HAPPY NEW YEAR! Impromptu song, podcast unscripted—packed with music, New Year’s doings, New Year’s memories—where were you during Y2K? Indulge in an eggnog-infused pudding for your pancakes! Read to your darling! And check out a new collection of poetry, “Am I A Poet in December,” born from the first line of a Podcast in A Minor holiday favorite! So dive in and take it slow—winter is for pondering….
Am I A Poet in December?
https://a.co/d/2ArCOf1
https://a.co/d/5tm5cRD
https://a.co/d/9RE2WkJ
And it’s nearly Christmas Day! 2025! Let’s stir up old memories of loved ones departed—how easily we conjure the aromas of their breads and pies, we can hear their joyful, off-key singing! This, of course, leads us right into the old tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmas. I’m sharing three of my own, from Wassail to the Mausoleum Cakes and Glitter and Ghosts! (links below) Revisit some old favorite carols from your own Amy Z McAnally. Plus, a helpful blogger puts us onto some old Christmas ghost stories in the public domain, that we may read them for free!
Don’t forget your free music on Bandcamp—a new collection of Christmas goodies, WHAT A BUNCH OF FRUITCAKES!
Bandcamp—What a Bunch of Fruitcakes
Wassail to the Mausoleum Cakes by Amy Zoellers (McAnally)
https://a.co/d/hSZWotY
Glitter and Ghosts by Amy Zoellers (McAnally)
https://a.co/d/3MawDSI
Horror Delve blog: Christmas Ghost Stories
https://horrordelve.com/2013/11/28/christmas-ghost-stories-reviving-a-dead-tradition/
…..
https://carterhaughschool.com/10-spooky-ghost-stories-for-christmastime/
Let’s do it. Let’s open the mythical poinsettia cookie jar and see what flies out! Will it be soft, fat molasses cookies in star shapes? Sad poetry? Persona reinvented—again? Pull your plush futon up to the roaring fire and inhale the sweet spices and rum! Christmas cookie time!
Christmas is coming! This time of year, don’t we all get flooded with memories! Indulge with me—in a tale of ice storms and cherry sour candies, precarious trips to the mall, a cat on top of the chimney, A Very Brady Christmas, and the pillowiest bangs a boy could ever have!
Follow me in merry measure….to a defunct pizza joint and a discovery of a coveted pie dish…on the trail of the Magi and the complicated, excited feelings they elicit—oh yes! It’s all in the song—a new Christmas banger, a destined classic! And no, I don’t believe for a moment it would make the Baby Jesus cry.
What A Bunch of Fruitcakes (free tunes)
https://minutewax.bandcamp.com/album/what-a-bunch-of-fruitcakes
Merry Swingin’ Wassail (free tunes)
https://minutewax.bandcamp.com/album/merry-swingin-wassail-2
Gramma's Cutters, Inc - Gramma's Cutters - Baking and Decorating Products (grammascutters.com)
Cranberry Eggnog Braid Recipe: How to Make It
www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/cranberry-eggnog-braid/
Eggnog Yeast Bread
www.chefsbliss.com/eggnog-yeast-bread-recipes/
Turkey bowling? Did you ever?? I never did, but I’ve seen it on TV. An obscure rite of American Thanksgiving, where sport is king and it’s time for turkey and stuffing and cranberry sauce and pie, LOADS of pie! But we’re not talking pie in this here episode 124—we’re talking turkey bowling! To get you PUMPED for the big feast!!!
Turkey Bowling History
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey_bowling
Turkey Bowling video
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/cVUZIvgAs3M
Here, There and Elsewhere: Stories from the Road
https://a.co/d/ieeZ2CB
The Thanksgiving Book
www.betterworldbooks.com/product/detail/the-thanksgiving-book-an-illustrated-treasury-of-lore-tales-poems-prayers-songs-and-the-best-in-holiday-feasting-9780440585039?shipto=US&curcode=USD&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=pMax-Used-USA&utm_content=&utm_term=&creative=&device=c&placement=&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=16440140764&gbraid=0AAAAADMQnG_TFz7vtZ0x1-FpCKz9daWME&gclid=CjwKCAiAzrbIBhA3EiwAUBaUdRmz24ItNJ7-yw6NZHwuLaPv2W2ay9yhQukSBuxV1glwa4p1UsFwFxoC3kMQAvD_BwE
Nikommoh!
https://books.google.com/books/about/Nickommoh.html?id=T9ZvPQAACAAJ
Chocolate Turkeys! Let’s gorge on a super-smooth party favor for that most gluttonous of American holidays, Thanksgiving! Plus: a look at some kooky and expensive chocolate molds for homemade gift-giving, and the Ritz Cracker turkey recipe you know you need!
The Bissingers Turkey
https://www.bissingers.com/products/the-original-centerpiece-turkey-3-lb-5?variant=43259113865465&country=US¤cy=USD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&tw_source=google&tw_adid=779437094560&tw_campaign=15903587207&tw_kwdid=pla-2444488592289&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=15903587207&gbraid=0AAAAAD6kdF8ebUZorE8Hh1OHtOiSRKcld&gclid=Cj0KCQjw9obIBhCAARIsAGHm1mRfC01LNSE7ArEkXguj4JFhaDHesTkfoD4TL-Ts6gG-XBwFDfbIjQ0aAs4FEALw_wcB
Li-lac Chocolate Turkey
https://www.li-lacchocolates.com/products/jumbo-chocolate-turkey
Pie birds! That most adorable and sassy of pie accessories as Thanksgiving sprints our way! Let’s explore some of these treasured pie tools—and how they tie into MOBY DICK, my favorite book! Oh, the air is electric around here, and filled with quirky tunes of Thanksgiving, that beloved American food holiday, a cozy lighthouse in the dark shroud of the soon-coming year’s end.
https://www.peterpots.com/bakeware/piebird?srsltid=AfmBOopEk7Z1_BKDN-Y6yHHVBaffRY6XsBZN13KZcjrFo06GlQDhTMNg
https://yesterdayontuesday.com/2010/11/trendspotting-pie-birds/
https://chasingflukes.com/reading_guide-overview/glossary-contents/3skrimshander/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/christopher-kimballs-milk-street-radio/id1158889592?i=1000734007672
The Art of the Pie
Art of the Pie: A Practical Guide to Homemade Crusts, Fillings, and Life: McDermott, Kate, Scrivani, Andrew: 9781581573275: Amazon.com: Books
SEVEN HALLOWEEN SONGS this year! That’s more songs than trick-or-treaters ringing our original 1978 doorbell—a disappointing turnout. But on the bright side, my Christmas shopping is done! (spoiler alert—it’s leftover Halloween candy)
A MERRY HALLOWE’EN! (as stated on a treasured cat-in-a-pumpkin mug my sister gave me years back!)
It’s one of the most wonderful times of the year! Let us dive into American Halloween circa 1919 with Ruth E. Kelley’s Book of Hallowe’en—-then wallow in the atmosphere of Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. And for the final goody in our treat bag, we swing back to Ruth Kelley for three poems, ALL titled “Hallowe’en”!! NIFTY. Sit by the fire…roast some apples…chug some candy corn! Here we go!
The Book of Hallowe’en
https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/the-book-of-halloween/
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
https://bookssnob.wordpress.com/2010/10/12/the-legend-and-the-reality-of-sleepy-hollow/
https://ex-puritan.ca/blog/washington-irving
Zombies! Another icon of terror as Halloween creeps ever closer! Bubblegum zombies? Well, you’d better get in here and find out!
zombie cucumber
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datura_stramonium
GTTUPOD Secret Creepy Folder
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/guide-to-the-unknown/id1313915711?i=1000704452755
Atlas Obscura
5 Creepy Tales of Real-World Zombies - Atlas Obscura
www.atlasobscura.com/articles/real-life-zombies
Fantods! A feeling of deep unease! Or a little dragon creature from mysterious writer and illustrator of eerie stories, Edward Gorey. I also like to imagine them as wispy ghosts in the woods. Or star creatures. Take your pick. And what is it about their howling that makes it so much more unsettling? Expand your vocabulary of American slang….and dig some pleasing terrors this October!
What Does Fantods Mean? Definition & Examples
www.twominenglish.com/fantods/#:~:text=Mark%20Twain’s%20use%20of%20“fantods”%20is%20very%20famous.,This%20makes%20his%20use%20of%20“fantods”%20stand%20out.
www.thehowlingfantods.com/
https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2010/novemberdecember/statement/the-gorey-details
https://literature.fandom.com/wiki/A_Neighbor%27s_Landmark
Halloween draws ever closer! Got the morbs yet? The what? That’s a Victorian slang phrase meaning “to sit under a cloud of despondency.” But for our purposes, we’ll dwell on the definition of “morbid” pertaining to an unusual interest in disturbing and unpleasant subjects, especially death and disease. Come along and visit some creepy, morbid sites around the globe! Then relax for some morbid poetry in the public domain this exquisite, haunted October!
This episode was roundly inspired by my archivist/childhood best friend Tammy Williams—who made me an embroidery of the marvelous phrase GOT THE MORBS. for Christmas last year!! Hear her in episode 76, “If Your Pajamas Could Talk”—oh, we did have fun!
https://www.buzzfeed.com/angelicaamartinez/dark-facts-i-learned-2024
https://www.atlasobscura.com/users/crazyfreak1989/lists/morbid-curiosities
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-hardy-tree-london-england
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/jeweled-skeletons-of-the-furstenfeld-abbey
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/705578/morbidly-curious-by-coltan-scrivner-phd/9780143137344/?ref=PRH61B68A24621A&aid=21938&linkid=PRH61B68A24621A&gad_campaignid=23096680980&wbraid=ClMKCAjw0sfHBhBgEkMAFTW3V9181DStm3HexfioVj44DwbD1cUWyaft9PLavSXsTncPbXhYuAlqs6BSBjWJlwGan4_PpNzfDe_WSAr5QJ1XGgJygQ
https://www.boredpanda.com/morbid-facts/
https://www.morbid-poetry.com/
Candy Corn, oh dearest October paramour….
Some love it! Some hate it! But candy corn makes her dazzling appearance every autumn on display endcaps of food stores far and wide. Look, I’m a songwriter, not an internet troll. So when the anonymous despisers of the ’corn come out and disparage her good name, I do not respond in kind. Instead, I bestow a love song upon the world. Showers of harvest corn blessings to you! May your candy corn have a fluffy mouthfeel. And Happy Upcoming Hallowe’en!!
Candy Corn facts from USA Today!
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/10/26/halloween-fave-10-spookily-sweet-candy-corn-facts/92767432/#:~:text=1%3A%20Candy%20corn%20was%20invented,run%20by%20an%20existing%20manufacturer.
Candy Corn Factory!
https://youtu.be/DgTvgQfcllM?si=26ZE27dJg528b2bm
Chocolate Halloween Bat Filled with Candy Corn
https://www.vermontcountrystore.com/breakable-milk-chocolate-halloween-bat-filled-with-candy-corn-set-of-2/product/93736
It’s that time of year again—the darkness is coming! Get ready for the spooky and the horrible as we dive into Mylingar, “the murdered ones,” that is, the spirits of children “put away” by their parents long ago in cold, difficult climates. One might encounter such an entity in a Time-Life Enchanted World book, or on a Year Walk, a Scandinavian Vision Quest of old—or in the game “Year Walk,” which is properly terrifying. Wowie. Light the candles, brew the tea, and turn on the Hygge for THIS one. It gets real.
Also, why doesn’t the solitary artist just count up her pizza boxes if the numbers fail her?
#purpleharpbluelipstick
ARRIVE. DEVASTATE. VANISH.
https://minutewax.bandcamp.com/album/arrive-devastate-vanish
Year Walk and Year Walk Companion
https://simogo.com/2012/10/05/the-strange-phenomena-of-year-walking/#:~:text=Its%20purpose%20was%20to%20see,day%20inside%20a%20dark%20room
https://simogo.fandom.com/wiki/Year_Walk_Companion
Mylingar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%85rsg%C3%A5ng
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsEayCRVnXE
Hey, take a powder! Don’t blow your wig! Or do—welcome to the wig closet, your favorite place to hide out when the hostility of life gets out of hand. Or, a nice little nook for powdering your elaborate wig, if you happen to be a fashionable citizen of the 18th-century. Grab your bear grease and your purple cornstarch and get ready to poof!!!
Ghost Story Song!
https://minutewax.bandcamp.com/album/the-voices-in-the-notes-a-ghost-story
Wig Closet
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3395087#:~:text=Wigs%20were%20stored%20and%20powdered,of%20lavender%20or%20flower%20water.
More Wig Closet
http://blog.raucousroyals.com/2009/12/off-to-powder-room18th-century-style.html?m=1
Happy September birthdays! This one goes out to my angel of a husband—and to my lonely inner poet—and to those buried under gravestones inscribed with their signature recipes! You heard me. Happy birthday to ALL of us!!
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/gravestone-recipes
https://thisismold.com/profile/recipes-from-the-afterlife-with-ghostly-archives
Transfusion Poetica by Amy Zoellers—home of “If You Were Someone Else”
https://a.co/d/bJ98QnS
Yep, haunted pants—what a wonderful world! Toast your marshmallows to new ditty about the mysterious “walking pajamas” of Fresno, California, et al: the Fresno Nightcrawler. Real? Fake? Certainly bizarre, and caught on camera! Dare we venture into the outdoors after dark? That all depends—upon whether you find these pants adorable or terrifying!
The Fresno Nightcrawler, The Cryptid That Resembles A Pair Of Pants : www.allthatsinteresting.com/fresno-nightcrawler
https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article219755195.html
https://www.ranker.com/list/fresno-nightcrawler-facts/laura-allan
https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article293048864.html
https://thebusinessjournal.com/more-than-fresno-famous-how-the-nightcrawler-captured-the-worlds-imagination/
www.cryptidz.fandom.com/wiki/Fresno_Nightcrawler
www.grunge.com/211192/the-legend-of-the-fresno-nightcrawlers-explained/
Octopus boot? But yes, for a little tiny broken foot bone! What a fuss. Let’s dive into the basement stairs! The booting and crutching! Hey, I’ve been reading Anais Nin’s diaries—let’s voyeur into that. And the real cure for the metatarsal blues? Well, a blues song! But also: A Nightmare on Elm Street (the Johnny Depp one).
Johnny Depp in A Nightmare on Elm Street
https://youtu.be/Q-bpbsz9BHw?si=oLsQvph9rmVGOrDp
The Diary of Anais Nin
https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=32232226018&dest=usa&ref_=ps_ggl_18382194370&cm_mmc=ggl-_-US_Shopp_Trade0to10-_-product_id=COM9780156260251USED-_-keyword=&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=17190383930&gclid=Cj0KCQjwyIPDBhDBARIsAHJyyVja4H-PH-cbcfplxU3fhfRXAmIZHryAv0MjZCXFam8AoKsIIIOw_e8aAiZgEALw_wcB
Yes, weird tumors, in song! A whole extra lifetime has passed since those little weirdies encircled my inside parts—that’s a blessin’! Get the story here, and how about a little callback to episode 75, “AI Art Song”? My skeleton foot, wearing flesh for a sock…🎵 Have you ever seen your skeleton foot in an x-ray? Sexay!!
Cancer Made Me a Shallower Person: A Memoir in Comics — Miriam Engleberg
https://a.co/d/czxtjTO
27 Kinds of Loneliness— McAnally / Vorwark
https://a.co/d/7FMzFsU
The Poet’s Bowl — Amy McAnally
https://a.co/d/gYRIbhN