Footnotes to a Conversation, April 11, 2022
Hope
I’ve just started reading Rooted: Life at the Crossroads of Science, Nature, and Spirit by Lyanda Lynn Haupt and have been thinking about her definition of hope. She says, “Hope is not a remedy or even a substitute for the despair and anxiety we face in the modern world, but a companion to these things. Mature hope involves a willingness to allow that brokenness and beauty sometimes intertwine.” Haupt quotes Rebecca Solnit who says, “The hope I’m interested in is about broad perspectives with specific possibilities, ones that invite or demand that we act.”
Resistance
The Tate Gallery posted a short article on Facebook about a lovely painting by Duncan Grant. The springtime garden invites viewers to enter and relax. It’s worth noting that it was painted in the 1940s when Great Britain was at war. With so much land being turned over to farming, “Grant's flower garden was a rare luxury, and in some senses a rejection of the nationalistic language of wartime self-sufficiency, in line with his earlier pacifist response to the First World War.” [Tate]
The Golden Age of Murder
Murder by Matchlight by E.C.R. Lorac is a first-rate read. An eclectic assortment of characters – a juggler/ventriloquist, antiques dealer, doctor, and more - all appear to be uninvolved and in no way connected to a murder. However, as Inspector MacDonald delves deeper and deeper, all the bystanders become suspects due to connections of some kind or another to the victim. The conclusion is surprising but satisfying. Originally published in 1945, the story is set in wartime London with blackouts, sirens, and bombing raids enriching the atmosphere and mood of the book.
Temptation
The apple that tempted Eve bore little resemblance to the apples we munch on nowadays. Researchers have discovered that modern apples are 3.6 times heavier, half as acidic, much less bitter, and store better than their original counterparts. But they also contain significantly less health-giving antioxidants. [Dal News]
Footnotes to a Conversation is a weekly Monday feature covering an assortment of topics that I’ve come across in the preceding week – books, art, travel, food, and whatever else strikes my fancy. I also post occasional articles on other dates, including frequent book reviews and travel tales.
If you share my love of nature, check out EcoFriendly West, an online publication encouraging environmental initiatives in Western Canada, and Nature Companion, a free nature app for Canada’s four western provinces.