2008 Here I am pondering a book on All Work and No Play, and outside is the largest snowfall of the season, with light rain and snow on the charts for Grimsby today.  It is so dark out that I can't tell, so we'll wait to see our mixed precipitation. There are autumn leaves on the trees and the lawn, along with lots of snow, so we'll see what there is for pictures today.  These two pictures come from 2008 in Toronto.

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!

Wild Geese Chasing

Are six geese a-laying different from other geese?  Samantha Johnson says this about geese a-laying. "Geese have a limited laying season - just a few months in the spring, and  most birds lay only about 40 eggs per year".   Suzanne Hugo writes:  "Geese with their exceptional eyesight and wide field of vision, combined with their strident voices, make excellent guards against approaching strangers or predators since outsiders cannot calm them into silence. This was shown in 390 BC, when Rome was attacked by Gallic troops. It was the alertness of the holy geese (Juno's sacred geese) housed in the temple of the city's fort that allowed the defenders to wake in time to resist the attacking enemy. Today, in the high Andes, Southeast Asia and many other places, geese replace guard dogs. In Europe, they are used to guard whiskey warehouses and sensitive military installations (National Research Council, 1991)". And in later times geese were considered holy: "the ancient Celtic people saw the Holy Spirit not as a hovering white dove but as a “wild goose.” The meaning behind this peculiar choice is because they saw how the Holy Spirit has a tendency to disrupt and surprise. The Holy Spirit moves in our lives in an unexpected fashion, similar to the actions of a wild goose". So how does the expression "wild goose chase" come about when geese are so smart? Mentalfloss.com comes to our assistance with its article on the expression here. Where is the reference most famous?  It is in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. "Nay, if our wits run the wild-goose chase, I am done, for thou hast more of the wild-goose in one of thy wits than, I am sure, I have in my whole five. Was I with you there for the goose?" The expression has made a great journey from "a pursuit of something as unlikely to be caught as the wild goose" to a futile search, so it seems to me that six geese a-laying is quite an expression in our Christmas song.

Tracking Santa

Did you follow Santa on his journey around the world? NORAD tracks Santa on Christmas Eve. Tracking began by accident in 1955.   Before NORAD was formed, when it was still the Continental Air Defence Command (Conad), a newspaper misprinted a Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement containing the phone number for children to call in to talk to Santa. Instead of reaching Santa, children reached Conad operations in Colorado.  "A colonel by the name of Harry Shoup picked up the phone and assured children who called in that Santa was safe and CONAD, at the time, would be tracking Santa on his progress through North America," she said. The tradition continues and NORAD trackers are finished for this year - he was spotted over the great wall of China, over Christmas Island, Vietnam, India, Afghanistan, Moscow, London, South America, and then Canada and finished in the U.S. There are many articles identifying Santa's workload, speed, and route.  The Atlantic narrows it to "Christian kids" - 526,000,000 of them under the age of 14 in the world.  So he delivers presents to 22 million an hour. That's about 365,000 kids a minute, about 6,100 a second. The dailymail.co.uk also has an article on the science of Santa -  Mr. Claus will eat 150 billion calories in milk and mince pies.  He will need to walk 1.3 billion miles, which is 54,000 times around the circumference of the earth, to work off the extra weight.  More at dailymail.co.uk Enjoy Christmas Day!

The Twelve Days Before

How many days before Christmas are there?  The twelve days of Christmas?  No, not at all.  The twelve days start on December 25th and complete on the feast of the Epiphany, on January 6th. The song that we all know so well is an English Christmas carol, published in 1780.  It has been with us for hundreds of years.  The version we have today comes from the English composer Frederic Austin, in 1909, when he introduced the prolongation of the verse "five gold rings". Go to the wikipedia entry and see the table that shows the differences, variations and developments  over time.  The columns have the source, then the giver, and then 1 to 12 for the 12 days of gifts.  There are many rows with all the changes over time.  For example, it wasn't until 1966 that "My true love sent to me"  became "My true love gave to me". The song is considered to originate from a children's memory and forfeit game.  Each person repeats the gifts and when he/she misses one, he pays a forfeit (a kiss or sweetmeat) for the mistake. Does this song have a secret religious meaning?  History Myths Debunked website says no, and a resounding no.   Are there some notable parodies?  Yes - a long list in the Wikipedia entry. Still featured on the radio today is Irish actor Frank Kelly's recording "Christmas Countdown" in 1982 in which a man named Gobnait O’Lunacy receives 12 different Christmas gifts from a lady named Nuala. As each gift is received, the man gets increasingly upset with the person who sent them.  And did you know this song gave rise to a Christmas Price Index?  It started in 1984.  There is a total of 364 items, assuming they are repeated in full in each round of the song.  The total cost for all goods and services for the 2015 Christmas Price Index is US$34,130.99 or $155,407.18 for all 364 items.  In 1984, the cost was $12,623.10. We see Charles Daley park yesterday - full of snow and tobogganing fun.

Christmas Weaths

The wreath has been a sign of honour or victory from Greek times.  Bay Laurel Leaves date from Greek mythology.  Other leaves that made wreaths included oak leaves - symbolizing wisdom, and were associated with Zeus.  We also think of wreaths as arrangements for funerals.   The Etruscan's made wreaths - they were stamped in thin metal and attached to an ornamental band.  They included ivy, oak, olive, myrtle, laurel, wheat and vines. In Christianity, the Christmas wreath was used to symbolize Christ. The circular shape, with no beginning or end, represents eternity or life never ending. The evergreen, most frequently used in making Christmas wreaths, symbolizes growth and everlasting life.  The wreaths were typically decorated with four candles, three on the exterior and one in the middle. The middle candle was lit on Christmas Eve to symbolize the arrival of the Light of the World - Jesus Christ. A tradition began in the early 19th century to lay evergreens shaped into wreaths or crosses on graves to honour the dead. Family members would bring them home to use as part of their Christmas decorations during the holiday season. So there is our wreath tradition.  Our first snow fall was yesterday, and I took pictures of the orchards across from the United Mennonite Home and on John Street.   This summer the Cherry Lane orchards got signs with their orchard names. I've included a picture from the spring - what a contrast with those soft colours in the last image.

Almost Here

pring begins tomorrow at 6:29am.   Our weather yesterday was a fluffy snow fall, and with the ground soft, one could smell all the moisture.  That made it quite cold, too.  How does Accuweather.com predict daily weather into the beginning of May?  It gives the sense of a predictable weather pattern, although we experience otherwise. When I look out my office corner window, (not my corner office window) I can see the Niagara escarpment.  It is one of thirteen UNESCO World Biosphere Reserves in Canada.  The trail along it starts in Queenston. The cairn marking the trail's terminus is in a parking lot, about 160 metres (520 ft) from General Brock's Monument on the easterly side of the monument's park grounds. The trail concludes in Tobermory.  It is 850 kms long, with 400 km of side trails. The idea to create it came about in 1959, and the trail was set in motion in 1960, with regional clubs established along the length of the Trail.  Each club was responsible for obtaining landowner approvals, organizing trail construction, and maintenance efforts within their region of the trail.  The cairn at the northern terminus of the Bruce trail in Tobermory was unveiled in 1967 - Canada's Centennial Year.  It is the oldest and longest marked hiking trail in Canada. When Dezi and I go to Grimsby Beach, we walk one of the spur trails - a side trail from the escarpment to the Lake. We in Canada have the distinction of having the longest hiking trail in the world - the Trans Canada Trail.  It is 24,000 km. It is an astonishing length - the next longest trail in Italy is 5,954 kms long.  Today we say farewell to winter in pictures from yesterday's snowfall.

Snow in the Headlines

Today's weather headlines:   Blizzard barrels towards northeast Snowstorm slams northeast Here are more great headlines about snow: Ice Scream! Now, Melt! The Brrrfect Storm From snow to whoa Gee bliss - New York socked by snow Snow fly zone No-mageddon:  The Washington, D.C. snow hole Snow Maggetin' Gipped The Snow Must Go On S'no Foolin' BONUS:  Have You Been Plowed? How many snowflakes are in a blizzard?  Is there a number big enough to represent a snow storm's parts?  Of course there is, and someone has created a table to show us this at thealmightyguru.com.  Here's the introduction: "Ever wonder what a number with 228 zeros after it is called? No? Well who asked you anyway? Actually, it's called a quinseptuagintillion. Duh! Here is a list of all the big numbers up till the infamous centillion. Just some more incredibly useless trivia for you from TheAlmightyGuru." I scrolled to the bottom and clicked on Pointless to see a page with  "all the useless knowledge I've posted over the course of my page. I've been told many times that I know too much about everything, and not enough about anything. As you can see from this page, it's pretty much true. I'll continue to update this page with more and more pointless data just so you'll know all sorts of things you never really cared to know in the first place. I'm doing this as a public service. You're welcome."

Snow that weighs too much

On the second day of winter snow, the phrase is 'snow that weighs too much.' Wikipedia has the many varieties from a to z - artificial snow through to zastrugi (snow surface features sculpted by wind into ridges and grooves).  There is even watermelon snow - a reddish/pink coloured snow that smells like watermelons, and is caused by a red-coloured green algae called Chlamydomonas nivalis.  These types of snow are mostly related to skiing. For urban snow, the Boston Globe has defined the types of snow removal personalities.  This seems to make sense with types like the mediocre shoveler, the incrementalist, the libertarian, angry snow plower, perfectionist, child labourer, anti-shoveler,  procrastinator, the t-taking pedestrian (t being an abbreviation for transportation), the snow angel, and more. Yesterday's snow quickly became slush.  How much does regular vs wet snow weigh?  For wet snow Monroe calculates: "Let's say wet snow would be equivalent to 1" of rain or 5" of snow, you would get a resulting 12.5 pounds per cubic foot, compared to light, fluffy snow at 5.2 pounds and a cubic foot of water at 62.4 pounds.  So I guess we would avoid a comparison with a cubic foot of Magnolia blossoms - our picture of the day.

Exit Ice from Niagara

It seems that we are having an early start to Spring. The ice at Grimsby Beach was hanging on a few days ago, but is melted now with exceptionally warm weather this week. Snow drops are blooming, along with Christmas Roses (Hellebores) and the Snow Crocuses are blooming too.  Of course, Pussy Willows and Witch Hazel are in bloom.  Pansies and spring flowers are for sale in our garden centres. People are more interested in what was eaten at the White House last night.  It seems that poutine was on the menu:  "White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford will have a “more formal take on the fast food,”  served up as a single bite canapé, featuring “shavings of smoked duck and cheese curds finished with red wine gravy and served on delicate wafer fries.” I found the dinner menu "here".   View this email in your browser

Winter's Infinity Pool

A return visit to Grimsby Beach yesterday revealed a winter landscape of ice on rocks.  The waves of the day before have frozen and formed icicles. The old Grimsby pier still stretches out into the water even though it is much smaller than the days when the steamer Turbinia docked there.  I've included an historical postcard so you can see what it was like then. Yesterday's sunny scene was a remarkable one - with the pier covered in ice.  It had the appearance of an infinity pool with the blue ice floating over the blue water.  The gulls standing at the end of the pier make a wonderful focal point.