Crack an egg into a mug and microwave for 30 seconds.   Let cool for 30 seconds.   Eat a protein-rich meal.   

Books I enjoyed reading in 2025:  Homeland and Other Stories by Barbara Kingsolver (1989)  *  Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (1916)  *  The Neon Bible by John Kennedy Toole (1989)  * The Warsaw Orphan by Kelly Rimmer (2021)  *  Camino Island by John Grisham (2017)   *  The Dreamers, a novel by Karen Thompson Walker (2019)  A Brilliant Life by Rachelle Unreich (2023)  The Wonder, a novel by Emma Donoghue (2016)

 

On January 1, 2026, thousands of copyrighted works from 1930 enter the US public domain, along with sound recordings from 1925.  They will be free for all to copy, share, and build upon.  The literary highlights range from William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying to Agatha Christie’s The Murder at the Vicarage and the first four Nancy Drew novels.  From cartoons and comic strips, the characters Betty Boop, Pluto (originally named Rover), and Blondie and Dagwood made their first appearances.  Films from the year featured Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, the Marx Brothers, and John Wayne in his first leading role.  Among the public domain compositions are I Got Rhythm, Georgia on My Mind, and Dream a Little Dream of Me.  You can find lists of some of the most notable books, characters, comics, and cartoons, films, songs, sound recordings, and art entering the public domain.  https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2026/#ftn4     

Between film, TV, and theater, Planet of the Apes star Roddy McDowall’s resume is a mile long—so it should come as no surprise that he was able to sneak in two episodes as an original villain named Bookworm on Batman.  Committing crimes inspired by literary works, Bookworm was created for the show, but would later come to figure in the Batman comic books as well.  Thank you, reader.  https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/60213/visual-guide-all-37-villains-batman-tv-series 

The comic style of the mockumentary (mock documentary or fake documentary) was preceded by dramatic docu-fiction stories like Orson Welles’s The War of the Worlds and Luis Buñuel’s Land Without Bread.  On April, 1, 1957, the BBC aired a three-minute segment about a family in Switzerland who cultivated a spaghetti tree.  It was presented by famed broadcaster Richard Dimbleby in a documentary-style so authentic that thousands believed it was real.  This is Spinal Tap (1984) is considered by many to be the greatest mockumentary ever made ushered in a new era for mock documentaries.  It was so popular that McKean, Guest, Shearer, and a rotating cast of drummers later toured the world for real.  Christopher Guest’s mockumentary take on Waiting for Godot combines all the best aspects of Spinal Tap’s comic musings with the existentialist nothingness of Beckett’s classic play.  Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s The Office aired on the BBC from 2001 to 2003.  It was then adapted for American audiences by Greg Daniels in 2005.  The Office (U.S.) went on to become one of the most popular shows of the 21st century during its nine year run.  The Office was so popular with U.S. audiences that it inspired other network mockumentary shows like Modern Family and Parks and Recreation.   https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-a-mockumentary-definition/    

Substack is an American online platform that provides publishing, payment, analytics, and design infrastructure to support subscription-based content, including newsletters, podcasts, and video.  It allows writers to send digital content directly to subscribers.  Founded in 2017, Substack is headquartered in San Francisco.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substack 

The claviorgan (also known as the claviorganum, claviorgano, clavecin organisee) is a combination of a stringed instrument (usually a keyboard instrument) and an organ.  Its origin is uncertain, but its history can be traced back to the fifteenth century.   According to one account, the instrument was invented by the Moorish instrument maker Mahoma Mofferiz, with his earliest known example documented in 1479.   Other "Clabiorganos" or "claui organos" are documented in Spain by the year 1500, and the instrument seems to have spread from there.   A number of "virgynalls with regals" are mentioned in the inventories of Henry VIII in 1542/3 and 1547 and Wilson Barry  cites references to the claviorganum in England dating back to the 1530s.  The term claviorgan in its strictest sense refers to the combination of a harpsichord (or other harpsichord type instrument) and an organ, although later could also be used to refer to a combination of a piano and organ.  Michael Praetorius describes the claviorgan in his Syntagma Musicum of 1619 as:  a clavicymbal, or some other symphony, in which a number of pipes is combined with the strings.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claviorgan    

The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers is the 29th book in The Cat Who series.  It was released in 2007 and is written by Lilian Jackson Braun.  The author, Lilian Jackson Braun, died June 4, 2011, making The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers her final book.  Cat whiskers, also known as vibrissae, are super-sensitive touch receptors that help cats navigate the world.  Each whisker is deeply embedded in the cat’s skin and surrounded by nerves and blood vessels.  When something brushes against a whisker, it sends signals directly to a cat’s brain.  These hairs can detect even the tiniest changes in air currents, which means cats can "feel" things before they even touch them.  That’s part of what makes cats such graceful hunters—even in complete darkness.  https://www.petmd.com/cat/general-health/facts-about-cat-whiskers    

December 31, 2025

ORDER is a lovely thing; On disarray it lays its wing, Teaching simplicity to sing.  The Monk in the Kitchen by Anna Hempstead Branch (1875-1937)    

The boondocks is an American expression from the Tagalog (Filipino) word bundók ("mountain").  It originally referred to a remote rural area, but now, is often applied to an out-of-the-way location considered backward and unsophisticated by city-folk.  It can also occasionally refer to a mountain in both Filipino and American contexts.  The expression was introduced to American English by U.S. military personnel fighting in the Philippine–American War (1899–1902).  It derives from the Tagalog word "bundók", which means "mountain".  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boondocks    

A rya or rye is a traditional Scandinavian wool rug with a long pile of about 1 to 3 inches.  They are made using a form of the Ghiordes knot to make the double-sided pile fabric.  Though rya means "rug" in English, the original meaning in Sweden of rya was a bed cover with a knotted pile.  The first ryas originated in the early fifteenth century as coarse, long-piled, heavy covers used by mariners instead of furs.  As time progressed, the rugs have evolved to be lighter and more colorful. The insulation that ryas provide protects against the cold Scandinavian climate. Ryas are a knotted pile carpet, with each knot composed of three strands of wool, which enables the rug to exhibit rich texture from all the different shades of color.  he name originates from a village in southwest Sweden.  The term rya may also refer to a breed of sheep whose wool is used to make rya carpets.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rya_(rug)    

The soprillo, also known as the piccolo saxophone or rarely sopranissimo saxophone, is the highest pitched and smallest saxophone.  The soprillo was developed as a piccolo extension to the saxophone family in the late 1990s by the German instrument maker Benedikt Eppelsheim, although a working prototype sopranissimo of the same pitch was made in 1960 in a more compact curved form.  The soprillo is pitched in B♭, one octave above the soprano saxophone, and half its length at 33 centimetres (13 in) including the mouthpiece.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soprillo    

Penuche is a fudge-like candy made from brown sugar, butter, and milk, using no flavorings except for vanilla.  Penuche often has a tannish color, and is lighter than regular fudge.  It is formed by the caramelization of brown sugar; thus, its flavor is said to be reminiscent of caramel.  Nuts, especially pecans, are often added to penuche for texture, frequently in the making of penuche candies.  It is primarily a regional food, found in New England and some places in the Southern United States, though in the latter it goes by different names, including creamy praline fudge, and brown sugar fudge candy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penuche   Thank you, reader.   

Sorcova is a Romanian popular custom, practiced on the morning of 1 January. This custom is very old and is spread throughout the country, being practiced mainly by children.  Sorcova is also used to describe the object that characterizes this custom.  It consists of a stick or twig decorated with artificial flowers of different colors, wherewith children tap their parents or acquaintances on the back in the morning of New Year, wishing them, in special verses, health and luck.  This custom varies depending on the ethnographic region.  In northern Transylvania, children go with sorcova from house to house, wishing health in exchange for local delicacies (cozonac, colac, apples, nuts).  In urban areas, it is common for children to receive cash, candies or oranges.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorcova    

December 29, 2025

Yankee is sometimes abbreviated as “Yank.”  People from all over the world, including Great Britain, Australia, and South America, use the term to describe Americans.  (In Spanish, it’s spelled yanqui.)  Sometimes, it's a negative description.  Other times, it's a playful term.  In the United States, the term specifically refers to residents of New England.  New England includes the states of Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.  https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/yankee/     

Pork is a celebratory dish in any pig-loving culture.  Pigs relentlessly root ahead as they eat, as opposed to the backwards scratching of chickens and turkeys, and so are considered a symbol of progress.  "And sauerkraut with pork was eaten for good luck on New Year's Day, because, as the [Pennsylvania] Dutch say, 'the pig roots forward'," historian William Woys Weaver wrote in Sauerkraut Yankees.   The Origin Stories of Your Favorite Traditional New Year's Lucky Foods   Thank you, reader.   

William Woys Weaver is an internationally known food ethnographer and author of 22 books dealing with culinary history and heritage seeds.  His grandfather H. Ralph Weaver founded the Roughwood Seed Collection in 1932, the oldest private seed collection in Pennsylvania.  The Collection is now a 501c3 non-profit organization.  https://designingchange.longwoodgardens.org/speakers/woys-weaver    

Joanna Trollope (born 9 December 1943) is an English writer.   She has also written under the pseudonym of Caroline Harvey.  Her novel Parson Harding's Daughter won in 1980 the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association.  Trollope was born in her grandfather's rectory in Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire, England, daughter of Rosemary Hodson and Arthur George Cecil Trollope.  Her father was an Oxford University classics graduate who became head of a small building society.  Her mother was an artist and writer.   Her father was away for war service in India when she was born; he returned when she was three.  The family settled in Reigate, Surrey.  Trollope has a younger brother and sister.  She was educated at Reigate County School for Girls, gaining a scholarship to St Hugh's College, Oxford in 1961.  She read English.  Her father was of the same family as the Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope; she is his fifth-generation niece, and is a cousin of the writer and broadcaster James Trollope.  Of inheriting the name, she has said:  "Oddly my name has been no professional help at all.  I admire him hugely, both for his benevolence and his enormous psychological perception".    From 1965 to 1967, she worked at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.  While a civil servant, she researched Eastern Europe and the relations between China and the developing world.  From 1967 to 1979, she was employed in a number of teaching posts before she became a writer full-time in 1980.  Trollope began writing historical romances under the pseudonym of Caroline Harvey, the first names of her father's parents. She formed the view that:  "It was the wrong genre for the time."   Encouraged by her second husband, Ian Curteis, she switched to the contemporary fiction for which she has become known.  The Choir, published in 1987, was her first contemporary novel.  The Rector's Wife, published in 1991, displaced Jeffrey Archer from the top of the hardback bestseller lists.  As an explanation, she said in 2006:  "except for thrillers there was nothing in the middle ground of the traditional novel, which is where I think I am."   In 1992, only Jilly Cooper's Polo and Archer's As the Crow Flies were stronger paperback bestsellers.  "I think my books are just the dear old traditional novel making a quiet comeback", she told Geraldine Bedell in a 1993 interview for The Independent on Sunday.   Often described as Aga sagas, for their rural themes, only two of Trollope's novels (by 2006) actually feature an Aga.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joanna_Trollope  Thank you, Muse reader.     

December  26, 2025

A roman à clef ('novel with a key') is a novel about real-life events that is overlaid with a façade of fiction.  The fictitious names in the novel represent real people and the "key" is the relationship between the non-fiction and the fiction.  This metaphorical key may be produced separately—typically as an explicit guide to the text by the author—or implied, through the use of epigraphs or other literary techniques.  Madeleine de Scudéry created the roman à clef in the 17th century to provide a forum for her thinly veiled fiction featuring political and public figures.  An author might choose the roman à clef as a means of satire, of writing about controversial topics, reporting inside information on scandals without giving rise to charges of libel, the opportunity to turn the tale the way the author would like it to have gone, the opportunity to portray autobiographical experiences without having to expose the author as the subject, avoiding incrimination that could be used as evidence in civil, criminal or disciplinary proceeding, the ability to change the background and personalities of key participants and the settling of scores.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_%C3%A0_clef    

The ocean quahog (Arctica islandica) is a clam that redefines what it means to have a long lifespan.  This species is famous for being one of the longest-lived animals on Earth, with individuals surviving up to 500 years.  Ocean quahogs are solitary creatures that live buried in the ocean floor.  Unlike some other bivalves, they do not form large, interconnected colonies.  However, they often share their habitat with other benthic (seafloor-dwelling) organisms.  Though they don't interact socially, ocean quahogs play an important role in their ecosystem by filtering water and serving as prey for species like starfish and crabs.  https://animals.howstuffworks.com/marine-life/ocean-quahog.htm    

The Wabash River is a 503-mile-long (810 km) river that drains most of the state of Indiana, and a significant part of Illinois.  It flows from the headwaters in Ohio, near the Indiana border, then southwest across northern Indiana turning south near the Illinois border, where the southern portion forms the Indiana-Illinois border before flowing into the Ohio River.   It is the largest northern tributary of the Ohio River and third largest overall, behind the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers.  From the dam near Huntington, Indiana, to its terminus at the Ohio River, the Wabash flows freely for 411 miles (661 km).  The Tippecanoe River, White River, Embarras River and Little Wabash River are major tributaries.  The river's name comes from a Miami word meaning "water over white stones", as its bottom is white limestone, now obscured by mud.  The Wabash is the state river of Indiana, and subject of the state song "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away" by Paul Dresser.  The name Wabash is an English transliteration spelling of the French name for the river, Ouabache.  French traders had adopted the Miami–Illinois word for the river, waapaahšiiki, meaning 'it shines white', 'pure white', or 'water over white stones', and attempted to spell it according to their own phonetic system.   The Miami name expressed the clarity of the river in Huntington County, Indiana, where the river bottom is limestone.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabash_River    

The Night of the Radishes (Spanish:  Noche de Rábanos) is an annual event held on December 23 in Oaxaca, Mexico, dedicated to the carving of oversized radishes (Raphanus sativus) to create scenes that compete for prizes in various categories.  The event has its origins in the colonial period when radishes were introduced by the Spanish.  Oaxaca has a long wood carving tradition and farmers began carving radishes into figures as a way to attract customers' attention at the Christmas market, which was held in the main square on December 23.  In 1897, the city instituted the formal competition.  As the city has grown, the government has had to dedicate land to the growing of the radishes used for the event, supervising their growth and distribution to competitors.  The event has become very popular, attracting over 100 contestants and thousands of visitors.  Since the radishes wilt soon after cutting, the works can only be displayed for a number of hours, which has led to very long lines for those wishing to see them.  The event also has displays and competitions for works made with corn husks and dried flowers, which are created with the same themes as those with radishes.   Native to China, radishes were introduced to Mexico by the Spanish, particularly by the friars.  Over time, the crop became used as a side dish or snack, or carved into decorations for special dishes.   In the colonial period, the radishes began to be carved with religious themes in relation to the annual Christmas market held in the city of Oaxaca on December 23, with the encouragement of priests.  The carvings were a marketing gimmick, with farmers using them to attract the attention of shoppers in the market in the city plaza.   Eventually people began buying the radishes not only to eat, but to create centerpieces for Christmas dinners.  See pictures at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Radishes   

December 23, 2025