Maraschino cherries are used in many alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks and cocktails, including the Old Fashioned, tequila sunrise, the Queen Mary and the Shirley Temple, giving them the nickname cocktail cherries.  (This term is also used to refer to other varieties, including Amarena, Balaton, and Bing, when used for the same purpose, typically soaked in alcohol or sugar.)  Sometimes the cherries, along with some of the maraschino syrup, are put into a glass of cola to make an old-fashioned or homemade cherry cola.  As a garnish, they can be used to decorate frozen yogurt, baked ham, cakes, pastry, parfaits, milkshakes and ice cream sodas.  They are an integral part of an American ice cream sundae, giving rise to the term "cherry on top" in more general usage.  They are frequently included in canned fruit cocktail.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maraschino_cherry   

"The Wild Swans at Coole" is a lyric poem by the Irish poet William Butler Yeats (1865–1939).  Written between 1916 and early 1917, the poem was first published in the June 1917 issue of the Little Review, and became the title poem in the Yeats's 1917 and 1919 collections The Wild Swans at Coole.   It was written during a period when Yeats was staying with his friend Lady Gregory at her home at Coole Park, and the assembled collection was dedicated to her son, Major Robert Gregory (1881–1918), a British airman killed during a friendly fire incident in the First World War.  Literary scholar Daniel Tobin writes that Yeats was melancholy and unhappy, reflecting on his advancing age, romantic rejections by both Maud Gonne and her daughter Iseult Gonne, and the ongoing Irish rebellion against the British.

Poem:

The trees are in their autumn beauty,
The woodland paths are dry,
Under the October twilight the water
Mirrors a still sky;
Upon the brimming water among the stones
Are nine-and-fifty swans.

See the rest of the poem at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wild_Swans_at_Coole_(poem)

Thank you, reader.   

Bistre (or bister) is a pigment made from soot.  Historically, beechwood was burned to produce the soot, which was boiled and diluted with water.  Many Old Masters used bistre as the ink for their wash paintings.  Bistre's appearance is generally of a dark grayish brown, with a yellowish cast.  Bistre has also been used to name colors resembling the pigment, typically shades of brown.  The first recorded use of bistre as a color name in English was in 1727; another name for the color bistre is soot brown.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bistre  Thank you, reader.    

cochineal, red dyestuff consisting of the dried, pulverized bodies of certain female scale insects, Dactylopius coccus, of the Coccidae family, cactus-eating insects native to tropical and subtropical America.  Cochineal is used to produce scarlet, crimson, orange, and other tints and to prepare pigments such as lake and carmine. The dye was introduced into Europe from Mexico, where it had been used long before the coming of the Spaniards.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bistre  Thank you, reader.    

October 29 is National Cat Day in the USA, which was established on this day 20 years ago in 2005 by the American animal welfare advocate Colleen Paige with the support of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to encourage people to celebrate the companionship provided by cats, and to be aware of the need to rescue and adopt them.    

Stanford Medicine researchers compared how three different time policies — permanent standard time, permanent daylight saving time and biannual shifting — could affect people’s circadian rhythms, and, in turn, their health throughout the country.  Circadian rhythm is the body’s innate, roughly 24-hour clock, which regulates many physiological processes.  The team found that, from a circadian perspective, we’ve made the worst choice.  Either permanent standard time or permanent daylight saving time would be healthier than our seasonal waffling, with permanent standard time benefitting the most people.  https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2025/09/daylight-saving-time.html    

kigurumi (plural kigurumi or kigurumis)  noun 

A full-body costume of a cartoon character (typically a mascot of cartoonish proportions) originating in Japan.   Synonyms: kig, kigu

(anime) A full-body cosplay of a human cartoon character with realistic proportions paired with an anime-style mask, originating in Japan; also (metonymic), the anime-style mask used in such a cosplay.  Synonyms: animegao, kig, kigu

(fashion) A themed onesie, typically in the style of a cartoon animal.  Synonyms: kig, kigu  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kigurumi#English

November 3, 2025