Footnotes to a Conversation, September 30, 2024
"Never regret anything you have done with a sincere affection; nothing is lost that is born of the heart." – Basil Rathbone
Rocks
I’ve always found geology somewhat baffling due to the amazingly long timeline and the complex patterns of change. How could rocks melt or fold or go from horizontal to vertical? Turning to Stone: Discovering the Subtle Wisdom of Rocks by Marcia Bjornerud successfully presents a complex subject in a very understandable fashion, making me much more aware of the rocks beneath my feet. Bjornerud shares her personal history, interspersing it with different types of rocks in various parts of the world, ensuring that the book is never dry or academic. Humans appear small and insignificant when seen as just a small part of the history of the earth.
Hit the Road (or the Airport)
Aging is inevitable, but you may be able to slow it down by travelling. “Positive travel experiences could enhance individuals' physical and mental wellness through exposure to novel environments, engagement in physical activities and social interaction, and the fostering of positive emotions.” [Edith Cowan University]
An Extreme Lifestyle
Small but mighty, hummingbirds have amazing adaptive mechanisms to help them cope with their extreme lifestyle. When food is scarce, they’re active for up to 13 hours a day. They drink a lot of sugary nectar. Human guts couldn’t cope, but hummingbirds have leaky guts “so that sugars can enter the bloodstream between gut cells instead of only through them. This gets sugar out of the gut quickly, before it can cause upset.” [Knowable]
Sunflowers
I bought a dinner plate festooned in bright cheerful sunflowers this week. Wild sunflowers are native to North America and were first grown by Indigenous peoples “in present-day Arizona and New Mexico about 3000 BC. Some archaeologists suggest that sunflower may have been domesticated before corn”. Spanish exporters introduced sunflowers to Europe around 1500 and they became a popular ornamental plant before being cultivated for their oil. [National Sunflower Association]
Exotic Beauties
Jellyfish are such graceful creatures. I love to watch them floating, seemingly effortlessly up and down, and their translucence is magical. Have a look at these photographs and you’ll see what I mean. [Smithsonian Magazine]
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.