Footnotes to a Conversation, May 24, 2021


Local Food 
Lee Helman, formerly of Truffles Restaurant in Saskatoon, is now operating the Vanilla Pastry Company and offers desserts made from quality ingredients. They look gorgeous and my sister in law raves about the dacquoise with its decadent combination of crispy meringue, creamy icing, and crunchy nuts. 


Inclusivity 
Le Corbusier’s design system had a major impact on the post-war world, dictating the size and shape of everything from door knobs to city blocks. Unfortunately, he used a 6-foot male as his model citizen, completely overlooking the needs of women, children, and people with disabilities. In the 1980s, the Matrix Feminist Design Co-operative stepped in with a different approach. “They weren’t promoting a feminist aesthetic, but a way of looking, listening and designing that takes account of people’s very different needs and desires, one that embodies 'the richness of our multiple ways of being in the world'.” 

Leaving on a Jet Plane 
If you’re like me and eagerly awaiting the time when we can once more travel freely, you’ll enjoy the sketches in Dear Paris: The Paris Letters Collection. 


Spring 
One of the benefits of the long, cold Prairie winter is that we really appreciate spring when it arrives. Innovation Place was brimming with blossoms this weekend. I really appreciate the range of different trees in the park – horse chestnut, oak, maple, and more. 


For birds, spring is baby season. I’m really enjoying the posts about crows from Vancouver’s Urban Nature Enthusiast. 

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 about travel, books, language, and food.

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).

You can follow Wanderlust and Words on Facebook, Twitter, or by email (top centre).

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