Here are a few tasty morsels that I’ve relished in my reading:
The world came apart into three segments —
the “First World: of free market trading nations,
the “Second World,” or Communist bloc,
and the economically underdeveloped
but politically emerging “Third World.
~ from Coming Apart, Coming Together by Edward Kantowicz
[Do you know how many years I have wondered
about Third World countries? If they are Third,
who is First and Second? Never had it make sense
until this week. This is a ta-da! aha! wow! moment.]
~ ~ ~
The name Cerignola meant land of cereals,
and it was thus the origin of the word “Cheerios.”
It grew hard wheat, the best in Italy and possibly
the best in the world for making pasta.
The Romans stored the wheat in the ground,
silos in reverse.
~ from The Wild Blue by Stephen E. Ambrose
[Think c as in ciao! I had to Google Earth Cerignola.
It is just south of the the spur on the back of the boot.
I zoomed in, trying to find the Roman holes in the
ground, but, alas, they are too small. 
]
~ ~ ~
A little thing is a little thing,
but faithfulness in little things is a very great thing.
from A Chance to Die, The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael,
by Elisabeth Elliot
[How encouraging is that? I’ll write a full review when I finish.]
We’ve awoken to snow for the last ten (?) days.
These are “four season days”.
If you don’t like the weather, just wait an hour or two.
It will change.
A Living Pencil 
Sounds like you are reading a lot of good stuff. Loved the quote from Elisabeth Elliott. AND though my husband and I often talk about Brazil as a “first world country with pockets of third world poverty”, I had no idea that a “second world” had ever been defined. Thanks for enlightening me.
You’re my new *Paul Harvey* with your *rest of the story* information. Always a pleasure to see what’s going on at Magistramater!
Speaking of books, but not necessarily these, I listened to All But My Life on a recent drive to and from my parents’ house. What a book! I have started Night by Elie Weisel. It is raw, gritty and painfully honest. The Elisabeth Elliot book about Amy Carmichael is on my list for this year–will look forward to your review!
Ooh, I would love to eat authentic Italian cheerios Love the tidbits here — the biography of Amy Carmichael is one I am adding to my list of to-reads!
Of course you recognized that “cerinogla” is a derivative of Ceres, from which we get the word cereal…
Carol, I read ‘A Chance to Die’ every year. It is an incredibly challenging story.Helps me when I start to complain….