Footnotes to a Conversation, November 1, 2021
And it’s a wrap! November 1 is my last day living in Saskatoon. The last month has been a whirlwind of preparations for the move, but it has also been highly emotional as I said goodbye to people and places I have grown to hold dear. Thank you to all of you who took the time to say goodbye. Thank you to the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market vendors and all the other local food producers who shared your experience and your wonderful food with me for the past 18 years. Thank you to Meewasin and City of Saskatoon for maintaining the river valley as a public space for all to enjoy. I’ve walked the riverbanks since I was a kid and never tire of the spectacle of water and grasslands. I returned to Saskatoon without a job and am grateful for the employers who gave me opportunities to learn and grow, in particular Axon Development Corporation but also the University of Saskatchewan and the many individuals who hired me to write and edit for them. Thanks to my involvement in EcoFriendly Sask, I’ve had the privilege of talking with many of Saskatoon’s naturalists and environmentalists – thank you for all you do to protect and share your appreciation for the natural world. My thanks to the Saskatoon Public Library for many hours of reading pleasure, the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra for livestreaming during Covid, and to Persephone Theatre for many years of theatre-going. I also want to thank Saskatoon’s medical professionals who saw me through 4 major operations and the subsequent recoveries. I’m sure I’ve forgotten many, many people and places that have enriched my life – there are so many facets to a community, many that go unnoticed from day to day but regain importance when we must say goodbye. Thank you!
Slave Labour
I will think twice before buying a tomato product after learning that “China is one of the world's biggest producers of tomato paste concentrate — exporting 855,490 tonnes globally last year.” Most of these tomatoes are grown and processed “in Xinjiang, a remote area of western China where Uyghurs are subjected to mass detention, surveillance and torture by the Chinese government, in what many countries have labelled a genocide.” It’s almost impossible to detect the origins of the products we purchase in supermarkets as they are only required to list the country in which the product was last processed – repackage the food locally and you can say it’s Canadian. Yet one more reason to shop at a farmers’ market. I can guarantee Grandora Gardens’ tomatoes don’t come from China! [CBC]
Unexpected
I read two books about tapestry and woven art in the spring, so I was intrigued to learn that my interest in this art form is shared by Ian Rankin who funds the world’s largest tapestry prize. [The Guardian]
Poet in Paint
The John Constable paintings I know best are of rural idylls, but his later works are quite different – dramatic and veering towards the abstract. Constable’s works are described as mirrors of his emotions. He strives to keep those emotions under control in his earlier works to make them acceptable to his public, but his later works are full of drama with threatening skies and violent rainstorms. [The Guardian]
Dig Deep
Monastery ruins are tranquil places and one is tempted to envy the monks who must have lived quiet, meditative lives in peaceful surroundings – but maybe not! Archaeologists have discovered an industrial-size tannery side by side with Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire. Medieval tanneries were noisy, stinking places and yet the tannery was located directly beside the abbey. One archaeologist says we shouldn’t be surprised as monks were “pioneering farmers and land managers on an industrial scale.” [The Guardian]
A floor mosaic covering almost 9,000 sq ft has been restored in the occupied West Bank city of Jericho. It dates from the 8th century and the painstakingly detailed work (more than 5 million pieces of stone) is so lovely! [The Guardian]
And, last but not least, archaeologists uncovering an amphitheatre that would have housed 5,000 people found the buried remains of a domestic cat. A historian is quick to note that although people may have had pets, “they weren’t quite as soppy as we are about them. Whether they had them in the house is probably debatable.” [The Guardian]
Photos taken in the Palacio de la Condesa de Lebrija, Sevilla, Spain
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).