The Odds Are

There's a site called Randomize and you pick and flip a coin.  "You have a 50/50 chance of this coin landing on heads or tails.  This U.S. penny has been flipped 162405 times.  Why don't you give it another flip!"  You can pick from a number of coins. Or you can roll the dice, generate random integers, prime numbers, lottery numbers, and random cards.  The website specializes in randomizing different things.  It has a random quote. We think of these odds and probabilities: 50-50, 60-40 and 80-20.    How many people do you need to have a 50-50 chance of sharing a birthday? 23 people.  In a room of just 23 people there’s a 50-50 chance of two people having the same birthday. In a room of 75 there’s a 99.9% chance of two people matching. I find that I have forgotten that odds and probably are not the same:   "Odds compare one event to another event, whereas probability compares one event to both possible events. Thus, when the odds are 60 to 40, the fraction for the Odds is 60/40, but the fraction to calculate the probability is 60/100". I am really thinking about the weather - of course.  That's my focus for probability as we move into spring rain and leave winter snow behind.  We want to have 0 probability of snow wherever we go.  Not that 20% chance of snow at any given point on the map.  "So for every 10 kms you travel you will increase your odds of seeing snow by multiplying the chance of snow at each point".  So stay put and reap the 20%. Our pictures today are scenes from Pennsylvania in late January when we visited the Longwood Orchid Festival.

On Golden Pond

I know this isn't Niagara - instead it is Toronto Botanical Gardens.  Today's pictures again showcase TBG's Wilket Creek.  I was at Grimsby Beach yesterday, and wished for the golds and oranges to reflect in Forty Creek.  But alas, there aren't any Autumn colour reflections so far.  Maybe this weekend!

The Colours of Water

"That cool, refreshing glass of water on a hot day may appear colorless, but water is actually a faint blue color. The blue color becomes visible when we look down into, or through, a large volume of water. We see water in a variety of ways. It may be colored by particles, the presence of bacteria, or by reflecting the world above its surface. Ice and snow may reveal a vivid internal blue. Water itself has an intrinsic blue color that is a result of its molecular structure and its behavior." We've got pictures of three bodies of water in Grimsby today.  The first is the Forty Creek, and we can see the muddy colour from sediment.  The second is recognizable as Grimsby Beach on the Lake with that blue tone. As these pictures were taken on the same day and within a half hour of each other, one can see how much the sky plays a part in creating the colour of water. And then we have the creek next to the Cemetery - it seems to be  black. Wikipedia says: "A few tens of meters of water will absorb all light, so without scattering, all bodies of water would appear black."   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.

Four Geese and a Dog

Dezi made a brisk exit last week as we checked out the view across the lake.  The geese seemed to march up the hill in formation.

Sunset Sunrise

As the sun sets on summer our question of the day is:  Do Sunrises look different from sunsets?  Today we'll see fireworks as the sun sets on summer.  What about tomorrow? Natalie Wolchover writes: "You've woken up out of a coma. You yank the IV from your arm and stumble out of the hospital. The sun is perched on the horizon. Can you tell whether it's rising or setting? Contemplating this scenario while gazing sunward at dusk or dawn, we might feel as if we could sense the difference between the two times of day. But in real life, it's impossible to completely divorce our perceptions of the scene from our awareness of the hour. So, is there any objective way to distinguish an upward-trending sun from a downward one? According to atmospheric physicists David Lynch and William Livingston, the answer is "yes, and no." The first is in our heads. "At sunset, our eyes are daylight adapted and may even be a bit weary from the day's toil," Lynch and Livingston write. "As the light fades, we cannot adapt as fast as the sky darkens. Some hues may be lost or perceived in a manner peculiar to sunset. At sunrise, however, the night's darkness has left us with very acute night vision and every faint, minor change in the sky's color is evident." In short, you may perceive more colors at dawn than at dusk. [Red-Green & Blue-Yellow: The Stunning Colors You Can't See]" To read on see: http://www.livescience.com/34065-sunrise-sunset.html

Burning Water

Today's image celebrates great sunsets over water.  It is amazing how the sunset colours look like fire dancing on the waves. Here we are in the Labour Day weekend, and we can enjoy a few of the facts about September. - Shakespeare did not mention September in any of his plays. - In 1752 in Britain, September had only 19 days as we changed from Julian to Gregorian calendar. - "My favourite poem is the one that starts 'Thirty days hath September' because it actually tells you something' - Groucho Marx.

Port Dalhousie Beach

The Port Dalhousie beach is a perfect summer spot.  I was struck by the pretty umbrellas and have highlighted them in this picture. It seemed there were so many stories in this waterside scene - my favourite is the man lying on his back in the foreground, with the dog looking my way.

Seahorse in Blossoms

What makes a great public garden 'great' is the scale and complexity of plantings, structures, paths and other garden elements in the landscape.  Winterthur has expansive naturalistic gardens that are considered the best in North America.  At the house are more structured formal gardens, designed by Marion Coffin.  The drifts of Azaleas and Rhododendrons frame the house in spring so that the formal and informal merge into a showcase display. At this time of year, the azaleas are reflected in the pond so that the seahorse is surrounded by pink waves.

Country Living

This is a moment where country living is wonderful. This is at the home of friends who live in Pennsylvania, quite close to Longwood.  Dezi is on the dock - we were watching the large fish swimming in the water, and she was wondering about how to chase them.   Below are Irises that have fallen against the water - looking like there's a midnight sun.

Florida's Jungle Gardens

Jungle Garden

Jungle Garden      We wouldn't want to leave Florida without Flamingos and Parrots. This is the Sarasota Jungle Garden and it is a wonderful display of subtropical forest set amongst meandering paths that display birds and other animals.  As with the rescue aquarium, the source of the animal or bird is indicated, and most of the reptiles came to the Jungle Garden when 'got too big to take care of' or 'owner was moving'. This was the case for most of the Parrots too - I can imagine they can get too much to take care of - they want a lot of attention and can be very loud.  One of the unusual residents was a breed of rabbit known as the Belgium rabbit.  It was found nearby  - either lost or rejected. What an unusual pet to lose or reject: this is the largest breed of rabbit and weighs between 20 and 40 pounds. I don't think Baxter would be in charge of this guy.

Lake Ontario South Shoreline Views

You saw the beautiful stretch of sandy beach at Port Dalhousie yesterday. Today we see the shoreline just west of Jordan.  We're facing west in these pictures - you can see the Hamilton escarpment in the background.  It's an expansive view that showcases the Lake and the shoreline.

The shoreline is very similar all along this area - from Martin Road to Tufford Road - the corresponding numbers on yesterday's map would be in the 10 to 14 range.  It is called low shoreline.  The road is right against the shoreline with houses scattered along the north side.  Some of the houses are old cottages from days gone by, and others are modern houses with the lake view, but not the shoreline mansions further west.  The road starts and stops.  It is not continuous along the lake.  I expect this is due to erosion and property ownership. There are small stretches of private lanes and roads and property that doesn't have public access of any kind.   

I've explored this area in the past - looking for orchards overlooking the water.  However, that's not the normal situation - the winds are too strong at the water's edge.  It will be blustery out there today.

Where's the Beach?

Lake Ontario South Shore Beaches

A few weeks ago I was looking for more information on the Charles Daley Park dynamic lagoon.  I came upon the 2009 study of south shore beaches.  I had no idea that there were 58 distinct shoreline areas.  The formal definition is 'reaches'.  These are "a length of shoreline having common physiographic characteristics, shore dynamics, environmental elements and land use."

Our pictures today include Port Dalhousie's lighthouses from the west side - from Lakeside Park.  It is 28 on the map.  At the shore is what remains of the amusement park at Lakeside Park.  All that's left is the antique Carousel which has been beautifully preserved.  One can still ride for 5 cents in the summer.  Lakeside Park has a long, long sandy beach with great views of the sky in both directions.  It seems particularly exposed here.  The day of these pictures there were huge waves beating a frozen shoreline.  In Grimsby there was no ice on the shore yet.

We'll be visiting many of these points on the south shore and see what these different reaches have to offer.

Stormy Weather

We had a great rainfall yesterday in the Niagara region.  I realized just how much rain fell when I went to St. Catharines for the Grimsby Garden Club field outing.  Along Fifth St. Louth, near my brother's hybridizing field, there were orchards in water.  It is sandy loam, so that means a lot of water came down in the day.

The garden club went to Lilycrest Gardens, my brother, Brian Bergman's lily hybridizing field, and then to Squirrel House Gardens, the 11.5 acre garden of Elisabeth Hilton.  It is also on Fifth Street.

Conservatory Water Gardens

I'm preparing an article for water gardens in conservatories. s Both Longwood and the Missouri Botanical Garden have extensive water gardens in their conservatories.  Here is a sampling…the first is in St. Louis, and Longwood images are the next three.

A Water Garden of Wonder

Niagara seems to be home to some wonderful homes, and this is a special one with a water garden outside the living room window that is on display all year. We were on a garden tour recently (July 2013), and had a great experience at the garden of Terri and Wayne Rubel.  

The garden has been featured in magazines and blogs - Wayne's creative water garden feature is the source of the curiosity.  He has set  a vase filled with water upside-down vase above the pond water line. When he puts some fish food in the vase, the fish swim 'up' to get it.   Here's the wonderful combination of water feature and special feature.