Footnotes to a Conversation, February 10, 2025

“One must from time to time attempt things that are beyond one’s capacity.” – Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Creating Order Out of Chaos

I have a friend who has been playing mahjong on a weekly basis for a number of years. She was obviously ahead of the curve as the game is now trending with clubs and special events. It has even received the Hollywood seal of approval as Julia Roberts plays mahjong every week. The game “was created around Shanghai in the mid- to late 1800s and became a popular part of the port city’s nightlife and courtesan halls … It was given the name mahjong, which comes from the word for ‘sparrow,’ due to the click-clacking sounds that the tiles made when shuffled, as it sounded like the chattering of sparrows. While sets could be made from ivory, the majority were made from inexpensive cow bone spliced with bamboo.” [Smithsonian Magazine]

Abroad in Japan

Chris Broad was 22 when he arrived in a rural town in Japan as an assistant English teacher. Abroad in Japan describes his first 10 years in Japan as he learns the language, meets the locals, explores the country, and records YouTube videos and films about his experiences. His youthful enthusiasm for Japan is contagious and paints a good picture of what life is like in Japan – from apartments with very thin walls to regional food specialties. [Penguin]

Puzzling

I have been intrigued by monkey puzzle trees ever since I was a child visiting Victoria on our family’s summer holidays. Its appearance is so different from any other conifer. The tree is native to the lower slopes of the Chilean and Argentine south-central Andes where mice and parakeets help to distribute the seeds. The seeds are similar to large pine nuts and were harvested by Indigenous people in Chile and Argentina. Harvest festivals were held to show the people’s appreciation for the tree’s sustenance. Archibald Menzies, a naturalist and surgeon on the Discovery that toured the world under Captain Vancouver, was dining out in Chile and was intrigued by the seeds that were on offer. He took some of them, germinated them, and they were quickly sought after by 18^th century collectors of unusual plants. The tree gained its English name when an Englishman observed that “it would puzzle a monkey to climb that tree”. [Wikipedia, Oregon State University]

Underfoot

"I wanted to put manhole covers in the spotlight because they tend to be walked on without getting much attention," says Bjoern Altmann, author of Manhole Covers of the World. "Manhole cover designs are really mostly about creating an anti-slip pattern and then a bit of advertising for the maker, so a utilitarian approach is sometimes taken, and that's probably what you would expect … But the incredible variety of designs was something that surprised me.” Do take a look at the photographs. [Creative Boom, Facebook group for Manhole Covers Around the World]

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.