The largest megalithic site in the world is found in France.  It is known as the Carnac Alignments and its stones are scattered across the coast of Brittany in a more extensive formation than Stonehenge.  There are over 2,800 standing stones lined up as far as the eye can see, spanning four kilometres across and 40 hectares in total.  The tallest standing stone is four metres high.  By way of comparison, Stonehenge has 83 rocks or lumps of stone visible today, many having been damaged over the years.  Jade Cuttle  See many beautiful pictures at https://theculturetrip.com/europe/france/articles/frances-stonehenge-the-carnac-stones-and-other-megalithic-sites/ 

The Chimayó (or Chimayo) pepper is named after the town of Chimayó, New Mexico, where roughly 200 hectares (500 acres) of Chimayó peppers are harvested annually.  It is considered one of the two best chiles in the state, the others being those grown in Hatch.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimayo_pepper  Link to recipes at https://madeinnewmexico.com/products/los-poblanos-southwest-salt-gift-set   

New Mexico cuisine, permeated by the two official state vegetables of pinto beans and chile, is a tradition of regional cultivation, seed varieties and recipes passed down for generations.  The fertile village of Chimayo, nestled in the Sangre de Cristo foothills of the Rocky Mountains, is known not only for its miraculous Santuario but also for its unique sought after varietal of red chile.  http://www.ranchodechimayo.com/#mrsj   

Alan Michael Ritchson (born November 28, 1982) is an American actor, filmmaker, and singer.  He made his acting debut as Aquaman/Arthur Curry on The CW superhero series Smallville (2005–2010) where he appeared as a guest star between the fifth and tenth seasons.  Ritchson gained further prominence for portraying Thad Castle on the Spike TV sitcom Blue Mountain State (2010–2011), a role he reprised in the 2016 film sequel.  He also headlined the SyFy action series Blood Drive (2017).  In 2018, he returned to superhero television as Hank Hall / Hawk on the DC Universe / HBO Max series Titans.  After leaving Titans in 2021, Ritchson was cast as the title character on the Amazon Prime Video series Reacher.  Outside of television, Ritchson played Raphael in the 2014 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot and its 2016 sequel, along with appearing in The Hunger Games:  Catching Fire (2013).  He made his directorial debut with the action-comedy Dark Web:  Cicada 3301 (2021), which he also co-starred in.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Ritchson 

In Bad Luck and Trouble, the eleventh book in the Jack Reacher series, Reacher himself tells everyone why he doesn’t even carry a second shirt:  “Slippery slope.  I carry a spare shirt, pretty soon I’m carrying spare pants.  Then I’d need a suitcase.  Next thing I know, I’ve got a house and a car and a savings plan and I’m filling out all kinds of forms.”  He fights for justice, sure, but he also waxes poetic about Eudora Welty (“I love short stories, they get straight to the point”), dishes out an encyclopedia’s worth of fun facts and tactical tricks, tells slippery lies to get information wherever he is.  Corbin Smith  https://www.thedailybeast.com/alan-ritchsons-reacher-is-a-gigantic-unstoppable-force 

Dolomite is the name for a mineral composed of calcium magnesium carbonate and for a sedimentary rock that has this mineral as its chief constituent.  The rock was given this name first, but to avoid confusion it is sometimes known as dolostone.  The pure mineral is white, but traces of impurities can give it a range of colors, including pink, yellow, brown, and gray.  Dolomite is used as an ornamental stone and for many practical applications.  For instance, it is a raw material for the manufacture of cement, and a source of magnesium oxide.  It is an important reservoir rock for petroleum, and a host rock for ores of metals such as lead, zinc, and copper.  In horticulture, dolomite may be added to soils and potting mixes to lower their acidity.  The rock dolomite was first described in 1791, by the French naturalist and geologist Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu (1750-1801), when he observed exposures in the Dolomite Alps of northern Italy.  Limestone that is partially replaced by dolomite is referred to as dolomitic limestone.  In old American geologic literature, it is called magnesian limestone.  https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Dolomite 

The Connecticut State Library published an excerpt from a 1980s issue of Connecticut Magazine, in which writer Elizabeth Abbe wrote that traders sold nutmeg to foreign customers who did not know how to use it.  Customers thought nutmeg needed to be cracked like walnut.  "Nutmegs are wood and bounce when struck.  If southern customers did not grate them, they may very well have accused the Yankees of selling useless 'wooden' nutmeg," wrote Abbe.  Adriana Morga  https://www.ctpost.com/living/article/Why-is-Connecticut-called-The-Nutmeg-State-16233291.php  Thank you, Muse reader! 

Holbein:  Capturing Character  February 11 through May 15, 2022 at The Morgan Library & Museum, 225 Madison Avenue New York   Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/98–1543) was among the most skilled, versatile, and inventive artists of the early 1500s.  He created captivating portraits of courtiers, merchants, scholars, and statesmen in Basel, Switzerland, and later in England, and served as a court painter to Tudor King Henry VIII (1491–1547).  Enriched by inscriptions, insignia, and evocative attributes, his portraits comprise eloquent visual statements of personal identity and illuminate the Renaissance culture of erudition, self-fashioning, luxury, and wit.  Holbein: Capturing Character is the first major exhibition dedicated to the artist in the United States.  Spanning Holbein’s entire career, it starts with his early years in Basel, where Holbein was active in the book trade and created iconic portraits of the great humanist scholar Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466–1536).  Holbein stayed in England in 1526–1528 and moved there permanently in 1532, quickly becoming the most sought-after artist among the nobles, courtiers, and foreign merchants of the Hanseatic League.  In addition to showcasing Holbein’s renowned drawn and painted likenesses of these sitters, the exhibition highlights the artist’s activities as a designer of prints, printed books, personal devices (emblems accompanied by mottos), and jewels.  This varied presentation reveals the artist’s wide-ranging contributions to the practice of personal definition in the Renaissance. Works by Holbein’s famed contemporaries, such as Jan Gossaert (ca. 1478–1532) and Quentin Metsys (1466–1530), and a display of intricate period jewelry and book bindings offer further insights into new cultural interests in the representation of individual identity, and highlight the visual splendor of the art and culture of the time.  Find hours and visitor information at https://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/holbein 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2500  February 25, 2022