Paraphrases from Winter Solstice, final novel of Rosamunde Pilcher:  I don't rabbit on all the time about my family . . . either earn or learn . . . the light streaming through the stained glass threw lozenges of ruby, sapphire and emerald onto worn flagstones . . . remembering is more important than anything else . . .

Summer Solstice is a 2005 German-produced two-part television film, a sequel to the novel Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher, which was made a TV film in 2004.  This film, however, is not based on a novel, but was written by Pilcher directly for the screen.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_Solstice_(2005_film)

Rosamunde Pilcher's first book, a romance novel, was published by Mills and Boon, under the pseudonym Jane Fraser in 1949.  She published a further ten novels under that name.  In 1955, she also began writing under her real name with Secret to Tell.  By 1965 she had dropped the pseudonym and was signing her own name to all of her novels.  Read more and find bibliography at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosamunde_Pilcher

James Francis Thorpe (1887–1953) was an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist.  Thorpe's parents were both of mixed-race ancestry.  His father, Hiram Thorpe, had an Irish father and a Sac and Fox Indian mother.  His mother, Charlotte Vieux, had a French father and a Potawatomi mother, a descendant of Chief Louis Vieux.  He was raised as a Sac and Fox, and his native name, Wa-Tho-Huk, translated as "path lit by great flash of lightning" or, more simply, "Bright Path".  As was the custom for Sac and Fox, he was named for something occurring around the time of his birth, in this case the light brightening the path to the cabin where he was born.  In the 1930s, Thorpe appeared in several short films and features.  Usually, his roles were cameo appearances as an Indian, although in the 1932 comedy, Always Kickin, Thorpe was prominently cast in a speaking part as himself, a kicking coach teaching young football players to drop-kick.  In 1931, during the Great Depression, he sold the film rights to his life story to MGM for $1,500 ($23,000 today).  The movie included archival footage of the 1912 and 1932 Olympics, as well as a banquet in which Thorpe was honored.  It was also distributed in the United Kingdom, where it was called Man of Bronze.  Thorpe had a cameo appearance in the 1940 film Knute Rockne, All American.  Late in the film, he tells Pat O'Brien (playing Knute Rockne) at the halftime of a game, "Two minutes, Rock!"  He is referenced by O'Brien earlier in the film, as a player you could build a team around.  He played a member of the Navajo band in the 1950 film Wagon Master.  Thorpe was memorialized in the Warner Bros. film Jim Thorpe – All-American (1951) starring Burt Lancaster, with Billy Gray performing as Thorpe as a child.  The film was directed by Michael Curtiz.  Although there were rumors that Thorpe received no money, he was paid $15,000 by Warner Bros. plus a $2,500 donation toward an annuity for him by the studio head of publicity.  He is mentioned twice in Disney's 1973 film The World's Greatest Athlete.  Thorpe is featured as a ghost figure in the 1994 film WindRunner:  A Spirited Journey, where he is portrayed by Russell Means.  In a poll of sports fans conducted by ABC Sports, Thorpe was voted the Greatest Athlete of the Twentieth Century out of 15 other athletes including Muhammad Ali, Babe Ruth, Jesse Owens, Wayne Gretzky, Jack Nicklaus, and Michael Jordan.  Read more and see pictures at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Thorpe

All oats start off as oat groats—the whole, unbroken grains.  Before being processed into any other variety of oat, groats are usually roasted at a very low temperature.  This not only gives the oats their nice toasty flavor, but the heat also inactivates the enzyme that causes oats to go rancid, making them more shelf-stable.  The difference between steel-cut, rolled, and instant oats is simply how much the oat groat has been processed.  Steel-cut oats, also referred to as Irish or Scottish oats, this variety is made when the whole groat is cut into several pieces, rather than rolled.  This variety takes the longest to cook, and has a toothsome, chewy texture that retains much of its shape even after cooking.  In addition to being used for porridge, steel-cut oats can also be used to make meatloaf and savory congee (a nice alternative to rice), or add texture to stuffing.  Also called old-fashioned or whole oats, rolled oats look like flat, irregularly round, slightly textured discs.  Rolled oats cook faster than steel-cut oats, absorb more liquid, and hold their shape relatively well during cooking.  In addition to be heated for a warm breakfast bowl, rolled oats are commonly used in granola bars, cookies, muffins, and other baked goods.  Instant oats can be used in place of rolled oats, although the cook time will be much less, and the final dish will not have as much texture.  Link to recipes at http://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-between-steel-cut-rolled-and-instant-oats-138355

"Extinct vulcano" is a dark, leaden phrase.  It conjures up visions of smouldering cinders and an underground pyroclastic zombie brooding down there, just aching to have another go at it.  Wrong.  That would be "dormant volcano"—Mt. Vesuvius, for example . "Extinct" means dead, at least geologically.  In a biological sense, however,  Mt. Vulture is anything but that—flora, fauna, lakes, you name it.  It's as wonderfully alive as they come.  Vulture (pronounced Vool-too-ray--accent on the first syllable) is a traditional geographical and historical region in the northern part of the province of Potenza, in the Basilicata region.  The Vulture area is also known as Vulture-Melfese or Vulture-Alto Brada.  Such traditional regions are not formal administrative divisions such as provinces and regions, but simply local names used for centuries.  For comparison, the Campania region (of which Naples is the capital) has similar areas such as Cilento, Sannio, Irpinia, and Matese.  There are many dozens of such areas throughout Italy.  The name Vulture is a cognate of the English word spelled the same way; indeed, the Italian term for the bird called “vulture” in English is very similar—avvoltoio.  This vulture, however—this historical area—takes its name from the extinct volcano Monte Vulture (1326 m/4350 feet).  It is 56 km (35 mi) north of the city of Potenza and is unique among large Italian volcanoes in that it is east of the Apennine mountain range, the "spine" of Italy.  Jeff Matthews  Read more and see graphics at http://www.naplesldm.com/vulture.html

Words that are cognates have a shared origin—like gratitude and gratitud both coming from the Latin word gratitudo, meaning "thankfulness".  Cognate can mean related by blood, related in nature, or having the same ancestral language.   https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/cognate

The topic of this post is the difference between (and the acceptability of) “try to” and “try and” in spoken and written English.  For instance, in these two sentences from an entertainment column:  Despite ongoing rumors that Apple might try and acquire Tidal, West’s social media posts suggest these talks aren’t going so smoothly . . . West is calling for a meeting between himself, Apple CEO Jim Cook, Jay Z and several other music execs to try and end the feud.  In both those sentences, try and should properly be try to.  But why?  Let’s look at what these words are intended to mean.  When you pick it apart, the try and the to are actually two separate elements.  Try is the verb—it’s the action you’re taking—while to is actually part of a second verb—the thing you’re trying to do.  The to part is the beginning of the infinitive form of the next verb:  to do, to go, to see, to understand.  We’re looking at two verbs:  try plus a second action.  Infinitive verbs in English don’t come in the form and do, and go, or and see.  Only to do, to go, to see.  That’s why you should use to not and.  We’ve almost totally stopped worrying about what try to/try and sounds like in speech, and that’s just fine.  I use try and in conversation frequently, although mostly in casual situations and not much in formal ones.  But the distinction is very important in good written English and should be followed.  J.R.R. Tolkien argued with his editors when they changed try and to try to in The Fellowship of the Ring.  Commenters usually make the argument ‘Tolkien knew more about English grammar than any of us, and if he used try and then it must be correct.’  Yes and no.  This story is true and you can find it in Tolkien’s letters.  But look deeper.  All the try and instances in Tolkien are in dialogue:  spoken language transcribed to the page.  He used try and to distinguish characters by giving them distinct speech patterns:  some characters use try and while others use try to.  This is a matter of formal speech versus informal or colloquial speech.  In the narrative itself, Tolkien always uses try to.  You can look this up yourself in a searchable online copy.  Christopher Daly  Read more at https://thebettereditor.wordpress.com/2016/10/31/please-try-to-understand-its-try-to-not-try-and/

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1661  December 7, 2016  On this date in 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the United States Constitution.  On this date in 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy carried out a surprise attack on the United States Pacific Fleet and its defending Army and Marine air forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.