|
The
Squamidian Report – Jan. 3 / 26
Online Versions Of This And Past Issues (Choose the year and then the date for the online issue you want) Issue
#1232
Carol ****
From Carol
Happy New Year everyone. I hope you are all still enjoying this Christmas season and didn’t have to travel if you experienced the freezing rain and high winds that Kitchener endured. At one time the New Year was celebrated in March following the spring solstice. Since I feel that was a much better time to start the year I decided to find out why the change. Before the Gregorian calendar we now follow the western world used the Julian calendar. The trouble with the early calendar was it didn’t take into account that a trip around the sun takes just under 365.25 days. Slowly over the centuries time had drifted. Pope Gregor changed the date of New Year to January 1st in 1582 and dropped a few days to get time back on track. Most of the Catholic countries switched to the Gregorian calendar at that time. Scotland changed in 1600 but England and colonies were not Catholic countries and they persevered with the Julian calendar. In 1752 England and colonies finally made the switch, they had to drop 8 days and they also switched to January 1st as the beginning of the year. I still think spring would be a better time to celebrate for those of us who live in the Northern hemisphere. While I was at it I also thought I’d look into when December 25th was chosen to celebrate the birth of Jesus. The year was 336 and the Roman Empire had mostly converted to Christianity. December 25th was the day of celebration for the Sun God. By co-opting this pagan celebration the early Christians felt it would be easier to convert more to the faith. Since Jesus is considered the light of the world a day that celebrates the sun seemed the most appropriate of the pagan holidays to choose. No where in the Bible does it give a birth date for Jesus. He would have lived with both the Jewish and Julian calendars. There are suggestions as to when Mary would have been told she was pregnant in what would have been March so with a gestation period of 9 months that does place a birth in December more likely then other months so not far off. Going by the dates of Harod’s reign Jesus would have been born sometime between 6 and 4 BC, not in the nonexistent year 0. Obviously I have been holed up at home as I had nothing better to do then look up these things on the internet. It is a good thing we didn’t go up for a few days in Wiarton because roads were closed and we not have been able to leave. Take care of yourselves, stay safe and warm, or in Karin & Karl’s case cool.
Carol ****
From Wayne
Hi Squids: I could have provided this nearly worthless report from the farm last week but I thought the Squamidian was taking a break. For those of you who have been on the edge of their seats wondering how we Maritimers were surviving the 'worst ever' storms being promoted by the Weather Channel and especially, the condition of our wind-flattened winter/Christmas scene, I can report that on Christmas Eve, we had absolutely no snow and during the warm days preceding, I re-erected the scene on the bare grass as shown below.
It is now New Year's Day and it is snowing. Five centimeters are forecast. No problem, we aren't going anywhere, just like we didn't go anywhere last night (New Year's Eve), except to bed at 10:00 pm. only to be rudely awakened by my phone at 12:45 am. telling us that our noisy neighbours (Sonja and Kenny) were wishing us the best - great start for the New Year! My celebration consisted of one beer and one shot, Sylvia had some kind of flavoured tea. Whoopee! We hope that, for all of us, 2026 is a little better than 2025.
Wayne & Sylvia. ****
From Gary
Hello fellow Squamidians. I hope everyone had a great new year’s holiday. We stayed up to ring in the new year Newfoundland time. Woke up in the morning alive so I think the transition to 2026 was successful. The weather prediction for December 31 was up to 5 cm(2””) snow. In a matter of about 4 hours that turned into over 25 cm (10””). I think the weather forecasters are retired politicians judging by their track records. Today is a beautiful January day. Cold and clear. Incredible blue sky so I tried going cross country skiing. I repaired my old skis last year but the weather got mild before getting them out. They were good quality skis in 1974 when we purchased them. Wooden skis with lignistone edges. Had to replace the boots several times over the 35 years I used them a lot. Haven’t used them in a few years but felt so familiar with my first steps. Conditions were incredibly good. So tempting to keep going but know I wouldn’t be able to walk tomorrow. Hopefully I won’t be sore. Stay safe everyone.
Gary ****
From Doug
And just like that, its next year already! I wrote more than enough last week so this time I’ll keep it short and sweet. In the past I’ve talked about how great the kids that work at the gondola are. They come from all over the world on work visas, spend 6 month or a years somewhere, then they go home. There have been several who’s visas have expired and had to leave in the last few weeks. It always hurts a bit. They are like shining stars who we’ll never see again. These pics can explain the kind of relationship we seem to have with so many of them. Eden’s last day was last Saturday and she had made me promise that I’d come up to say goodby. I did, and she presented me with a hand drawn card that says it all.
Doug ****
Have
a
Good One |
