American poet and florist Mary Elizabeth Frye wrote her poem Do not stand at my grave and weep on a brown paper shopping bag.  The poem was never copyrighted by the author, and more than 60 years passed between the year when the poem was written and the year when its authorship became known.  When BBC included the verse in its TV program Bookworm in 1995, they received over 30,000 requests for copies.  Hardly a surprise, it was ranked as “the Nation’s Favorite Poem” the following year.  https://emilyspoetryblog.com/biography-of-mary-elizabeth-frye/

A Claddagh ring is a traditional Irish ring in which a heart represents love, the crown stands for loyalty, and two clasped hands symbolize friendship.  The design and customs associated with it originated in Claddagh, County Galway.  Its modern form was first produced in the 17th century.  The Claddagh ring belongs to a group of European finger rings called fede rings.  The name derives from the Italian phrase mani in fede ("hands [joined] in faith" or "hands [joined] in loyalty").  This group dates to Ancient Rome, where the gesture of clasping hands meant pledging vows.  Cut or cast in bezels, they were used as engagement and wedding rings in medieval and Renaissance Europe to signify "plighted troth".  In recent years it has been embellished with interlace designs and combined with other Celtic and Irish symbols, corresponding with its popularity as an emblem of Irish identity.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claddagh_ring

Earthenware is usually fired at around 999°C/1140°C.  It is baked clay that is varnished to give it a better finish and greater resistance.  Stoneware plates are made from clay at a higher temperature, between 1176°C/1276°C.  Porcelain plates are made from a more refined clay (feldspar, quartz and kaolin) and fired at much higher temperatures than earthenware or stoneware, approximately between 1200°C/1450°C, resulting in a hard, white, non-porous pottery.  When we talk about bone china, we are talking about the same materials with which porcelain tableware is made of, but with the addition of at least 25 percent of bone ash (literally cow bones combined with porcelain clay).  On the other hand, fine china has a similar production process but without the bone ash, which at the end of the day makes it closer to porcelain dinnerware.  But don't forget that porcelain plates are fired at a much higher temperature resulting in a harder and more durable dinnerware.   Melanie Kalfaian  https://whatahost.co.uk/blogs/what-a-host-blog/tableware-earthenware-stoneware-porcelain-bone-china-or-fine-china     

skedaddle  verb  "run away, betake oneself hastily to flight," American Civil War military slang noted and popularized in newspapers from the summer of 1861, originally often skadaddle, a word of unknown origin.  There is an earlier use in a piece reprinted in Northern newspapers in 1859, representing Hoosier speech.  Perhaps it is connected to earlier use in northern England dialect with a meaning "to spill, scatter."  Related:  Skedaddled; skedaddling.  As a noun from 1862, "a hasty flight."  https://www.etymonline.com/word/skedaddle   

The Black Cat was an American fiction magazine launched in 1895 by Herman Umbstaetter, initially published in Boston, Massachusetts.  It published only short stories, and had a reputation for originality and for encouraging new writers.  Umbstaetter’s editorial approach was unusual in several ways:  the cover price was low, at five cents; he paid based on merit, not on story length; and he was willing to buy stories by new authors rather than insisting on well-known names.  He frequently ran story contests to attract amateur writers.  The magazine was immediately successful, and its circulation was boosted by the appearance in an early issue of “The Mysterious Card” by Cleveland Moffett, which was so popular that two print runs of the issue it appeared in sold out.  Many well-known writers appeared in its pages.  Two of the best-known were Jack London, whose 1899 story “A Thousand Deaths” sold just as he was about to give up attempting to become a writer, and Henry Miller, whose first published work was several short fiction critiques published in The Black Cat in 1919.  The magazine’s icon, a black cat that appeared on almost every cover for many years, was drawn by Umbstaetter’s wife, Nelly Littlehale Umbstaetter.  Others who sold stories to The Black Cat included O. Henry, Rex Stout, and Clark Ashton Smith.  In early 1923 it ceased publication for good.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Cat_(US_magazine)    

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2708  August 18, 2023