Footnotes to a Conversation, June 26, 2023
“We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.” – Alan Turing
Viva España
If you’re interested in Spain and its history, Felicity Hughes’ blog, The Making of Madrid, is well worth reading. In addition to writing travel guides, she offers walking tours of Madrid. A recent article discusses the reasons why Madrid is the capital of Spain. Its central location and abundant water were key, but transportation and infrastructure were lacking. [The Making of Madrid]
Indigenous Knowledge
Milk sickness (also known as the trembles and the staggers) was a mysterious and serious illness confronting settlers of the Midwest in the 1800s. A young, quick-witted midwife would work out the cause, although she only recently received recognition for this feat. She tracked her cows to spot what they were eating and ran into an elderly Shawnee woman who was able to identify the plant that was making cows and people sick. [Smithsonian Magazine]
A Feisty Suffragette
The main character of A M Stuart’s mystery series, beginning with Singapore Sapphire, is Harriet, a widow and suffragette who had endured force-feeding in prison and is now attempting to build a new life for herself in 1910 Singapore. Stuart provides strong, well-defined characters while providing an excellent description of life in colonial Singapore. She highlights and shows compassion towards the people and the prejudices of the day. The plot drew me in and kept me reading. I enjoyed it so much that I headed straight for the library to pick up the second volume in the series. [A.M. Stuart Books]
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.