Well, here we go again. The Mayan “end of the world” didn’t pan out, so, now we can look forward to the Viking Apocalypse.
It seems that in some enormously long poem in Norse mythology written in the 13th century by( Here’s a name to conjure with) Snorri Sturlson, the gods of just about everything and nothing have a whopper of a fight, incorporating three roosters, a giant hound, ravens, eagles, a huge wolf(which eats the sun), a serpent and Lord-only-knows how many other creatures. The narrative goes on with a fire-breathing dragon and—here’s the connection—the Fimbulnetr, Mighty Winter. In fact, there are three winters without a summer and just about everyone and everything go off to hell in a handbasket . Those Vikings! What a bunch of fun-lovers!
Well, it inspired Richard Wagner (Twilight of the Gods and all that).
And it sounds like an advertising ploy for some crowd in York, England at the Viking Center where the Jorvik Viking Festival was going on last weekend (February 21-23). They claim to believe that THE moment will be on February 22 . Heck, it’s as believable as most of the other end-of-the-world prophecies so far. And we’ve got the winter part. Polar Vortices “R” Us!
So it’s a good thing that I went to the Great Big Home and Garden Show before that. Not a Viking in sight but plenty of other interesting things…beginning with the weather. It was warm enough that I took my coat off and left it in the car. When was the last time anybody could do that without risking frostbite? The I-X Center was in the Goldilocks Zone—not too hot, not too cold, just right—and lots of attendees were without the heavy coats to which we’ve all become accustomed. Refreshing, I calls it.
The BIG landscape and outdoor design firms were not totally able to persuade all of the plants in their displays that it really, really WAS actually spring outside. The primroses fell for that line but a lot of the shrubs and bushes weren’t buying it; their buds were pretty tightly furled and not terribly green. There was, as usual, a lot of water, splashing from fountains, burbling along in faux brooks, trickling over pebbles. Good thing the restrooms are nearby. These large companies all adopted themes for their displays—Sicily, Tuscany, etc. A couple of them decided to get real and went with “Ohio Beer Garden”—co-operating with the Great Lakes Brewing Company—and “Backyard Barbeque”. Another had a wall-mounted concrete dining table inset with rectangular plots for growing herbs. You’d have to watch where you put your bread plate but you could use your fork for weeding after dessert. The really interesting one was the genuine rock garden that had mushrooms made out of some bizarre stone formation mounted on concrete bases—fun fungi. The Lorain County JVS had a fine entry, the only non-professional one, I think(Over in the Student Model Home Design competition, Theodore Roosevelt High School in Kent carried the local flag). My work as a proofreader is never done. I notified a pair of workers at the semi-outdoor bistro serving lovely meals in the garden section that someone should check the spelling on their boards advertising the fare available. I can sort of understand missing pancetta, it’s Italian bacon that not everyone has ever seen or heard of, but leaving a “p” out of peppers is NOT acceptable and “carmel”( a place in California) is NOT the same as “caramel” (a beige to dark brown confectionery product made by heating any of a variety of sugars—flavoring, filling, topping), as in caramelized onions. They seemed puzzled that anyone noticed.
As usual, the variety of entries was simply amazing and I set off to see them all…got pretty close. Full disclosure : I do NOT do Ferris wheels. The whole, vast space is divided, more or less, into four sections : (1) construction, remodeling & renovation, (2)lawn, garden & outdoor, (3) home décor, household products& services; lifestyle, wellness & recreation (4) arts & crafts, with the Playground World in the center.
The Closet Factory was showing off closet designs that were bigger than my entire bedroom. There were samples of worm dirt—honest, worm dirt—available in the gardening section, also cute little packets of heirloom seeds of all sorts. In a triumph of hope over good sense, I purchased several of these, beguiled by the fact that many of them say, “A cold period and light are necessary for germination.” “We’ve got that,” I said to myself, ignoring the information that at least 6 hours of full sun per day is also necessary for full growth and my yard could be a playground for vampires, since the sun does not shine there all that often. Then again, we could just take out all of the trees and replace them with the metal palms—quite fetching ones—available at one spot. Pettiti’s was sponsoring a fellow speaking about straw-bale gardening—he wrote a book—that looked interesting; it was well-attended by Yankees and Amish alike. I should have purchased the book.
One of the places that caused a chuckle was the display of Inada massage chairs. I was heading up an aisle when I looked to my left and there was a array of 15 or so chairs, all with people in them, smiling. Men, women, Amish, Yankee, older, younger, all looking happy. One Amish gentleman who , reluctantly, climbed out of one of the chairs and said to me, as he put on his boots, “If I could run one, I’d buy one of those.” I could run one but I couldn’t afford it. Would have to put an addition on the house to keep it in; it’s not exactly something that you’d put in the living room. Looks a little like a torture device. I tried one out. I smiled.
