Wanderlust and Words

“Mounting an art exhibition is like putting on a play. Both have a director, producer, script, major actors and bit players. Gather six curators around a table with the bare outline of a theme, let everyone throw around ideas fantastical and practical, then write down the names of specific artists (specific paintings, even better), and the race is on. Add three to four years of searching out exhibits, requesting, loans, redefining themes, editing out works, making last-minute additions, preparing a 400-page catalogue and planning the installation, and the stage is set for opening night. Raise the curtain!”   Talking to a Portrait: Tales of an Art Curator by Rosalind M. Pepall is a fascinating look behind the scenes at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts . I’ve never really understood what a curator does when they organize an exhibit. I’ve assumed it was primarily online research and logistics, but it is so much more than that. Pepall spends years tracing down artworks and diligently ...

Wishing you a happy Christmas and many blessings in 2021.  “Dear Santa, All I want for Christmas is blue water, soft sand, and warm weather.” (unknown)  “May we rest safely this night, sleep in perfect peace, and rise with the morning light.” (Celtic prayer) A European Advent Calendar, Part IV

The children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.” (A Visit from St. Nicholas, Clement Clarke-Moore)  Local News  The Jamaica Food Basket , across the street from the Scotia Centre, has a retail section, a bar, and a restaurant. They try to offer seasonal products like Jamaican mango.  In the Kitchen   An avocado a day keeps the doctor away – or so the researchers say. “ Avocado is an energy-dense food, but it is also nutrient dense, and it contains important micronutrients that Americans don't eat enough of, like potassium and fiber. . . . It's just a really nicely packaged fruit that contains nutrients that are important for health. Our work shows we can add benefits to gut health to that list.”   UNESCO has added the Berber dish of couscous to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list. “Despite major differences, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Mauritania got together to highlight their shared love for the dish...

Ups and downs. Ferris wheels and merry go rounds! Happy Solstice!  “If there’s one thing I could wish for right now, it would be to have one of those horses from the merry go round – they were the most exciting thing to go on as a kid.” (Deborah Madison)  “And the seasons they go round and round and painted ponies go up and down. We're captive on the carousel of time. We can't return we can only look behind from where we came. And go round and round and round in the circle game.” (Joni Mitchell)  “What did I tell ya? There’s the whole world at your feet. And who gets to see it but the birds, the stars, and the chimney sweeps.” (Mary Poppins) See Also A European Advent Calendar, Part I A European Advent Calendar, Part II A European Advent Calendar, Part III

“Now winter nights enlarge the number of their hours . . . Let now the chimneys blaze, and cups o'erflow with wine.” (Now Winter Nights Enlarge, Thomas Campion) Local News  I made a donation to Food Not Bombs Saskatoon recently. Just a quick look at the polite requests for food on their Facebook group are a reminder that so many people don’t have enough to eat, and the situation has only become worse during Covid. "Food Not Bombs shares free vegan and vegetarian meals with the hungry in over 1,000 cities around the world every week to protest war, poverty and the destruction of the environment." You can make an online donation to Food Not Bombs Saskatoon at fnbsaskatoon@gmail.com You may be interested in the Covid-19 Resource Guide the Saskatoon group has prepared.   In the Kitchen  I’m delighted to learn from David Lebovitz that vegetarianism is becoming more popular in France. And his recipe for Faux Gras  with its mix of lentils, mushrooms, and nuts look...

We’re on the brink of an adventure, children. Don’t spoil it with questions.” (Mary Poppins Returns)  “Relishing this health, this singleness, I reach myself out along the surface of a crystal . . . how simple this motion, how free of life and death, how like a god’s in his changing!" (The Night Skater, Frederick Morgan)  “Isn’t it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive–it’s such an interesting world. It wouldn’t be half so interesting if we know all about everything would it?” (Anne of Green Gables)  “Hello, Rabbit,” he said, “Is that you?” “Let’s pretend it isn’t,” said Rabbit, “And see what happens.” (Winnie the Pooh) See Also A European Advent Calendar, Part I A European Advent Calendar, Part II

“But when the bare and wintry woods we see, what then so cheerful as the holly-tree?” Robert Southey, The Holly-Tree  Local News  An 18-minute videotaped slideshow offers a glimpse of Saskatoon’s restaurants over the years – from the first airport café to a student restaurant on College Drive, the Dog ‘n Suds drive-in on 8th Street, chefs at work in the Bessborough kitchen, and the 1924 Chocolate Shop where everything was cooked by electricity – what a novelty!  On a similar theme, Peggy Sarjeant shares stories of Saskatoon’s early Chinese community and businesses .  Restaurants in a Time of Covid  14 service workers talk about work during a pandemi c. Some employers were great; others weren’t. I hadn’t considered how annoying it must be to listen to "Covid small talk” for 40 hours a week. There is also well-reasoned criticism of the philosophy that the customer is always right: “Dining out is a luxury and should be treated as such. . . . The demand from our s...

“Always on Christmas night there was music. An uncle played the fiddle, a cousin sang.”  (A Child’s Christmas in Wales, Dylan Thomas) Is your home ready for Christmas? Bring in a tree, a young Norwegian spruce, bring hyacinths that rooted in the cold. Bring winter jasmine as its buds unfold – bring the Christmas life into this house.” (The Christmas Life, Wendy Cope)  “Bring red and green and gold, bring things that shine, Bring candlesticks and music, food and wine. Bring in your memories of Christmas past. . . . Bring the Christmas life into this house.” (The Christmas Life, Wendy Cope)  See Also A European Advent Calendar, Part I

“ December, in my memory, is white as Lapland, though there were no reindeers. ” (A Child’s Christmas in Wales, Dylan Thomas)  This is a strange, often difficult Christmas season for many of us. Over the next month I’ll share some of my European Christmas memories accompanied by quotes that I hope will brighten your day.  First up are the bears!  “There’s a polar bear in our frigidaire – he likes it ‘cause it’s cold in there. He’s slurping the soda, he’s licking the ice. And he lets out a roar if you open the door. And it gives me a scare to know he’s in there – that polary bear in our fridgitydaire.” (Shel Silverstein)  “When you see someone putting on his big boots, you can be pretty sure that an adventure is going to happen.” (Winnie the Pooh)  “I don’t feel very much like Pooh today,” said Pooh. “There, there,” said Piglet. “I’ll bring you tea and honey until you do.” (Winnie the Pooh)