The Pie & Mash Detective Agency- A Book Review

 

The Pie & Mash Detective Agency is a delightfully quirky debut by a duo of writers using the pseudonym J.D. Brinkworth. Unemployed Jane encourages her partner, Simon, to enroll in a course learning how to develop skills to investigate crimes, missing persons, cheating partners. The duo are assigned to investigate an old case that remains unsolved by their instructor. What happened to Nellie Thorne? 

Replete with equally appealing eccentric protagonists and peripheral characters, I believe a cozy mystery series could be successful. 

Many thanks to BookBrowse, Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an unpublished galley of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Publishes in ebook format and paperback March 10, 2026

My Ghosts of Christmases Past 2025

 

This is my 66th Christmas. It is the second Christmas without any of our parents. I’ve learned my first husband and both of his parents have gone to the great beyond. It would be so easy to slip into melancholia. That is what happened at Christmas time 2024. The season has been complicated  because  my mother left us between Christmas and New Years in 2016, failing to notify any of her loved ones that her cancer had returned. We felt she’d deprived us of the opportunity to spend time with her and say a proper goodbye. My siblings and I were angry and resentful until recently. Once Daddy was gone, we found a modicum of acceptance.

We decided to find new ways to experience the holidays. There is little feeling of Christmas cheer. However, I decided we had to have a tree after nine years of leaving the decorations we’d collected over the years stay buried in boxes in the basement. Baby steps.

I watched National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation for the first time in years and laughed out loud.

Our nearby Virginia winery, Briede’, gave us a temporary refuge with a tasting room tastefully decorated, a fire in the wood burning fireplace, cheerful Christmas music, and a welcoming, friendly staff to help us move forward.

I’ve been looking through photographs from holiday times of joy, remembering the good times and some that were fraught with family drama. 

We like to look back on holidays from our childhoods and hold onto memories that in retrospect weren’t always as uplifting and filled with the family cohesion and love that we would prefer to recall. 

Some aunt or uncle always got drunk. Dad cleared the table before people were finished eating. A couple of the great aunts with dementia held imaginary conversations with imaginary friends. 

Dad always took unflattering photographs of mom with her head in the oven and her buttocks in the air. She was never amused.

Our parents dragged us to extra masses to ensure we earned jewels for our future heavenly crowns.

Mom always secluded herself in the basement on December 26th, her mother’s birthday, and cried lonely tears. At the time, none of us understood the pain of being motherless children, even in late adulthood.

So, my brother and sister and I have tried to heal our sibling rivalry wounds, resolving to pack the past hurts away in subterranean vaults, and support one another as only those with shared history can do. 

Although we rarely recall the same experiences in the same way, we have an unbreakable connection bound by shared history, laughter, tears, pain, joy, memories, collections of photographs, time & place, love, hurt, dysfunction, culinary catastrophes, crazy relatives, and shared generational events. 

When I look at these ghosts of Christmases past, I smile through my tears, wishing that for even a nanosecond I could go back in time and capture the innocence, appreciate the joy and laughter, and take a part of it with me to where I am today. 

I guess we all have just a little bit of It’s A Wonderful Life in our hearts. I just wish I’d known to appreciate more when I had it. 

The Bondi Beach Massacre- The Collective Guilt for Western Antisemitism

  Every single politician, university administrator, undereducated hate monger, media outlet, pundit, protester, activist, religious zealot, apologist, student agitator and individual that turned a blind eye, supported a liberal or far right bias, failed to tell those calling for the support of Hamas, arguing there is a difference between anti-Zionism and antisemitism, those who fail to investigate fraud and sexual abuse by migrants, those who fail to condemn the October 7, 2023 attacks, and those with closed minds that forget the lessons of the past are to blame, have blood on their hands/faces/ torsos, and minds. If you fall into any of these categories, YOU ARE THE PROBLEM. What, Chuck Schumer commented on a football game instead of expressing outrage over the terrorist attack in Australia!

This is not about religious differences. A Syrian Muslim, Ahmed el Ahmed,  intervened without any weapon but his hands and body to save innocent people. He was shot multiple times. Mr. Ahmed is a hero and the example of how true Muslim believers practice their faith. 

I am angry at the apologists who are too weak, too dirty, too afraid, too stupid, too incompetent, too compromised, too pandering, too small,  too corrupt, and too beholden to a constituency- whether politically, economically or otherwise- to stand up and say NO! 

So, the next time someone within your sphere makes a pejorative comment about Jews, say something! My guess is that in our society of mutts, most of mankind has some Jewish blood. 🩸 stop the madness. Stop the hate. Stop listening to extreme right wing & left wing rhetoric. Stop clicking on sites that reward these reprobates with money. The Holocaust was real. Be the voice of reason. Do the next right thing.

What Brings You Joy?

 

Social media tends to focus on the negative. The algorithms identify stories, articles, opinions or websites that tend to support the world view based upon  our ‘clicks’. 

But I tend to randomly click on articles for a different view. Ultimately, however, I want to concentrate on what brings me joy. 

Books bring me joy. Finding a stellar short series on Netflix brings me joy. Discovering a new recipe brings me joy. Reading about the triumph of an individual over adversity brings me joy.

Seeing that someone becomes open to listening and accepting different views brings me joy. Seeing a young person disregard negativity and reaching for the stars brings me joy.

My parents raised me to believe anything is possible.Gumption. Curiosity. Interest. Wanderlust. Taking chances. Embracing differences. Exploring the world. Looking outside the typical viewpoint to embrace what the diversity of our world cultures has to offer- widens our perspectives and helps us to eschew our biases.

Travel engenders in us an understanding that we are but a small particle in the universe. It gives us range and perspective of scale. We learn that we live in a limited world view. And, we see that what we perceive as normal is anything but normal.

I am grateful that I’ve learned to find joy in all of my disparate experiences and appreciate that I’ve been exposed to different world views. I wish every American had the opportunity to look at the outside so they can appreciate the blessings we enjoy. 

Pantone Again Declares A Ridiculous Color of the Year~~WHITE

Technically, Pantone has named ‘ Cloud  Dancer’ as its color for 2026. The Pantone website describes the Cloud Dancer ‘color’ as calming- ‘ a billowy, balanced white imbued with a feeling of serenity.’

The Pantone color sample, borrowed from the Pantone website, is shown in the upper left corner of this piece. From a scientific perspective, white is the absence of color. As such, Pantone has named the absence of color as the color of 2026! 

Considering the political controversy surrounding the term ‘white’ in recent years, this selection appears tone deaf if not just idiocy. In political parlance there is white privilege, Nazi , White Christian Nationalist,  Fascist, MAGA, Karens, haters, deplorables, poor white trash, magats, colonizers, oppressors, racists, and uneducated hicks.

From a fashion perspective, white has limited appeal if one has pets or children or enjoys anything with tomato sauce. White linen yellows rather quickly if not laundered immediately after wearing. White shoes are generally ugly. White pants are notoriously challenging to wear more than once. White shirts rarely last more than one season. Overly white teeth are glaring and distracting. In colder climates, white is difficult to wear. Notwithstanding updated guidance from the fashion industry, white is best left to summer months in floating, gossamer fabrics. But, white needs a scarf, bold jewelry, or an attitude to pull it off. Most of us are not Gwyneth or Meghan.

In the decorative world, I look at white as the default paint color when an apartment is between renters, when a house is up for sale and should show no personality, or there is a lack of imagination. Again, nobody with pets, children, those who entertain and serve red wine,  or those who enjoy gardening or any hobby that involves dirt should have a white sofa or white carpet unless heavily invested in Scotch Guard, club soda, Wine Away or has Stanley Steamer on speed dial. Perhaps Cloud Dancer will work for an Architectural Digest spread, but not for real life among we, the great unwashed.

Once again, Pantone has missed the mark. 2026 Pantone gets an F-.

Harry Sussex Has No Right to Criticize Our President

 

The former working royal, who is currently residing in the USA, has zero credibility in criticizing the POTUS. Those of us who are citizens with the privilege to vote can criticize. Many of us exercise that right on a regular basis.

However, the erstwhile Duke of Sussex, who is abrogating his duties for personal pleasure with his self important spousal unit who spouts paeans to family whilst eschewing any relationships with her husband’s and her own family, has no credibility. Harry Sussex and his wife have devolved into memes, self important media games, and hypocrites of unimaginable levity as they troll the American public for any scintilla of relevance. 

Americans find pseudo ‘royalty’ entertaining as clickbait. But we have no use for grifters, wannabes, self important media games,  misguided faux ‘humanitarians’, or those with shell charities that scam acolytes.

Harry Sussex and his wife could have done a lot of good in the world working within the system. But, they wanted money. They wanted media attention. They want to ‘fit in’. But, they do not have the self awareness to do it with elan.

They need to apologize to their families, eat some humble pie, agree to button their lips, or….. give up the titles they use for personal gain.

I respect the Kardashians because they are brilliant marketers and actually produce products people want to buy. The Sussex clan are just delusional examples of people who aspire beyond their abilities.

And, Harry- you are here as a guest of the USA. I can criticize the POTUS. You cannot.  Criticize our government on a tourist visa or green card- risk deportation. 

Practice Yoga for Flexibility, Peace & Harmony- Dispels TDS

 

If I could encourage everyone to do something for self care, I recommend yoga. The practice of yoga is a personal journey that lowers blood pressure, engenders a sense of balance and calm, promotes wellbeing and positivity, helps with flexibility, improves mental awareness, focuses on self care, and combines centuries of proven spiritual and physical healing without pain, medication, indoctrination, expensive  equipment, religion, political views or competition.

Yoga is an individual practice that is accessible to everyone. It can be gentle, spiritual, energetic or flexible for one’s particular space.

Yoga helps me calm my mind and body, focus on breathing, and do what is right for me on any given day.

Yoga practitioners are peaceful. Many instructors are filled with light and positive energy. 

If more people practiced yoga and meditation, there would be less divisiveness and hate. There is no room for negativity on the mat. Yogis and yoginis tend to be positively focused, look for good in people in the world and try to avoid judgement. 

Whenever I conclude a practice, I feel lighter, more relaxed,  better able to face the world, and filled with gratitude for just showing up. Yoga is self care. There is no negativity in yoga. Try it. Find peace. Let go of anger. Let go of resentment. Accept that we have no control over other people, places and things- only how we respond. Try being kind instead of critical. You may live a longer, healthier life as a result.