Easter Sunday Swimmers

 I saw the woman in a cow outfit crossing the street and I figured they were just going to take pictures - they actually were going to swim - the man went in and said the water burned. Swimmers, Glen Walter,Ontario March 31, 2024.

First Turkey Vulture of Spring

 

First turkey vulture of spring. More of a sure sign than robins, some of which overwinter here. One of a pair riding thermals.  Urubu à tête rouge (Cathartes aura) vautour aura. 

Rabbi Reuven Bulka

 Rabbi Reuven Bulka was a prominent figure in Ottawa, appearing on CFRA radio and in the Ottawa Sun where he promoted Kindness Week. 

He died in 2021 and his granddaughter Rikki Ash has published a book this month about him called "Canada's Rabbi"  

My friend went to his Modern Orthodox synagogue and she said he said it was OK to watch baseball on the Sabbath because - and I braced for an explanation citing Talmudic authorities - "Jews like baseball. But only during the playoffs!" or the World Series!

Record breaking first crocus

March 14, earliest crocus I've seen

 

Ladybug wakes up

Ladybug that woke up for spring on the dishrack by Portmeirion plate

 

I don't really remember.

I really don't remember what happened the night I took this photo. I think it's better that way.

 

No, RCMP divers weren't attacked by giant eels in Newfoundland

 Cressie is one of the many cryptids that appear in lakes in North America in popular legend. (Joe Nickell, Skeptical Inquirer, Volume 33, No. 4, July/August 2009. p.18) It's supposed to be an eel-like creature up to 25 feet long, although no photos have ever been seen of it.

RCMP Scuba divers were reported to have seen eels 'as thick as a man's thigh' when they attempted to recover the body of a pilot who had crashed his plane into Crescent Lake in Newfoundland sometime in the 1980s. Nickell says that the RCMP were unable to confirm this account and I wondered if there was any media accounts of a fatal plane crash. I contacted Memorial University archivist Nicole Penney, who had been quoted by the CBC in their 2019 story about the cryptid and she said the story came from an oral account in their files. 

Penney contacted an aviation historian who knew someone who was a pilot who lived in the lake's neighbourhood. From their information, Penney sent me the story of a fatal plane crash near Crescent Lake, which happened in Robert's Arm in the early 70s, which seemed to be the one the informant who gave the oral account was referring to. 

The aircraft was really a home made glider piloted by Maxwell Anthony, and it crashed suddenly in a downdraft while returning through the narrows of the harbour. The story mentions ice, and does not mention any dive crews being called, so the glider may have crashed and remained on the surface of the ice. The story was described in "Moments in time : a cultural portrait of Green Bay, Newfoundland." Green Bay Economic Development Association.Springdale, Nfld : Green Bay Economic Development Association; 1994"

What I learned today

Learning more about fentanyl and other drugs. Went to a seminar given by a pharmacist whose practice is mostly with drug users and the mentally ill.

One reason there are so many fentanyl deaths is it's very potent - a small amount (like a few grains of powder) can kill. I had been hearing weird stuff like dealers were putting it in other products on purpose, but why kill your customers? And sell them something that would have vastly different effects than what they wanted if they wanted a stimulant like cocaine rather than a sedative/analgesic like opioids? He said it was because low-level dealers might have been cutting up a batch of fentanyl, or the even more potent carfentanil, on a table one day, and been cutting up a batch of cocaine on the same table the next day, and the small amount of fentanyl that remained behind got mixed up in it - the same thing could even happen with marijuana.

I also learned about something called "Lean", a drink with codeine or hydrocodone mixed in to some kind of juice or soft drink, sometimes with a bunch of Skittles mixed in to cover the bitter taste.

Ring around the sun before rain

Yes, it did rain. Ring around the sun, contrail casting shadow on cloud above it.

 

Ground Fog Panorama, near Summerstown, Ontario

Ground fog panorama

 

St. Lawrence River, Johnstown, Ontario, bridge to USA in fog, Liminal Image