From information comes knowledge.  From knowledge comes wisdom. 

A gerund is a form of a verb that ends in -ing that is used as a noun.  It looks like a verb, but it acts like a noun.  For example, the word swimming is an example of a gerund.  We can use the word swimming in a sentence as a noun to refer to the act of moving around in water as in Swimming is fun.  When used in sentences, gerunds are treated as third person singular nouns (like he, she, and it).  https://www.thesaurus.com/e/grammar/whats-a-gerund/

“September Mushrooms” by Margaret Atwood   Some were bright red, some purple, some brown, some white, some lemon yellow.  Through the night they nudged, unfurling like moist fans, living sponges, like radar dishes, listening.  From Dearly by Margaret Atwood  Copyright © 2020 by O. W. Toad Ltd.  Excerpted by permission of Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.  Read entire poem at https://lithub.com/september-mushrooms/ 

Grandmother’s Famous Tomato Sauce Recipe:  The Actor on Memories of His Grandparent's House and His Inherited Love of Cooking by Stanley Tucci  Excerpted from Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci.  Reprinted with permission of the publisher, Gallery Books.  Copyright © 2021 by Stanley Tucci.  https://lithub.com/stanley-tucci-shares-his-grandmothers-famous-tomato-sauce-recipe/ 

The peacock, also called peafowl, is any of three species of resplendent birds of the pheasant family, Phasianidae (order Galliformes).  Strictly, the male is a peacock, and the female is a peahen; both are peafowl.  Read more and see pictures at https://www.britannica.com/animal/peacock

The peacock butterfly, also known as the European peacock, is one of the larger butterflies having a wingspan of a little over two inches, with the females being slightly smaller.  They can be identified by their red wings, which have a characteristic black, blue, and yellow eyespot on the tips.  Even though the tops of their wings are bright and beautiful, the underside is a dark brown and black.  See picture at https://critterfacts.com/peacockbutterfly/?doing_wp_cron=1634906928.0145111083984375000000 See also https://treesforlife.org.uk/into-the-forest/trees-plants-animals/insects-2/peacock-butterfly/

“Off the cuff” is a colloquial phrase, dating back to at least the late 1930s, which first appeared in the US.  A speech (or similar locution) or performance in a play given ad lib, without formal preparation, is said to be “off the cuff” because it is as if the speaker had only had time to jot a few notes on their shirt cuff before ascending the podium or taking the stage.  According to lexicographer Christine Ammer (in her wonderful book “Have A Nice Day—No Problem!,” a dictionary of cliches), the phrase comes from the “alleged” practice of after-dinner speakers making notes on their shirt cuffs.  Although we use usually “off the cuff” to mean “completely extemporaneously, with no preparation,” the origin of phrase itself implies at least a little forethought.  http://www.word-detective.com/2013/03/off-the-cuff/ 

Déjà vu is the feeling that one has lived through the present situation before.  This is a French phrase translating literally to "already seen".  Jamais vu (from French, meaning "never seen") is any familiar situation which is not recognized by the observer.  Often described as the opposite of déjà vu, jamais vu involves a sense of eeriness and the observer's impression of seeing the situation for the first time despite rationally knowing that they have been in the situation before.  Jamais vu is more commonly explained as when a person momentarily does not recognize a word, person or place that they already know.  Jamais vu is sometimes associated with certain types of aphasia, amnesia, and epilepsy.  Theoretically, a jamais vu feeling in a sufferer of a delirious disorder or intoxication could result in a delirious explanation of it, such as in the Capgras delusion, in which the patient takes a known person for a false double or impostor.  The experience has also been named "vuja de" and "véjà du".  Presque vu (from French, meaning "almost seen") is the intense feeling of being on the very brink of a powerful epiphany, insight, or revelation, without actually achieving the revelation.  The feeling is often therefore associated with a frustrating, tantalizing sense of incompleteness or near-completeness.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A9j%C3%A0_vu

FITZGERALD, Ga.—Mayor Jim Puckett hatched a plan three years ago to build the world’s tallest topiary, in the shape of a chicken, which he hoped would draw tourists to his struggling South Georgia city.  Now the project may never fly.  Mayor Puckett was soundly ousted in elections earlier this month with the bird and its cost a major campaign issue.  Cameron McWhirter  The Wall Street Journal  November 16, 2021 

We are a landscape of all we have seen. - Isamu Noguchi, sculptor and architect (17 Nov 1904-1988) 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2457 November 17, 2021