For nostalgia Tuesday, I'm going back 15 years to 7October2020.  Why?  Mostly because I woke up this morning and watched Debby Boone singing   You Light Up My Life ,   which ranked   #92 in my Top 100 list.   More specifically, because on the screen was something about her mother-in-law Rosemary Clooney.  I did not not know they were related.  That photo to the left is of Debby with her husband Gabriel Ferrrer and Rosemary. About 7October2010, from  Wikipedia : A lot of deaths in the Middle East. Peruvian-Spanish writer Mario Vargas Llosa wins Nobel Prize in Literature. A lost Vivaldi flute concerto,  Il Gran Mogol , is  found in Edinburgh.    The other three pieces of the quartet remain lost. Written in the late 1720s or early 1730s. How did it get to Scotland? Listen to  Il Gran Mogol . I love Baroque music, a genre created between 1600 and 1750 in Europe.  Prominent composers include Bach, Handel and Vivaldi, ...

Today,  December 21, is the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere , which makes it the longest day of the year for places below the equator.  The winter solstice occurs at 10:27 PM ET.  Some countries celebrate this day: Iranians celebrate Yalda, meaning birth or rebirth.  Something to do with the sun god Mithra.  Families gather to eat, drink, read poetry through the night and welcome the sunrise. It's called Dongzhi in China, meaning winter's arrival.  Again, family time, with a hearty meal of glutinous rice balls or dumplings. The Native American Hopi tribe in the Southwest has a Soyal ceremony lasting up to 16 days.  A time for prayer and purification. Japan has Toji, a custom involving taking a hot bath with yuzu, a citrus fruit, and eating kabocha, winter squash, plus foods that contain the "n" sound, like udon.  Why?  Brings good luck. In a  July posting , I said: FAT? SKINNY? NORMAL? APPARENTLY, NO EFFECT ON LONGEVI...