January 2026 This recipe comes from a childhood friend. Clara was a grammar school classmate; she was gracious enough to share a family tradition with our Cooking Class in a public school in Northern Northern New Jersey. She and her Cuban family had just fled the warm collectivism of Fidel Castro for those chilly waters of rugged individualism that, once-upon-a-time, proudly beckoned them to New York Harbor. I’ve updated her recipe just a bit. Olive oil is substituted fo

31 December 2025 It’s taken me the better part of two years, and it has been a better part, to be able to place Jolene du Près as a fully-fleshed hound in Pets, Real and Fictional . The deficiency lay not in this sweet, loving, adorable beagle, but in myself. She’s worked hard, very hard, to fit into my Pantheon of Pets since first she entered my real world in early September 2023. She was in my dream-world before then, but the wise among us know how hard it can be to re

New Year’s Day 2026 Al di La Music by Carlo Donida with English lyrics by Ervin Drake La la la la Al di la means You're far above me Very far Al di la As far as the lovely evening star Where you walk, flowers bloom When you smile, all the gloom Turns to sunshine And my heart opens wide When you're gone, It fades And seems to have died. Al di la, I asked as I drifted Where you were Al di la And then the fog lifted There you wеre In the kiss that

New Year's Eve 2025 Queen of Denial by Pam Tillis, Bob DiPiero and Jan Buckingham; Changes by Debra Milligan Well, I said he had a lot of potential. He was just so misunderstood. You know, he really didn’t mean to treat me so mean: He wanted to be good. And I swore, One day I’d tame him, even though he loved to run hog wild. Just call me Cleopatra cause I’m the Queen of Denial. I knew he didn’t have any money That’s why he couldn’t buy me a ring. Oh, and jus

End of December 2025 Bésame Mucho Music by Consuelo Velázquez, with English lyrics by Sunny Skylar Bésame, bésame mucho Each time I cling to your kiss, I hear music divine Bésame, bésame mucho Hold me, my darling, and say that you’ll always be mine This joy is something new, my arms enfolding you Never knew this thrill before Whoever thought I'd be holding you close to me, Whispering "It's you I adore" Dearest one, If you should leave me Each little dream woul

Boxing Day 2025 Around the World Music by Victor Young, with lyrics by Harold Adamson and Stella Unger; French translation by Debra Milligan Around the world I’ve searched for you I traveled on when hope was gone to keep a rendezvous. I knew somewhere, sometime, somehow You’d look at me and I would see the smile you’re smiling now. It might have been in County Down, Or in New York, Or Gay Paree, Or even London Town. No more will I go all around the world For I have foun

Merry Christmas 2025 Christmas 2024 whizzed by me. I was adjusting to an America that had survived one of the worst assaults upon democracy in the recent history of our constitutional Republic. Within the first six months of 2025, my more than decades-long haul of hunches, suspicions, infallible instincts, intuitive insights, and Scots second sights — were illuminated — informed by the damning details and the dogged light of truth: Real news, actual facts, accurate figur

Christmas 2025 Peace on Earth Written by Bruce Monte, Sonny Burke, Peggy Lee Silent Night Music by Franz Gruber, with lyrics by Father Joseph Mohr Silent as the snowflake in the night Holy is the spirit of this night All the world is calm and peaceful All the world is bright and joyful Spirit of love and child of peace Love unending that shall not cease Peace, my children of goodwill Peace, my children, peace, be still Silent night Holy Night All is calm

Christmas Eve 2025 Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer by Johnny Marks; Changes by Debra Milligan You’ve heard all about Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen. But do you recall The Most Famous Reindeer OF ALL . . . Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, He had a very shiny nose And if you ever saw it, You would even say it glows. All of the other reindeer They used to laugh and call him names They never let poor Rudy Join in

Mid-December 2025 So much trust had been placed by Guillaume de Vallon in this one Frenchwoman — to be who she’d claimed to be. Anyone can make an error in judgement. Guillaume de Vallon certainty did, more than once. Regarding Yvonne Ferrant, however, the mistake was yet another colossal betrayal of his trust. When the fullness of this mistake was seen in the full light of day, Yvonne was in the dark with her latest paramour among self-destructive revolutionaries. Thi

7 December 2025 It is always a rousingly inspirational experience for me to encounter Chapter 54 of THE DAWN. I call it The Roosevelt Chapter. That sense of exhilaration helped me to rather quickly plow through my translation review of Volume II, Book 5, Pour La Victoire, of THE DAWN into L’AUBE. During the several previous chapters of Book 5, How the Resistance-World Turns, Arthur Boucher Carmichael has returned to France from his U.S. Army mission-post in London. The

Feast of St. Nicholas 6 December 2025 Domine Deus, Agnus Dei Composed by Antonio Vivaldi Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris, Domine Deus, Domine Deus Agnus Dei, Filius Patris Qui tollis peccata Domine Deus Rex coelestis Qui tollis peccata Domine Filli Unigenite Qui tollis peccata Domine Deus Domine Deus Agnus Dei Filius Patris Qui tollis peccata mundi Miserere Agnus Dei Miserere Filius Patris Miserere nobis Miserere Miserere Miserere nobis.

December 2025 When You Wish Upon A Star by Leigh Harline and Ned Washington When you wish upon a star Makes no difference who you are Anything your heart desires Will come to you If your heart is in your dream No request is too extreme When you wish upon a star As dreamers do Fate is kind She brings to those who love The sweet fulfillment of their secret longing. Like a bolt out of the blue Fate steps in and sees you through When you wish upon a star Your dreams c

December 2025 Madeline’s Christmas by Ludwig Bemelmans In an old house in Paris That was covered with vines Lived twelve little girls In two straight lines. They left the house at half-past nine In two straight lines, in rain or shine. The smallest one was MADELINE. She was not afraid of mice She loved winter, snow and ice And to the tiger in the zoo Madeline just said . . . “POOH POOH!” It was the night before Christmas And all through the house Not a creatu

December 2025 I’ll Never Find Another You by Tom Springfield There’s a new world somewhere They call the promised land And I’ll be there someday If you will hold my hand. I’ll still need you there beside me No matter what I do For I know I’ll never find another you. There is always someone For each of us, they say And you’ll be my someone Forever and a day I could search the whole world over Until my life is through But I know I’ll never find another y

December 2025 Bye Bye Blackbird Music by Ray Henderson, with lyrics by Mort Dixon French translation by Debra Milligan Blackbird, blackbird Singing the blues all day Right outside my door Blackbird, oh blackbird I gotta be on my way To wherever there’s sunshine galore. Pack up all my cares and woes, Here I go Singing low Bye bye, blackbird Where somebody waits for me Sugar is sweet and so is he Bye bye, blackbird No one here Can love or understand m

30 November 2025 When Faith Faces Evil: The Winged Watchman by Hilda Van Stockum My journey to writing THE DAWN was not linear. It was a circuitous series of intriguing steps, that led to other steps. Each one granted me information and insights. I was largely, if not completely, unaware of those creative dimensions until the summer of 2008 when I set out to compose THE DAWN. Once I started to write this novel, I was in for a penny, in for a pound. A very large pound!

Mid-November 2025 As I Love You by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans; changes by Debra Milligan I will love you as I love you, All my life. Every moment spent with you Makes me more content with you. Just as you are, you are all I could pray for. All that you are, that’s what I wake up each day for. Every single touch and tingle I adore Every kiss from you to me seems so very new to me Each one warmer than the one before as I love you more and more. I will love you

November 2025 By The Time I Get to Phoenix by Jimmy Webb; changes by Debra Milligan By the time I get to Phoenix He’ll be rising He’ll find the note I left hanging on his door. He’ll laugh when he reads the part that says “I’m leaving” Cause I’ve left that man so many times before. By the time I make Albuquerque He’ll be working He’ll probably stop at lunch And give me a call. But he’ll just hear that phone keep on ringing Off the wall That’s all. By the

1 November 2025 Something Stupid by C. Carson Parks; changes by Debra Milligan I know you stand in line until I think I have the time to spend an evening with you. And if we go someplace to dance, I know that there’s a chance I won’t be leaving with you. Afterwards we drop into a quiet little place and have some tea for two And then you go and spoil it all By saying something stupid Like, I love you. You can see it in my eyes That I despise the same old line