Welcome to Thursday, July 23, 2026 and National Refreshment Day.  Honoring that, I give you below the best beer I ever had, procured by a friend in Amsterdam—with difficulty (see below). It’s a Belgian beer made by actual monks in an actual monastery (Westvle…

Welcome to the Sabbath made for goyische cats: Sunday, July 19, 2026, and National Daiquiri Day. Daiquiris were one of Hemingway’s favorite drinks. David Lebovitz says this: Hemingway did love to drink and while he was a writer, “in moderation” wasn’t part of…

Welcome to the end of another week, and a sad one given the duckling situation. (I have now been apprised of yeat ANOTHER nesting hen hearby.)  It’s Friday, July 17, 2026 and National Tattoo Day. For some reason many soccer players are tattooed, including Lio…

Welcome to a Hump Day (“Haftanın Ortası” in Turkish): Wednesday, July 15, 2026. It’s also National Hot Dog Day, celebrating the American snack whose epicenter for quality is Chicago.  The classic Chicago dog is a Vienna beef dog (in a natural casing) nested i…

Welcome to another damn week: it’s Monday, July 13, 2026 and National Beans ‘n’ Franks Day. It’s a good emergency meal, but I like to have it over rice with a fried egg on top. Hemingway also liked canned beans, and here’s a notable passage from a short story…

Welcome to Sabbath for goyische cats: Sunday, July 12, 2026, and National Pecan Pie Day, the best of all possible pies and a triumph of American cuisine.  Here’s an individual pie that I saw on my 2021 post-pandemic BBQ Tour of Texas (this is from Cooper’s Pi…

Welcome to CaturSaturday, July 11, 2026. It’s shabbos for Jewish cats and National Blueberry Muffin Day. I love them but, oy, do they have calories! Muffin orgy courtesy of ChatGPT: It’s also Free Slurpee Day (claim yours at a 7-11), Bowdler’s Day (the famed …

Welcome to Friday, July 10, 2026 and National Kitten Day.  Here’s a ten-minute video of kitten antics to brighten your day. My favorite bits are when kittens jump sideways. It’s also Don’t Step on a Bee Day, Martyrdom of the Bab Day, National Piña Colada Day,…

Welcome to a Hump Day (“dina bonggol” in Javanese): Wednesday, July 8, 2026 and National Blueberry Day. If you can get the smaller wild lowbush blueberries rather than the big bland blue balls that are the commercial highbush form, do. The best blueberries I …

Welcome to the Cruelest Day: Tuesday, July 7, 2026 and National Day of Rock ‘n’ Roll, which means of course that we should celebrate the most influential rock group of all time. I don’t need to tell you who it is, but here’s one example: It’s also Chocolate D…

Today’s posts may be truncated due to circumstances beyond my control (see below). Welcome to Sunday, July 5, 2026, the Sabbath made for goyische cats and National Hawaii Day. Here’s Mauna Kea on the Big Island, Hawaii’s highest point at 13,803 feet (4,207.3 …

Welcome to Friday, July 3, 2024, and for most Americans the start of the three-day Fourth of July weekend. It’s American Redneck Day, although I don’t know why we’re celebrating a group (conventionally, poor Southern whites) whose members are stereotyped as i…