Q. Happy Canada Day! For those who live in Canada: what will you be eating to celebrate? What are some foods that were ‘invented’ in Canada? . A. Since we’re writing from BC, we’ll start in the deep woods… If you are hiking in the forest and want to avoid

Q. 🎶 And the livin’ is easy 🎶 The sun is back. Now, is it here to stay? How have renowned artists captured the glorious sunny season? . A. A sampling… . Edouard Manet. On the Beach. 1873 . Johan Antonie de Jonge (1874-1927). Staand meisje en andere kinderen op

Q. We’ve been living vicariously through the glorious photos of a friend hiking in The Dolomites. Doing so led us to wonder: which hikes across the world do people particularly enjoy? . A. In 2021, Zalando analyzed 5 million Instagram hashtags associated with famous hikes around the world. Find the

Q. Is someone offering you ‘a taste of your own medicine?’ Well, that’s not good. Sounds like a threat. But why is tasting your own medicine a bad thing? Whose medicine would you rather taste? How did this medicinal idiom come to represent unwelcome revenge? . A. Thank Aesop. We

Q. Where are you on the camping to glamping to no doors/no windows/no thank you continuum? What is on the mind of would-be campers this summer? . A. With summer but inches away, ‘camping’ searches are spiking on Google. Some particularly hot topics: • Easy camping dinners • Foil dinners

Q. A ‘plum job’ is an excellent job. For some, this might mean high prestige. For others, this is a job where one can make a whole lot of bank without having to work so hard. How did plums find themselves in gilded easy street? . A. The expression ‘a

Q. Happy Father’s Day! Here’s to all you amazing Fathers, and to those celebrating their Dads in person, at a distance, or in memoriam. We’ve seen lots of examples of artists who have painted their mothers. How about painter fathers? Do they make their way onto the canvas? . A.

Q. Come summer – and particularly given a tough economy – people are more likely to be hosting guests in their homes. How do you feel about houseguests? What, starting at 0 days, do you see as the ideal length of stay, even for guests you like? . A. A

Q. With an abundance of beautiful possibilities, how do artists settle on certain natural elements or scenes as inspiration? . A. To explore this question, we talked to Anne Griffiths, a talented Canadian painter who is known for her striking landscape paintings. . As Griffiths told us: ‘My paintings do

Q. For those of us glued to our bird ID apps and binoculars, it feels rude to pick our favourite birds. But pick we shall. Do you have a bird that you are particularly excited to see? Which birds get the most people plaudits? . A. Let’s look to the