Footnotes to a Conversation, August 5, 2024
“Words ought to be a little wild, for they are the assault of thoughts on the unthinking.” – John Maynard Keynes
In Ascension
Needing a change of reading material, I decided to read In Ascension, an award-winning science fiction novel by Martin MacInnes. It was a good decision as it encouraged me to think about my perception of reality. The book explores both the depths of the ocean and hitherto unreachable heights of space. What mysteries lie hidden beneath the waves or among the stars? What is our place in this expanded universe, and how do we define the world around us? The book is very readable with strong character development and I recommend it, even if you don’t ordinarily read science fiction. A review in The Guardian provides additional information.
Our Lady
Meet the artisans who are helping to rebuild Notre Dame de Paris, from the 110 pieces of oak assembled in 150 different patterns that will form the base of the spire to the golden rooster and the iron gargoyles. “For me it’s important to repair old buildings, it is like nursing the injured. And I like using old techniques … working on Notre Dame is simply the chance of a lifetime.” [The Guardian]
Magical Furniture
Wouldn’t it be fun to have a secret passageway in your house or doors that only open if you know where to press and turn? David Roentgen designed magical furniture with secret keyholes and buttons that reveal more and more camouflaged cubbyholes. [JSTOR Daily]
Art Versus Craftsmanship
Quilts used to be practical items, a part of every young woman’s dowry. Over time, they began to be viewed as art, perhaps in reaction to mass-produced bed covers. Collectors admired quilts that “looked very much like the effects abstract painters and their pop art successors were producing on canvas.” But quilters “hated some of the quilts, which represented everything the traditional rules of the craft told them to avoid: sloppy work and assembly, bizarre color combinations, nasty materials.” [JSTOR Daily]
Impossible Situations
“If we’re talking about impossible situations, the expression ‘between the devil and the deep blue sea’ began as a bold translation of a Latin proverb ‘a fronte praecipitium, a tergo lupi’: literally ‘a precipice in front, wolves behind’.” [Susie Dent]
Mystery Travel
Do you plan every detail of an upcoming holiday? Is the planning part of the enjoyment or a bother? Would you turn over all the decision-making to a travel company and head to a mystery destination with no information beyond a weather forecast? [The Guardian]
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.