Footnotes to a Conversation, July 26, 2021
Hospital Laundry
Begoña M. Rueda, a Spanish poet, has turned hospital laundry work to verse and I hope I get a chance to read it. The first half of the book deals with working in a hospital laundry during Covid. “In the second half of the book, the anger and incredulity give way to a series of poignant reflections on her job and its meaning. In one, Rueda irons children’s pyjamas and wonders whether the last person to wear the blue pair has been discharged.” [The Guardian]
Handcrafted Banners
After reading my review of Threads of Love: A History of the World Through the Eye of a Needle, a friend sent me an article about a community art project in Lynn Valley, North Vancouver. Banners for the local library is a lovely way to provide healing with cloth and thread after a tragedy. [happy sew lucky]
Cultural Origins
Sticky toffee pudding is so popular. I’ve always believed it was a traditional English dessert – but maybe it’s Canadian! [BBC]
On the Appian Way, an Italian chef is recreating Roman dishes. There’s tiropatina, a custard spiced with pepper that Romans believed was an aphrodisiac, and moretum, a cheese spread made with mortar and pestle. [BBC]
Word Play
I was feeling petulant, jaded, disgruntled, restless, and mutinous the other day (or at least that’s how I described it after a fun search through the thesaurus!) so I decided to look up the origins of some of these words. Disgruntled stems from gruntle meaning to grunt. A jade was originally a worn-out horse, while restless signifies stirring constantly, desirous of action, as well as unable to sleep, uneasy in mind or spirit, and deprived of sleep. Mutinous has evolved from to move or rebel.
And I learnt a new word! Smellfungus is a faultfinder and is derived from Smelfungus, a hypercritical traveler in A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy (1768) by Laurence Sterne. [Merriam-Webster]
Cats & Ocean Waves
I’ll be spending the next two months in British Columbia, roughly 2 weeks in Vancouver and the rest of the time in Victoria. I’m so happy to be housesitting again with furry buddies beside the ocean!
Scanned Photos: #1 is Flying High by Emma Ball; #2 is Hangliding in Heels by Anna Pugh
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.
If you share my love of nature, I suggest you also read EcoFriendly Sask that I publish in collaboration with my brother, Andrew. Check out EcoFriendly Sask’s Nature Companion, a free nature app for Canada’s four western provinces (downloadable directly from the website).