Footnotes to a Conversation, December 18, 2023

“Only the pure of heart can make a good soup.” – Ludwig van Beethoven

Greetings from Hove – 3 ½ weeks in one place! Two cuddly cats and enough coffee shops and restaurants to last me a lifetime. I’ve already discovered a very nice bakery/coffee shop (called the Flour Pot Bakery (surely a play on “Bill and Ben, flower pot men”) and am looking forward to exploring international grocery stores. Wednesday I’m going on a tour of the upper chambers of Brighton’s Royal Pavilion!

The introductory quote made me chuckle. If anyone can explain the rationale behind it, please do!

Retreat from Reality

In 2022, Pantone’s colour of the year was “brave and fearless” Viva Magenta. The mood is very different this year with Pantone describing its 2023 colour, Fuzzy Peach, as “nurturing, velvety, gentle, heartfelt, tender, tactile, youthful”. It’s supposed to reflect the global mood over the coming 12 months, but Kassia St. Clair views it as an “escapist haven of a hue … more like an antidote to the global mood than a reflection of it.” [The Standard]

Name that Colour

How do businesses come up with names for nail polish or paint? Nicole Darmanin has named dozens of shades of nail polish and describes it as “tapping into her inner poet” and “painting a picture”. Darmanin says “names for nail colours can be whimsical, fun or even kitschy because they're often worn for only days at a time.” Choosing a paint colour is a more serious affair and marketers take a more neutral approach, avoiding titles with religious or ethnic associations. [CBC]

Europe’s Smelly History

Smells can be very evocative. I remember returning to England after many years and being struck by the smell of creosote on the roads. It brought back childhood memories.

“Odeuropa is an encyclopedia of smells. The online database pulls together the vast scent-related image and textual data of museums, universities and other heritage institutions, “to help people discover the olfactory cultures and vocabularies of the past,” says Leemans. This includes everything from disease-fighting perfumes to the stench of industrialization in historic literature and paintings.” [Smithsonian Magazine]

I’m hitting the pause button on Footnotes to a Conversation over the holidays. I’ll be back again on January 8. Wishing you fun, laughter, good books, and delicious food over the holiday season!

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.