Tea at Trianon: A Beloved Lake Suddenly Disappears

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, August 9, 2025

A Beloved Lake Suddenly Disappears

This is strange, like something from a Fannie Flagg novel. From The Travel:

Canada boasts an incredible 879,800 lakes, ranking it among the top countries globally with the most lakes. Not only are many of them stunning and visited by thousands of Canadians every year, but some also have a special history hidden underneath the surface. In fact, in Lake Minnewanka at Banff National Park, a 1928 Hudson Essex Saloon was located. It sat 55 meters below the surface for 85 years.
Another eerie discovery was made back in May. However, this time, it wasn't a car beneath the surface; it was the complete drainage of an entire beloved lake. Locals had developed an attachment to the lake, especially for hunting and fishing purposes. Suddenly, the lake had disappeared, and the future of its surrounding areas has also raised uncertainty about what lies ahead. Here's a closer look at what happened to Lake Rouge, and how locals have reacted to its sudden disappearance. (Read more.)

From Space:

In May 2025, residents living around Lac Rouge discovered a washed-out road near the lake, triggering investigations that revealed the lake had completely emptied almost overnight, an extremely rare and puzzling event for the area.
Using both ground and air searches, experts found that the land around the lake had collapsed on itself, causing the lake to drain. Lac Rouge is a small lake, only about a 0.86 square miles (1.4 square kilometers) around. According to the European Southern Observatory, it was used by the Cree First Nation based in the nearby community of Waswanipi for fishing, hunting, and trapping. (Read more.)