Crocus

This time of year catalogues featuring wonderful spring flowers start to arrive. The plants are so tempting and it is hard to believe at this time of year that winter will come and all those bulbs that the squirrels did not devour will rest in the ground just waiting to pop up and proclaim that spring has arrived once again. Sometimes, emerging in stages as warm weather occurs unexpectedly and then Mother Nature decides that it is too early for us to enjoy the warmer weather and brings back the cold. One of my favourite spring flowers is the crocus.

According to Greek mythology, the crocus flower originated on a day when the gods were amusing themselves by racing each other to prove who was the fastest runner. However, for Hermes, whose winged feet made him the assured winner every time, racing was tedious. In his boredom, Hermes idly threw a discus, paying no attention where it might land. The discus hit Crocus, the infant son of Europa, killing the lad instantly. Drops of the boy's blood fell on the surrounding ground. Hermes, full of anguish and remorse, transformed Crocus's spilt blood into flowers. After her son's death, Europa was seldom seen without a crocus flower.

Crocuses are a valuable source of saffron, and contributed to Cretan economy 2000 years ago. Four thousand crocuses are needed to produce an ounce of saffron which is why in the east the plant covers fields. Sometimes, saffron is worth more than its weight in gold. It is no longer used as a dye with the introduction of more economical substitutes and there are no proven medical properties. It is still used in food for its subtle flavour and colour in food like Spanish paella.

The crocus was first introduced to England during the reign of Elizabeth 1. Settlers in the new world brought crocuses with them and those that did not fall victims to rats and mice on the voyage were planted at the entrances to their new homes.

I look forward to next spring and more crocus in my flower beds. Just have to figure out how to stop the squirrels from treating them like a snack food.

Pull of Irrational Behaviour

I love reading in the summer, picking a spot in the shade and indulging in literary guilty pleasures. Other times, I wander to the business section of book stores and see what authors have to say about the world of business and how we can or can not succeed. My last trip unearthed the latest best seller, Sway, the Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior.

One example of extremely irrational behaviour that Ori describes is The $20 bill auction which is part of professor Max Bazerman of Harvard Business School first lesson each year. On the first day of class, Bazerman offers a $20 bill for auction. Everybody is free to bid; there are only two rules. The fist is that bids are to be made in $1 increments. The second rule is a little trickier. The winner of the auction, of course, wins the bill. But the runner-up must still honor his or her bid, while receiving nothing in return. In other words, this is a situation where second best finishes last. Bazermand has seen the bidding go as high as $204. Most of the students drop out before $20 but there are always two students who can not stop and do not want to be second. This behaviour and experiment helps explain some peoples' behaviour when they can not stop irrational behaviour which is not netting them positive results.

Brafman cites many other interesting examples of irrational behaviour and explains the cause. Some of the examples have very real and tragic consequences.

After reading this book in one day, I noticed that Brafman also co-authored The Starfish and the Spider, a discussion of leadership organizations versus top-down controlled organizations. Again an interesting and thought provoking read.

Now, it is time to indulge in some guilty pleasure before reading a work by Naomi Klein.

Parkwood Estate-Oshawa

Friday, I finally visited Parkwood estate in Oshawa with a friend. She had never heard of the place. A waitress at a nearby restaurant knew of the building but had never been there. My to do list includes a number of historic homes that I would like to visit.

Parkwood estate was donated to Oshawa hospital in 1972 when the owner, Sam Mclaughlin passed away at the age of 102. He was the founder of General Motors Canada along with his father. The company grew out of McLaughlin Carriage Works, at one time, the largest producer of horse carriages in the British Empire. The home was built in 1917 and reflects his love of technology and innovation. The 55 room home which included an indoor swimming pool, bowling lane and squash court certainly reveals a life style that his employees could only dream of.

Parkwood estate which was home to McLaughlin, his wife Adeliade and their five daughter for 55 years, also includes several acres of gardens. My only disappointment was that I did not think that I would need to make a reservation for lunch on a Friday. Apparently, there are people in Oshawa who do lunch in a fine style beside the fountains in the garden.

According the will, the home was to be used as a nursing home but the hospital did not feel that it could do that, so it planned to tear the building down. Thank goodness others intervened and it was designated a National Historic site. What is special about the home is that it contains the family's furniture which helps visitors understand how the family lived and entertained. Wish that I could have been a guest.

I hope to visit one of the buildings on my list this summer. Will post pictures when I visit.

Randy Pausch, the Last Lecture

Recently, I listened to the book The last Lecture which was written and presented by computer scientist Randy Pausch can be viewed on the Internet. ( I subscribe to recorded books and that is how I pass the time while driving in the car.) Randy who died on July 24, presented the lecture in September at Carnegie Mellon University where he was a professor. This was his last lecture because he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer which took his life and he was aware of the medical situation which he did not hide but faced head on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

In May, Time magazine name Dr. Pausch as one of the world's top-100 influential people. Two months earlier, he had appeared before a United States Senate subcommittee where he pushed for increased federal funding for pancreatic cancer research.

Paush's message was to live life to the fullest everyday and work through obstacles in life.

When you get a minute, listen to or read his book. It reminds us to remember what is really important in life.

Blueberry Cornmeal bread

Several years ago, I prepared a cookbook of recipes that I had tried successfully and wanted to share with friends who cook. Some people did not get a copy of the book because cooking is not one of their interests. The president is their personal chef.

This morning, I prepared what is one of our favourite recipes at this time of year. I try to make a number of these and freeze some so that we can remember this time of year when berries is not so abundant.

I am copying the recipe for those people who do love to cook and explore new tastes. This recipe is very easy which is one of the positives, as well as the fact that it tastes very good and is good for you.

Enjoy.

Blueberry Cornbread
This excellent recipe is adapted from The Blueberry Connection by Beatrice Ross Buszek. Serve it slightly warm for brunch or wrap it up and take it on a picnic.

1 cup cornmeal
1 ½ cups sifted all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
2 eggs beaten
1 ½ cups milk
¼ cup melted butter
1 cup blueberries, washed and drained

Place cornmeal in a bowl and sift in dry ingredients. Stir to combine. Mix together beaten eggs, milk and melted butter. Add to dry ingredients and stir to blend. Fold in blueberries. Bake in a greased bread pan at 375o F for 25 minutes. It can also be made in an electric frying pan. Grease frying pan and preheat to 250o F. Pour in batter, cover and cook with the vent open for 25 to 35 minutes.
Makes 1 loaf

This recipe was first made July 8, 1984 and included in the first cookbook that we prepared. Recently, Michael spoke to his optometrist about macular degeneration and what can be done to prevent it. His advice was to eat blueberries and green vegetables every day and eat fish regularly. I am including this to help everyone with their health.

Hail blasts man off toilet

I certainly hope that this does not turn out to be a hoax. Just because something is on the Internet does not make it true. A friend just sent an e-mail about a man in Austria who was blasted off his toilet by hail that backed up the toilet system after the sewage system could not handle the deluge. I immediately checked to see if there was any information about this and there is. The site that I have copied the URL for has pictures. Fascinating if this is true, great hoax if it isn't. Do I sound sceptical?
http://fragerfactor.blogspot.com/2008/07/hailstones-blast-man-off-toilet.html

Fonts

Yesterday, I went out for dinner with two of the teachers who I worked with in the music department at the high school that I had the good fortune to work for two years. We were celebrating Gloria's birthday. Unlike some people, I believe that birthdays as well as other special days should be celebrated and enjoyed. The restaurant let us bring our own cake and brought it to the table accompanied by a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday, at least as rousing as two members of the wait staff can be.

During dinner, we discussed blogs among other things. Andria mentioned that a friend had attended a blog conference. Apparently some bloggers want hints about increasing readership and I would think gaining that major book deal based on their musings.

These same bloggers should have considered attending a font conference held in Buffalo recently;might help the appearance of the blog. Some of the attendees are members of the Ban Comic Sans campaign-oh no! that is the font that was recommended to me and I have been using on my snail mail. Some of the topics at the Font conference included Verdana is Good, Mine is Better; Will the Real Times Roman Please stand up?

Calligraphy Boot Camp. One of the attendees, Shelley Greundler, runs a Type Camp program on Galiano Island in B.C. You can see serifs and sans-serifs, five weights and seven weights all in the same family. I think that I would rather attend a kayaking camp on the island.

This is the list of fonts that a group at the conference picked as that the 10 fonts they would want on a desert Island:
Janson
Gill Sans
Dido/Bodoni
Joanna
Myriad
Helvetica Neue Light
Walker
Century Schoolbook Condensed Light
Trebuchet
Meta.

I must admit that I only recognize two of the font names and if I had to name the default font that I am using , I could not do it.
Fascinating, what people care about and will study.

Hepatica

This is the time in the summer that I visit garden centres looking for bargains. Sometimes, I find real gems. Yesterday's find was a Hepatica, a wildflower which is a member of the buttercup family that will be wonderful next spring when it blooms alongside the spring bulbs. It is also known as Liver Wort because of the shape of the leaves. I will have to make sure that I mark where it is and remove the leaves that are covering it before the snow falls otherwise, I can missing the blooms.

Apparently, Hepatica is named from its leaves, which like the human liver (Greek hepar) have three lobes. It was once used as a medicinal herb. Owing to the doctrine of signatures, the plant was thought an effective treatment for liver disorders. Although poisonous in large doses- how much did people try before they figured this out? The leave and flowers may be used as an astringent, demulcent for slow-healing injuries and as a diuretic.

The other plants that I purchased yesterday are the common begonia-must order some next year from a catalogue and coleus- have some spots that still need to be filled in. I have never seen the begonias that I saw in a town in California just north of Mendicino where Murder She Wrote was filmed in nurseries in the GTA area. Those begonias were magnificent. Unfortunately, that visit was before the days of digital cameras or I would be posting pictures of those wonderful flowers all the time.

Hoping for a dry day so that I can get out and do some planting.

Happy gardening.

Geraniums

On a day like today, I would love to be able to go out and garden. Unfortunately, I do not enjoy getting wet and mucky. Might have to go and get some Wellingtons, like the British since it has rained nearly everyday for about a week. Hope that the farmers are happy.

I did manage to get to some garden centres today and bought some of the plants that are on sale. It is not the end of the gardening season but some of the temporary centres on clearing up. One of my purchases was a geranium. I do love the blooms which keep coming all summer.

Once geraniums were only found in sunny South Africa. Hard to believe today when nearly every second home has some in the garden or a planter.In 1680, Dutchman Paul Hermann, professor of botany at the Royal Botanic Gardens collected geraniums that ten years later were well established at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew. About 20 varieties made their way to Europe over the next 90 years.

In the early 1800's, the geranium became a leading contributor to a gardening revolution that dramatically transformed the appearance of gardens forever. Victorian flower beds became a riot of colour. No park or public garden omitted geraniums from the flower bed.

I can not imagine gardens without at least one geranium with its guaranteed burst of colour.

Giant Lobster safe

Big Dee-Dee, the 100 year old lobster is safe. The lobster which made headlines around the world will be sent to the Huntsman Marine Science Centre in St. Andrew's, N. B. Bids had been made to save the lobster and set it free. It was finally decided that it was no longer safe to release the lobster which had been in captivity for several weeks. It deserves to live out its life in comfort.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d34_1202927882

Any one who knows anything about lobsters, knows that a sledge-hammer would have been needed to crack the shell of this lobster.

Hopefully, people will start thinking about other wild creatures and that we need to value them and save them when possible and appropriate.

No more drilling filling

Good news for all of us who are going to rush out and find those cupcake shops with frosting shots!. British scientists at Leeds Dental Institute have created a solution that mimics the way the body forms new teeth. It can be used to repair holes naturally without need for drilling and filling. The alternative to drilling could be ready for use within five years; not a moment too soon if we are going to have those wonderful snacks. It is a new protein that allows the body to repair holes in the enamel on the surface of the tooth naturally. The substance can be painted on teeth to fill holes before they become large holes full of decay. The same treatment could be used to fill tiny holes in the teeth's dentine, which cause intense sensitivity to hot and cold food and drinks. The same researchers have formulated a mouthwash that kills bacteria that cause plaque when a light is shone into the mouth. They believe that the mouthwash could be available in three years or less.
This is the kind of research that I applaud. I dread the words that I need to return for a filling. Have not heard those words for many years which is why I have tried to avoid frosting shots but now, I am off and running. Will need to run so that I do not need a new wardrobe after the shots.

Icing snacks

We all love cupcakes and the new shops that specialize in cupcakes prove this fact. Now, there is a new trend. Frosting shots- yes! At a handful of cupcake storefronts across the United States, the frosting shot has emerged as a short-but-sweet pick-me-up for urbanites and college students.

For a small fee, customers get a dollop of their favourite frosting in a paper cup of plastic cup, about the size of a frozen yogurt sample.

Erin McKenna, owner of Babycakes NYC in New York which offers vegan

cupcakes first tested her desserts while at Mario Batali's restaurant Lupa. A customer suggested making extra frosting as shots.
"It really became a big thing. I tried to stop offering them," Ms. McKenna says, "But I would see people on the street and they'd be, like, 'Where are the the frosting shots?' ".

I must go out and take this to the local cupcake shop and see if they will follow up on this idea. The last time, I walked by they had mini cupcakes which hit the spot. Icing would be even better!

http://cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.com/2008/05/behold-frosting-shot.html

Blueberries

I love blueberries and many other berries. This is one of my favourite times of year with blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries converging. Apparently others do too!

Research, mostly on rats, shows that blueberries carry a cornucopia of compounds that benefit not only vision but also cardiovascular health, memory, and balance-that they may play a role in reducing cell growth and division in cancerous tumours. The benefits keep being discovered. Rutgers has a University Center for Cranberry and Blueberry research.

Blueberries are Canada's largest fruit export, worth $323 million last year. The US gets most of the blueberries with Japan not far behind the second largest importer. More than half the country's fruit growing area is devoted to them. Land area devoted to cultivating berries increased 40 per cent in a 12-month period between 2006 and 2007.

It looks like I won't have to worry about a blueberry shortage since cultivation is increasing and positive reasons for eating this wonder fruit keep being discovered.

Heat

I enjoy posting on my blog but I must admit that today the heat has finally caused my brain to shut down. I am one of those people who tries to avoid turning on air conditioning as long as possible but I am sitting here feeling very sticky. I am going to shower soon and put my clothes in the laundry- that is the only appropriate place for them. I do not wish to cook. Someone is going to have to take me out. Too hot to turn on the oven or stove. I am hoping that it will rain and I can run outside in the rain, that would be very refreshing. In the meantime, my brain has ceased up and refuses to offer up any interesting thoughts.

I will think thoughts of January and relax- time to make a mint julep- southerns had it right when they created this drink for hot afternoons.

Must go out and water my parched plants but will wait until it cools down a bit.

Hope that the rest of you are keeping cool.

Aging well

The past few days, because of some of my activities, I have focused on aging. I am writing an article about nursing homes; helping the parents of a friend- her mother is 90 and I will take her for groceries. Her mobility has declined and she can not push the cart and reach for groceries. I will be the reacher which is funny since sometimes I have to ask taller people to reach for items when they are beyond my reach. Grocery stores should be required to have stools like some libraries and book stores. After groceries, I am taking her husband who is 96 to his doctor's appointment. He is having issues with his legs. His health has been remarkable until last July when his legs started bothering him.

A friend wrote about her mother who celebrated her 88th birthday yesterday. She celebrated by hitting a hole in one on the golf course! Way to go, I can barely hit the golf ball.

As some of you know, I play tennis and many of the people who I play with during social tennis, a round robin set up are older. I admire their drive and determination to be on the court and hitting the ball. Some of them still run after the ball and give you a good game.

One of my projects during the past 3 summers has been to arrange a summer chamber music project. I meet once a week with about 20 students who play chamber music in various combinations and then perform for seniors. Some of the homes are wonderful and the seniors still enjoying life. Those are the seniors I want to be like, if health, physical and mental, permits.

I am grateful that I have examples of seniors who are not sitting at home in their rocking chair reflecting on what their life has been but still building memories.

Million dollar babies

Again, I am stunned at the amount of money magazines are willing to pay to have pictures of the second coming. A magazine reportedly will or has paid $11 million for pictures of the Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie twins. What have these children done except have the good fortune to be born to one of the most famous couples in the world right now. http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/arizonaliving/articles/2008/07/15/20080715people0715.html

I am glad that Brad and Angelina will use the money for charity but what is all the excitement all about? There are children born everyday in hospitals every where, all of these babies are just as adorable. What does the public hope to learn about these children that is worth this kind of money?

I am puzzled that these two children are valued so highly and the lives of many other children are not worth a second thought.

Year Round Schooling

A debate that keeps coming back: Year round schooling. Experts regularly ask for year round schooling in Ontario. This is a practise in other parts of the world. As a teacher of over 30 years, I have to ask who would want to be in a school that is not air conditioned during one of our heat waves and we do have them in July and August. Most countries that have year round schooling do not experience the extremes of temperature that we do or they have air conditioning in their schools. An article in today's Toronto Star mentioned a school in Peel that has been using the year round system for 4 years. Based on the name of the school, Roberta Bondar, this is a school that was built with air conditioning. I have worked and taught in schools with no air conditioning; there is nothing that reduces learning more than extreme heat. The cost of refurbishing our older schools would be cost prohibitive.

The author of the article also mentions that he believes that students stop learning in mid-May and effectively are not learning for 6 months of the year. I would have to say that is true if school activities and teachers appear to present an attitude that it is now play time and students are programmed to participate in many fun activities. Trips, play days and many activities are planned for the end of May and June which suggest to students that learning at this time is not as important. I have had the opportunity to work at the high level after working at the grade 7 and 8 level and learning definitely does not fall off at the high school level because students have exams and summatives to complete and study for. Perhaps, students at the elementary level need similar incentives to keep learning?

I also wonder why this issue is only a concern for students in elementary school. High school students have the same break. Is it because some of them work at summer jobs to finance post secondary education that we do not express the same concern? There does not seem to be a concern about the fact that post secondary students have a 4 month break. Does the brain function differently at a certain age and we no longer forget?

Raccoons

Raccoons are thriving and an important part of the urban ecosystem. Unlike their rural cousins, urban raccoons are plump and furry and expert at garbage-tipping. They are an adaptable squatter in buildings both abandoned and as homeowners know occupied. A friend had her front porch come crashing down when the weight of the resident raccoons caused the ceiling to collapse.

Mart Gross , a senior professor of conservation biology at the University of Toronto states that Raccoons are "an important part of the ecosystem and deserve the same protection as any wild species." Gross has come to realize the conservation groups do not recognize evolution and their view of the ecosystem is static. He points out that the planet is doing wheat it has always done. Changing. That we've played such a significant role in that is secondary to the fact that , as always, the planet will be more hospitable to some species than others. As Darwin would have said, let the strong or best suited-survive. Gross and his supporters ask Conservation biology to look forward not just backward.

I am sure that Gross' theories will cause many to consider the argument that some species are endangered because of human activity but we must allow for change. However, adapting his theories gives humans license to continue the destruction of habitat without thought of the species that thrive and depend on particular natural conditions.

Waterfront

We live on a lake which is gradually disappearing. I don't mean that the lake is evaporating; it is disappearing from view because we have politicians who do not seem to have a problem with more and more condominiums and businesses building right up to the lakefront. Thse are not squat buildings that might allow us to retain some view of the lake. Take a look at the Harbour masters building- the harbour master has no view of the lake.

The latest project that I noticed being protested is a condominium slated for the east end of Toronto. Residents are trying to stop it but without proper zoning on the part of the city this will probably go through just like all the unfortunate projects in the city right now.

A project that is supposed to help the lake is taking down a section of the Gardiner Expressway. This is a disaster waiting to happen. As someone has suggested, block off the section to be taken down and observe what happens to city traffic. It won't help the lake which is not even near the Gardiner at this point. Taking down the Gardiner will only mean that drivers and others will now see the base of all the buildings that have been built by the shore line and traffic congestion in the area will be terrible. The lake is gone.

Where is the will to save the lake for the people? Other cities seem to be able to remember their natural wonders,why can't Toronto?

Toronto City Hall Art Show

For those Toronto residents who don't have a cottage and would like an art fix, take time this weekend to go and visit the 47th Annual Toronto City Hall Art Show. It is well worth the visit. http://www.torontooutdoorart.org/

I spent a couple hours visiting the various booths and helping a friend in her booth. Line Dufour and I met over 30 years ago while we both worked for Chargex, one of the first all -purpose credit cards. Stores used to have their own cards and then in the late 60's Chargex and Bank America issued credit cards. It was a real innovation. Many people did not have cards in those days and bank machines were just being introduced.

Many years later, Line is a tapestry artist and one of the many talented people exhibiting at the show. She taught me how to knit my scarves with the new style that I have adopted. Wonderful, what you can learn from friends and talented people.

I am Rich

I am rich beyond my wildest dreams. All I have to do is answer one of those e-mails from the Ivory coast, Nigeria, Liberia, or a similar African nation. Once I have given my personal information including my bank account, I will receive untold riches. Yesterday, I was told that some money was being held under the auspices of the United Nations as proposed by Kofiee Anan, (apoligize for the possibly incorrect spelling) former Secretary General of the United Natins.

How do these people find the e-mail addresses and why is there such a surge in postings? There must be people who are naive enough to respond otherwise these e-mails would not persist. How can people be so gullible?

One of my e-mail accounts receives on average 5 postings a day. I am tempted to go and set up a bank account with $5 in it and wait and see how long it takes for the money to be removed. I am not likely to do this because I really do not want to reveal more personal information about myself to absolute strangers and then discover that I have become victim to the other rising crime, identity theft.

The other scam which seems to be on the rise right now is false postings by supposed financial institutions. I need to respond to the e-mail and verify my account information. Wonder how long it would take the scam artist to remove the funds in the account and proceed to pretend to be me and absolutely destroy my financial credibility?

Amazing that these schemes work!

Summerlicious

Last winter, I had my first experience with Winterlicious and since then I also enjoyed Summerlicious. For those of you have not had a chance to participate in this experience for about 2 weeks in the summer and winter, a number of restaurants in Toronto which are not part of chain restaurants offer special meals to attract people who might have wanted to visit the restaurant. These are usually restaurants that have received very good reviews on at least two of the rating organizations like Zagat. At lunch, the meals are $15 or $20 for 3 courses- usually there are 3 choices of appetizers, 3 main courses and 3 desserts. For dinner, the price is $25 or $35, a bargain for places that usually cost $100 to $150 for two people with a glass of wine.

This afternoon, I had a chance to enjoy the food and ambiance at Canoe one of the most sought after locations for the liciouses. You need an American Express card so that you can get to the front of the line and make a reservation for Canoe before others. After trying for an hour and half on and off- did not have redial on the phone that I was using so it too some effort, I managed to connect and get a reservation for today at 2:30. Since I had managed to get a time, I decided that I should go for broke and ask for a reservation for a party of 6. It worked and I found 5 people to come with me. What a lovely afternoon!

We had exquisite appetizers- I had a shrimp and marscapon pate, sea bass with couscous with chili and ginger for the main and for dessert a chocolate truffle cake with toasted almond ice cream and white chocolate to top it!. Yes, this was all heavenly and the staff was very attentive. A wonderful time was had by all. We all agreed that we should do this again.

I can hardly wait for Winterlicious but in the meantime, I am going out for dinner tomorrow evening and then lunch next week. Life is good!

Teach the World to Sing

I was just wandering around the world wide web checking out some things like authors who I am reading to see if they have some other books that I might enjoy during the summer heat. Just finished a book by Nancy Martin, part of the Blackbird Sisters Mysteries, definitely summer reading. Nothing that is going to tax my mind during the heat. It is hot today; I was happy to get off the tennis court this morning.

On the Book Tarts' blog, I found a reference to a commercial that we all found touching many years ago. Definitely worth a listen and maybe someday, we can all join in song.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=GAgh86j5alI

Lasermonks

No longer monks sitting in monastery copying books. A small order of Cistercian monks in Sparta, Wisconsin, Our Lady of Spring Bank Cistercian Abbey was struggling to find a means of supporting the community. Many ideas had crossed the minds of the five monks and some ventures were attempted. When Father Bernard found that the toner for his laser printer needed replacing, the seed of what would become LaserMonks.com was planted. He realized that if his community was struggling with the high cost of these necessary everyday office items, so too were other religious communities, school and nonprofit organizations. It dawned on him that if he could find a way to save money on these items, he could pass the saving on to other organizations in similar need.

By 2007, this seed of an idea has become what is one of the most complex business models run by a monastery. Ink and toner is a huge industry. Lasermonks online database now boasts more than 35,000 different products and a high-tech online business to hand the 300 to 500 orders a day. http://lasermonks.com/

The monks do struggle with the conflict of peaceful serenity of monastic prayer and charity.
Lasermonks is cited as an example of how to incorporate charity into a business model. It might be a better world if more companies could adopt some of the monks' philosophies.

Chrysanthemum

One of the joys of gardening is anticipating what is to come. It will be some time before my chrysanthemum's start blooming but in the meantime, I will be pruning them trying to encourage more blooms and more growth. Apparently, the flowers start to develop when the hours of sunlight are less than 12 hours which means after September 21st. I wish that I could grow mums like the ones in the photos. These were taken at the annual Mum show in Hamilton, Gage Park.

In some European cultures such as Italy and Greece, the large chrysanthemum flowers we sometimes call "mums' are used exclusively to honour the dead. Chrysanthemums are seen as such potent symbols of power and perfection by the Japanese that at one time only the emperor was allowed to grow them. The chrysanthemum was adopted as the personal symbol of the Mikado, the emperor.

The word chrysanthemum is derived from the Greek chrysos meaning gold and the anthos meaning flower. Flowering plants were fashioned into crowns and used during magic rituals designed to protect participants against demons.

Maybe, if I have enough mums, I will be able to protect my family and house.

Asian chrysanthemums are reported to have been grown in the Netherlands during the 1680's but the first Chinese chrysanthemum to successfully join its European cousins was imported to France in 1789 by a Marseilles merchant, Monsieur Blanchard.

Studying our garden flowers leads us to a study of exploration and trade around the globe. Hard to believe that the humble mum has such an illustrious history.

I am looking forward to the fall and seeing the mums in all their glory. Might even pay a return visit to the annual Mum show in Hamilton, at Gage Park or the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton.

Immortality in a Name

Want your name to live after you? You can join Jeff Goodhartz and others who wish to have their name live on by paying to have a new species named after you. Jeff Goodhartz paid $5,000 to have a new-found sea worm given the Goodhartz name, "goodhartzorum".

"This really jazzes me up" says the 55-year-old high school math teacher whose namesake is translucent with a flamboyant blue tuft. "It will be out there, the family name."

Goodhartz bought the naming rights from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography which unveiled its fundraising name-a-species programme this year. http://scrippsnews.ucsd.edu/Releases/?releaseID=894

It's common for discoverers to name a new species after themselves or in honour of their spouses, children, colleagues or benefactors. It is a new practise to sell of the names in order to fund research.

I would love to have a sea creature named after me, maybe a sea cucumber or jelly-fish-some of them are breathtaking. I love to visit the Monterey aquarium and visit the Jelly exhibit. Maybe one day, we will all be watching the Mularium jelly float around the tank. Or I might want to have naming rights for this nudibranc. The possibilities are thought provoking! Just have to decide how much I would like to pay.

Clematis and lilies

Clematis are the flower of the week! Last year, I was lucky enough to buy some clematis for a very good price and I am so pleased that they are growing and blooming. This lovely specimen is a year old and just stunning.





Apparently, one of the earliest reports of the cultivation in Europe of clematis comes from the Greek botanist Pedanios Dioscorides around 50 A.D He is thought to have originated the name-from the Greek klema meaning a tendril, shoot or vine-which was then used by the younger Pliny to describe the plant in Historia Naturalis. During the Elizabethan reign, the clematis became known as Ladies' Bower or Virgin's Bower.


The clematis is not only admired for its flowers, but also for its remarkably tough stems. In North and South America and in Asia, it's been used as rope. French peasant women make clotheslines from clematis vine. Ancient Romans fashioned clematis baskets. Clematis vitalba has another use: in Russia and Italy, young shoots are boiled in water and eaten like asparagus.




I don't think that I will be weaving my clematis vines or eaten them any time soon but I will enjoy the flowers and look for more to plant and enjoy next year.

The last picture is not a clematis but I could not resist taken a picture of one of the lilies that has started to bloom in my garden.
I love Asiatic lilies. The range of colours is stunning.

Needlepoint

When I am not busy at the computer or dealing with the many projects that I like to get involved in, I like to do needlework of many different kinds. One of my favourites is needlepoint. Unfortunately, I find that I the need to work with a frame and that means that my work is not very portable. If I don't use a frame my work tends to develop a very Dalisque quality to it. These are my most recent projects. I have some trees that I will tackle soon.


The first two pillows are from a set of images created by one of the fathers of the Arts and Crafts movement, William Morris. These are stylized images of artichokes. So far they are my favourite projects.

Before, I tackled the William Morris designs, I attempted a few pillows like the design on the left. Yes, most of the projects that I have done include flowers. Will have to think about that. So far they are the designs that appeal to me the most. I do like Kaffee Fasset's work but the designs are sometimes too bold for my taste.

Time for a stitching break, working on an abstract right now.

(One of my other projects is figuring out how to download digital images to my blog. I think that I am getting better at it.One of my birthday presents which I requests was a memory key with a great deal of memory for my images. )

Meaningful Work

There is a new career obsession: "the quest for meaning in work". The yearning for meaningful work isn't new. But only recently has it become such a widespread preoccupation. This is a wonderful reflection of what people are trying to achieve but hard to accomplish. At first glance, many necessary jobs are not meaningful. They do not change the world and make it a better place but they are stepping stones in the process of learning job skills and simply getting a pay cheque to pay for tuition when in school and later to pay for the essentials of life. Some jobs enable us to create meaning in other facets of our lives.

The researcher who studied people's attitudes towards work and meaning suggested that we enjoy our work without finding it meaningful or being passionate about it. It might be enough to do satisfying work that meets one's needs. As our lives changes, these needs change. We do need to prepare ourselves to change our careers or the focus of our careers. Remember our careers are not who were are or our whole lives; there are other areas of focus.

Music Students

Today, I met with16 students who will be practising with me for the rest of the summer. Most of the students are from the high school where I have worked for the past two years. These students have chosen to meet to play chamber music and perform at hospitals, and seniors' residences during the summer. This will be the fourth summer that I have done this. Hard to believe that I have been doing this for so many years. Three of the students are back for the 4th year. They are very good players. My job tomorrow is to go out and start hunting down more music for them. Since they are paid for some of the performances, there is money available. Wonderful to see how much they have improved over the years.

With time, some students have dropped out because they have summer jobs and can not make the commitment to the summer any more. I always wondered if the numbers would eventually diminish but to my surprise the numbers have actually increased.

Good to know that there are students who are able to give their time and work at something.