The name Cissie is a diminutive of Cecilia, Frances and Priscilla.  It is of Latin and Germanic origin and comes from the following roots:  (CAECILIUS) (FRANK) and (PRISCUS). https://www.name-doctor.com/name-cissie-meaning-of-cissie-48218.html

Knock, knock.  Who’s there?  Noah.  Noah who?  Noah good place we can get something to eat?  Find other knock, knock jokes at https://www.funology.com/knock-knock-jokes/

Per aspera ad astra is a Latin phrase meaning "through hardships to the stars" and is the motto of many organizations.  It may also refer to:  Per Aspera Ad Astra (film), a 1981 Soviet science fiction film, songs, and last chapter in the Mafia II video game.  "Per Aspera Ad Astra" is the personal motto of Julie Payette, 29th Governor General of Canada and a former astronaut with 25 days in space.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Per_aspera_ad_astra_(disambiguation) 

The final Seal of Kansas and the state motto, Ad astra per aspera (to the stars through difficulties), were adopted through a joint resolution during the first Kansas legislative session on May 25, 1861.  https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/seal-of-kansas/18266

"A Sound of Thunder,"a science fiction short story by Ray Bradbury, was first published in Collier's magazine in June 28, 1952, and was very widely reprinted for decades.  The story was based on the idea of the butterfly effect, in which a very small event could cause a major change in the outcome of later events.  Bradbury's story, set in 2055, concerned the use of a time machine to travel back into the very distant past.  In the story the killing of a butterfly during the time of dinosaurs caused the future to change in subtle, but meaningful ways.  Jeremy Norman  Link to 29:22 radio adaption at https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=4037  See also https://www.litcharts.com/lit/a-sound-of-thunder/symbols/butterfly and https://dartmed.dartmouth.edu/winter06/pdf/editors_note.pdf

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (1896–1940) was an American novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and Short story writer.  He was best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term which he popularized.  During his lifetime, he published four novels, four collections of short stories, and 164 short stories.  Although he temporarily achieved popular success and fortune in the 1920s, Fitzgerald only received wide critical and popular acclaim after his death.  He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century.  Fitzgerald's works have been adapted into films many times.  One of the earliest Fitzgerald short stories was adapted into a 1921 silent film The Off-Shore Pirate.  Tender Is the Night was the subject of the eponymous 1962 film, and made into a television miniseries in 1985.  The Beautiful and Damned was filmed in 1922 and 2010.  The Great Gatsby has been adapted into numerous films of the same name, spanning nearly 90 years:  1926, 1949, 1974, 2000, and 2013 adaptations.  In 1976, The Last Tycoon was adapted into a film starring Robert de Niro and in 2016 it was adapted as an Amazon Prime TV miniseries starring Matt Bomer.  His short story, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," was the basis for a 2008 film.   In 2015, an editor of The Strand Magazine discovered and published for the first time an 8,000-word manuscript, dated July 1939, of a Fitzgerald short story titled "Temperature".  Long thought lost, Fitzgerald's manuscript for the story was found in the rare books and manuscript archives at Princeton University, his alma mater.  As described by Strand, "Temperature", set in Los Angeles, tells the story of the failure, illness and decline of a once successful writer and his life among Hollywood idols, while suffering lingering fevers and indulging in light-hearted romance.  The protagonist is a 31-year-old self-destructive, alcoholic named Emmet Monsen, whom Fitzgerald describes in his story as "notably photogenic, slender and darkly handsome".  It tells of his personal relationships as his health declined with various doctors, personal assistants, and a Hollywood actress who is his lover.  Fitzgerald bibliographies had previously listed the story, sometimes referred to as "The Women in the House", as "unpublished", or as "Lost--mentioned in correspondence, but no surviving transcript or manuscript".  In 2017, a rediscovered cache of Fitzgerald's short-stories was published in a collection titled I'd Die For You.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._Scott_Fitzgerald

 

Nick by novelist Michael Farris Smith pulls Nick Carraway out of the shadows and into the spotlight in this prequel to the Great Gatsby published in January 2021.  https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/53369483-nick 

A 19-member honors class at the University of Iowa has written a new “fan fiction” version of “The Great Gatsby ”  U-I Professor Harry Stecopoulos had his students collaborate on creating a completely new telling of the classic 1925 story by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  “It’s not the same novel.  The characters are largely the same but it’s a different plot,” Stecopoulos says.  “For example, Gatsby is an African-American woman who is an art forger, so a major change there.”  The U-I students’ story is still set in the 1920s and in New York City but he says it’s very much an original account.  Their new book is called “Gilded in Ash.”  https://www.radioiowa.com/2020/12/08/u-i-honor-students-take-on-rewrite-of-the-great-gatsby/ 

Shirred eggs, also known as baked eggs, are eggs that have been baked in a flat-bottomed dish; the name originates from the type of dish in which it was traditionally baked.  Shirred eggs are considered a simple and reliable dish that can be easily varied and expanded upon.  An alternative way of cooking is to crack the eggs into individual ramekins, and cook them in a water bath, creating the French dish œufs en cocotte.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirred_eggs  See also Middle Eastern Baked Eggs at https://www.recipetineats.com/shakshuka-baked-eggs/ and Italian Baked Eggs at https://damndelicious.net/2013/11/11/italian-baked-eggs/ 

It turns out we have Peter Rabbit to thank for England's Lake District National Park by Steele Marcoux   The anthropomorphic characters of Beatrix Potter's world have an undeniable, irresistible charm.   Rendered in whimsical yet sophisticated detail and characterized by forgivable foolishness, childlike silliness, and plenty of naughtiness, Potter's depiction of English countryside wildlife appeals to children and adults alike.  It seems only fitting that the origins one of the most successful literary franchises of all time would have sprung from the imagination of a child whose only friends were her pets and who grew up to be one of the greatest conservationists of the 20th century.  Indeed, Potter's childhood drawings and paintings of plants and animals reveal an early fascination with the natural world that would continue into adulthood—fueling her professional life, personal pastimes, and, ultimately, her conservation of England's Lake District.  When she died in 1943, Potter left 4,000 acres of countryside to the National Trust, along with her 14 farms and her sheep.  Today, that land is home to an estimated two-thirds of the world's population of Herdwick sheep tended to by National Trust rangers and tenant farmers.  The National Trust also manages Hill Top as Potter's personal museum, having left it furnished just as it was during her life.  https://www.veranda.com/outdoor-garden/a35997812/beatrix-potter-hill-top-farm/  Thank you, Muse reader!   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2360  May 5, 2021