It wasn’t quite a partridge in a pear tree, but a worker helping set up Rockefeller Center’s 2020 Christmas tree found a holiday surprise--a tiny owl among the massive branches.  The little bird, now named what else but Rockefeller, was discovered, dehydrated and hungry, but otherwise unharmed, said Ellen Kalish, director and founder of the Ravensbeard Wildlife Center in Saugerties, New York, where the bird was taken.  See picture at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/19/owl-christmas-tree-rockefeller-center-new-york 

Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus Cinnamomum.  Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, breakfast cereals, snackfoods, tea and traditional foods.  The aroma and flavour of cinnamon derive from its essential oil and principal component, cinnamaldehyde, as well as numerous other constituents including eugenol.  Cinnamon has been known from remote antiquity.  It was imported to Egypt as early as 2000 BC, but those who reported that it had come from China had confused it with cinnamon cassia, a related species.  Cinnamon was so highly prized among ancient nations that it was regarded as a gift fit for monarchs and even for a deity; a fine inscription records the gift of cinnamon and cassia to the temple of Apollo at Miletus.  Its source was kept mysterious in the Mediterranean world for centuries by those in the spice trade to protect their monopoly as suppliers.  Cinnamomum verum, which translates as 'true cinnamon', is native to India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Myanmar.  Cinnamomum cassia (cassia) is native to China.  Related species, all harvested and sold in the modern era as cinnamon, are native to Vietnam, Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries with warm climates.  See pictures at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon  Pairings:  cinnamon and beef, cinnamon and chicken, cinnamon and pork, cinnamon and veal.  Find lots of recipes online. 

David Belasco (1853-1931) began his theatrical career by doing menial backstage jobs in San Fransisco, working his way up to be an actor and stage manager, then--after working with and learning from Dion Boucicault, the author of the melodrama The Octoroon--establishing his career as a prolific playwright, director, and, by 1895, a successful Broadway producer.  Of the over 100 plays Belasco wrote, directed, and produced on Broadway, many were melodramas and star vehicles with little lasting value.  His most famous, however, are Madame Butterfly and The Girl of the Golden West, the two plays he wrote which were adapted into operas by Giacomo Puccini.  Belasco's more remarkable contributions to the theatre came in the field of design and technology.  As Ibsen and Strindberg were gaining prominence as realistic playwrights, Belasco took this naturalism to the extreme, reproducing detailed, operational apartments, a Child's restaurant, and a laundromat on stage--or sometimes going so far as to buy an actual room and place it on stage, one wall removed, as his set.  While some of his innovations, such as what might be called "scent design" (infusing the theatre with appropriate scents sent through the ventilation system, or produced on stage by cooking food and making coffee), were short-lived, Belasco's lighting design was more influential.  Especially in his own theatres, Belasco experimented with new lighting technology, and was one of the first directors to use realistic lighting and follow spots instead of footlights; he also pioneered the use of silk screens and color gels to create realistic sunsets and mood-appropriate colored lighting.  The still-operational Belasco theatre was built in 1906 to his specifications, and included an impressive machine shop and fly system to allow for his innovations and experimentation.  http://www.valentinetheatre.com/mural/bios/David_Belasco.html 

Exploring Spreewald–The Venice of Germany by Juan Martinez   Spreewald is not a city or a region in Germany.  It’s a biosphere reserve located just 100 km south from Berlin.  It is the place where the Spree River transforms into dozens of narrow streams and the forest surrounding the landscape turns into a home for thousands of species of flora and fauna.  It is a marvel of nature and with small villages set along the canals, many consider this a version of Venice in Germany.  Green wetlands, thick forests, 1.500 km of labyrinthic canals and around 18.000 different species of plants and animals--Spreewald is an example of how nature changes just an hour away from Germany’s largest and most hectic city.  Spreewald pickles are famous all over Germany.  If you are going for a culinary treat, try any of the local dishes with pickles.  They have them with all different kind of variations and if you feel brave enough, you can also get a taste of the traditional pickle vodka--something I’ve only seen in Spreewald.  See lovely pictures at https://www.thetravelersbuddy.com/2020/06/03/visit-spreewald/ 

WORDPLAY  A shamble of scandals, banter as buffer 

RAINBOW TOMATOES GARDEN   “This small, roadside stand on a small farm is owned by Dan Waber, a former chef who grows and sells more than 300 varieties of tomatoes.  I didn’t even know there were that many different kinds.  So my family and I hopped in a car for a scenic ride into the countryside to check out his offerings.  After arriving at the stand in East Greenville, Pennsylvania we knew immediately that our trip was not in vain.  Dan and his wife, Jennifer, were both wearing masks.  Resting upon their beautiful handmade tables constructed by a carpenter friend were dozens of varieties of tomatoes of all colors and shapes.”  “There are over 10,000 tomato cultivars, and more being created by breeders every year.  I selected the 320 I grow because someone, somewhere, in some book or group or conversation celebrated its flavor.  I grow for flavor.  We have tomatoes that are white when ripe, green when ripe, black when ripe, brown when ripe, yellow when ripe, striped on the outside, multicolored on the inside, tomatoes that are round, oblong, pear-shaped, dumpling-shaped, impossible-to-describe shaped, as small as a currant, and larger than a 16-inch softball.  And in every possible combination of these features.  We have tomatoes like you’ve never seen before that taste better than any tomato you’ve ever eaten.”  Bryan Deemer  See pictures at https://www.inquirer.com/food/pennsylvania-tomato-farm-320-varieties-20200804.html  See also https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/rainbow-tomatoes-garden 

Reacher is born a hero.  But in the first draft of Lee Child’s first novel he is both familiar and unfamiliar.  He is already the man with no middle name and no address, traveling with just the clothes on his back and a toothbrush.  Logic, deductive skills, fists, killer instinct, compassion:  all present and correct.  But he’s only just ditched his harmonica, and he’s carrying some emotional baggage.  He is more introspective and self-critical.  Less sure of himself.  More explicitly human, and less monumentally mythic.  As Reacher’s biographer, I was speaking to David Highfill, Lee Child’s first editor—in those days of G. P. Putnam’s Sons—at a restaurant in downtown Manhattan.  ‘[Lee] would say to you that he did it like in a fever dream, very fast, that [Reacher] came to him fully formed.  But his instincts and choices and decisions were all right.’  Heather Martin  Read much more at https://crimereads.com/the-evolution-of-jack-reacher/ 

In 1994, Barry Topp, owner of the New Forest Cider Company, drove trucks filled with apple cider to sell at festivals all over the United Kingdom.  There’s one festival in particular he reminisces about with great fondness:  at the Royal Air Force Lakenheath base, which hosts American military personnel.  Everyone was excited to see him arrive with his truck full of cider.  “You weren’t meant to take alcohol onto the army bases,” Todd says, but the American airmen told Topp to sneak it through simply by calling the contents of his truck “apple cider.”  This made Topp realize:  “In America, apple cider is like our apple juice!”  In the American colonial era, there was only one form of apple cider:  cyder.  This type of beverage, a fermented product usually between 4-6% ABV, was brought onto the continent by colonists in the 17th century.  Unlike barley and grapes, apples grew in New England with ease.  New England residents in the 18th century consumed cider generously:  an estimated 15 to 54 gallons per year.  Siddhi  Lama  Read much more and see pictures at https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/why-is-american-cider-nonalcoholic 

Life is about learning; when you stop learning, you die.  As quoted in The Appraiser's Handbook : A Guide for Doctors (2007) by Nick Lyons, Susanne Caesar, Abayomi McEwen, p. 11.

"One way or another we all fight for the things we believe in.  Doesn't that give us some common ground?"  Jack Ryan and MG Dalmatov, SA; The Cardinal of the Kremlin (1988), p. 796.           

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2287  November 20, 2020