November, 2025

"This Just In..."

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Howdy November.

First things first, we wanted to thank all of our customers who have over 99 years served in the armed forces to help keep our country safe and secure. We are reminded of all those who paid the ultimate price when we celebrate on Nov. 11th.

Well, this is another jam-packed issue of This Just In, with lots of arcane info and silly quizzes that you do seem to like. We'd ask, as we approach our 100th year in 2026, for any thoughts on what you'd like to see more of - and/or less of - in future issues of this now, aging, electronic newsletter.

And until we meet next month - stay healthy, safe and have a fantastic Thanksgiving celebration.

We know that last night was Halloween, but in case you didn’t get your fair share of frights, we thought we’d present the following.

Grotesque Martinware Crab

This is late Victorian art pottery known as Martinware, which depicts a crab with a grotesque human face. Made by Robert Wallace Martin in June 1880 from salt-glazed stoneware.

In London in the late 19th century, Robert Wallace Martin and his three eccentric brothers made and sold strange, Gothic-inspired pottery sculptures known as Martinware. Now highly sought-after by collectors around the world, this horrifying crab with a grotesque human face is considered the pinnacle of their unique style. 

In fact, this creepy smiling crab is so important that in 2019 the UK actually banned it from being exported from the country because it was deemed to be of such high national significance. The grotesque is cool, but this ruling is quite surprising because, it so closely resembles:

• a troll costume from the 1991 movie Ernest Scared Stupid. 
• a bag of sick with a face
• a Jim Henson puppet that was horribly disfigured in a grease fire
• what happens if you anger a sea witch
• Jabba the Hutt trying on dentures
• the stuff that grows at the bottom of unwashed lunch containers when you forget to take it out of your backpack for a few weeks.

After it was banned from leaving the UK, this crab was purchased by the Box a new museum and gallery in Plymouth, where this nightmare in the shape of a crustacean will traumatize delighted visitors for years to come.

OK, maybe it’s us. But we thought about that creepy crab and thought of this:

What is his character name and who played him? Tell us here and you may win a coveted $25 Amazon gift card. Also, last month Juan P and Audrey F. and 47 of you recognized Emily Proctor from West Wing.

While Emily S. and Sarah S. and 81 of you identified the letters “ER” as a way to change feminine to masculine…as in widow(er).  And, finally, we love Frank, Marjorie, Dan L, Jared, Karen, Dan N, Bruce and Audrey who shared a scary tree photo with a caption – and Jared D. was chosen as this month’s winner with this:

Solve for x. 2(3-x)² – 7x = 5x² + 11x – 21

Don’t usually post too much about women’s fashions, but this was a discovery that we thought perhaps 50%+ of our Daniels audience might find fascinating. A recent article in The Atlantic was my introduction to her.

Claire McCardell hated being uncomfortable.

This was true long before she became one of America’s most famous fashion designers in the 1950s, her influence felt in every woman’s wardrobe, her face on the cover of Time magazine.

As a young girl growing up in Maryland, she hated wearing a dress when climbing trees, and didn’t understand why she couldn’t wear pants with pockets like her brothers—she had nowhere to put the apples she picked. At summer camp, she loathed swimming in the cumbersome full-length stockings women were expected to wear, so she ditched hers and went bare-legged in the lake, even though she knew she’d get in trouble.

When she was just starting out as a fashion designer, in the 1930s, she went on a ski trip to New Hampshire and one evening saw a woman shivering in a thin satin dress. Why, McCardell wondered, couldn’t an evening gown be made out of something warmer, so a woman could actually enjoy herself?

McCardell made a career out of asking such questions, and helped transform American fashion in the process, as Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson details in her lively and psychologically astute biography, Claire McCardell: The Designer Who Set Women Free.

The young designer who came home from New Hampshire and devised a blue wool evening dress was often dismissed by her bosses for her “crazy” ideas—wool was for coats, not parties! She was told to keep copying the latest looks from Paris, as was customary in the American garment trade at the time. McCardell had a core conviction, and she never abandoned it: Women deserve to be comfortable—in their clothes, and in

the world.

McCardell insisted on putting pockets in women’s clothing; previously, pockets were reserved almost exclusively for men... She put fasteners on the side of her clothes rather than the back, so women could get dressed without a husband or a maid. She partnered with Capezio to popularize the ballet flat—and the idea that women didn’t always have to wear heels.

When air travel became possible, and steamer trunks were replaced with slim suitcases, McCardell developed separates: tops and bottoms you could mix and match so that you didn’t have to bring a bulky parade of dresses for every occasion.

She patented the wrap dress, mainstreamed the leotard, stripped linings out of swimsuits so that women didn’t have to sit sodden and cold on the beach. Ever worn denim? McCardell is the one who ignored its provenance as a humble workingman’s textile and brought it to women’s wear. And, well, Time thought she was pretty special.

Late 19^th century, early 20^th Rudd Water Heater. Gorgeous, no?

Doesn’t have to be this old. Any water heater 15+ years old is a ticking flood. Or maybe just a very cold shower. If you think your water heater is on borrowed time, perhaps a call to Daniels is in order. Why? Well, Rinnai for one.

We have Rinnai Tankless Water Heaters that use 40% less energy. On-demand hot water – that doesn’t run out. Ask us about one – and never run out of hot water again! Interested? Give us a call at 860 813 9122

Ever in search of language, you might find yourself wondering what your kids – grandkids – or great grandkids are saying. Me too. So, here’s some help:

Delulu – short for delusional. Which is what we are trying to make sense of these near words.

Skibidi – either something bad or cool. From youtube videos of “virtual” heads singing in a toilet. Ok.

Sigma – Wicked cool, alpha person. Captain of football or chess club.

Drip – clothes. Fashion. How well it is worn.

Bussin – food or beverage that tastes really good. Like really lean pastrami.

Gyat – not Turkish. Response when something is shocking or admirable. Often refers to attractive women (not that we’re suggesting it be used that way)

Cap – the act of lying. Oh, I capped a lot as a kid.

Bop – catchy song. It’s got bop.

Cringe – awwwwwkward. Kissing your aunt Min…in front of your peers.

Ohio – something bad, cringe or dumb.

Mid – like my grades in school. Average. Boring. Mediocre.

W – I got the W. A win.

Dank – go figure. It means smething excellent or high quality.

Finna – “I’m going to…” sorta like “I’m fixin’ to go to bed.”

Cheugy – not trendy. Probably now that we’ve got this list together – everything is no longer trendy.

(A quick reminder that you had your own language: Hip, daddio, ginchy, square, turkey, greaser, backseat bingo, flick, pad, knuckle sandwich, later, wig chop, dolly and stacked.)

Adriaen Coorte, Still Life with Three Medlars and a Butterfly, circa 1696-1705. Oil on paper mounted on panel, 270 x 200 mm. Private collection.

Paintings from the Dutch Golden Age are known for their austere yet exquisite beauty. Plump fruits, exotic delicacies and scrumptious breakfast foods are painted with such delicious realism that it makes you want to lick the canvas. But nothing in these paintings were chosen at random. 17th century Dutch artists carefully selected every object for their symbolic meanings, usually to express Christian themes and morals. 

One fruit in particular hides a fascinating, sexy meaning: the medlar. Read on to discover how artists of the 1600s used these unusual fruits as the prostitutes of the fruit bowl.

Medlars have been cultivated since ancient times, but reached their height of popularity in the 1600s. The strange-looking fruit tastes like stewed apples and quince, and their thick peel has a deep russet or rich bronze colour. In the UK, the poor medlar is sometimes known as “dogs’ arse fruit” because of the rather unattractive open calyx on one side.

But the really unusual thing about this fruit is that medlars are not edible until they’ve already begun to rot.  Dutch Golden Age artists loved the symbolic potential of a fruit that is rotten before it’s ripe. And they weren’t the only ones, either: in literature, medlar symbolism is used by writers like Chaucer, Shakespeare, and D.H. Lawrence, among others. 

Medlars as prostitution symbols



For Dutch artists, a fruit rotten before it is ripe was the perfect way to represent the ruination of purity. So, whenever you see medlar fruits in a painting of this era, it is intended to symbolize prostitution, wantonness, and decaying morals.

That’s right: although these still -life paintings look pretty and conservative at first glance, the artist secretly wants you to be thinking about prostitutes

Take, for example, the painting above by Adriaen Coorte.

In it, two medlar fruits sit below a cluster of grapes and a purple butterfly. Here, grapes can be understood to symbolize Christ, a nod to the wine given by Jesus to his disciples at the Last Supper. The butterfly — having transformed from a caterpillar — symbolizes the transformation or salvation of the soul.

Taken all together, Coorte’s still-life contains an important moral message: the juicy medlars, which represent prostitutes and other impure souls, are offered a path of redemption through Christ. 

Brothel paintings

Medlar fruit in still-life paintings relate to another popular genre in Dutch Golden Age art: paintings of brothel scenes (bordeltjes). These paintings usually depict beautiful young prostitutes presided over by a hideous older madame. Together, these saucy women supposedly lure respectable young gentlemen from good families into sin and vice. 

Brothel paintings were most often found in the homes of respectable and well-to-do families during the Dutch Golden Age. Although clearly painted to amuse and titillate, their primary intention was its moral message. 

Dirck van Baburen, The Procuress, 1622. Oil on canvas, 1016 x 1076 mm. Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

For young men, brothel paintings were intended as a stern warning not to become the foolish and hapless victims of wily women. (Ha!) For young women, the consequences of female sin and lust are cruelly etched into the face of the ugly older madame.

This also relates to the tradition of vanitas paintings, in which skulls, rotting fruit and wilting flowers serve to remind the viewer of the transience of life. Likewise, brothel paintings are a stark reminder of the passing nature of one’s youth and beauty.

From brothel to fruitbowl

Like the brothel scenes, medlar paintings have a similar moralizing purpose. The Dutch Golden Age was a prosperous time, and its unusually large pool of art collectors favored paintings that reflected their moral and spiritual beliefs. However, the Dutch Calvinists — a branch of Protestantism that formed the dominant religious group of the day — frowned upon much blatant religious imagery. As a result, artists of this era tended to cloak moralistic and religious messages in other forms of genre painting.

The theme of making good Christian choices is also subtly present in a painting by Martinus Nellius, in which medlars sit alongside juicy quince fruits — an ancient emblem of marriage and fertility. According to Pliny, a cutting from the quince tree would form another tree when planted. The quince was therefore associated with spiritual immortality, as well as female fertility. 

Thus, the artist is offering two outcomes for all your filthy female lust. You can go the way of the quince and achieve eternal grace through marriage and reproduction. Or you can go the way of the medlar, towards prostitution and spiritual ruin. 



A bit more here, if you’re into that sort of thing: https://jhna.org/articles/whore-bawd-artist-reality-imagery-seventeenth-century-dutch-prostitution/

He was designed to scare the heck out of you.



Who is this? His name, the movie and the actor who played him. Tell us here and perhaps win a shiny new gift card. Thanks for playing.

Well, candidly, we’re taking a little bow. For the 37^th consecutive year Daniels was a major sponsor of Hospice at Middlesex Hospital. Plus, this year Daniels completed our 20^th year as a major co-sponsor of the Interfaith Golf Tournament, which this year raised $125,000 for various community projects. We’re proud to be a partner with both organizations.

Artist Edgar Müller created this astonishing illusion. The rock is real; the pit is ananamorphic painting. More at his website: https://www.metanamorph.com/en/

Imagine, no turkey for thanksgiving. WHAT?

According to a variety of sources the original feast between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Native Americans lasted for three days, during which both parties contributed to the meal.

Though there are few records of the actual menu, it is known that the Pilgrims hunted for local fowl (swans included) and the Wampanoag brought five deer. It's thought that lobster and seal were likely involved, due to their availability. And, with a nod to the vegetarians among us, maybe a nice roasted corn salad like this:

Ingredients

·      6 ears fresh corn

·      ½ red onion diced

·      1 orange bell pepper diced

·      1 avocado diced

·      1 bunch fresh cilantro leaves chopped

·      1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes halved

TABASCO LIME VINAIGRETTE

·      ½ cup avocado oil

·      2 lime juiced

·      1 teaspoon garlic minced

·      1 Tablespoon Tabasco Chipotle Sauce

·      1 Tablespoon honey

·      salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your grill to high heat. Remove husks and silk from the corn. Place the corn directly on the grill and roast for 7-10 minutes. Turn frequently, and grill until the outside of the corn in lightly charred.

Cool the corn and cut off the kernels into a large bowl. Add onion, avocado, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, and cilantro and toss gently.



Whisk all ingredients for the Tabasco lime vinaigrette and pour the vinaigrette over the salad and toss to combine.Refrigerate and serve. Place the grilled corn salad in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve.

Found this story about the most famous magazine covers – here - https://www.asme.media/top-40-magazine-covers-of-the-last-40-years

We found these four particular ones that I remember vividly

And, then found out more about the Vogue cover because, well, who knows?

In the 1930s, Vogue moved away from illustrated covers, eventually adopting its now-familiar formula: a photograph of a model or celebrity (or several) layered over or under the slender serifs of the publication’s nameplate.

But for its January 1950 issue, Alexander Liberman, Vogue’s art director and an accomplished multidisciplinary artist in his own right oversaw an image by Erwin Blumenfeld that reduced the face of the supermodel Jean Patchett to its most minimal.

A shadowed green eye, an arched eyebrow, cherry-red lips and a birthmark were made to float over a white void in an abstraction of the so-called doe-eyed look.

Blumenfeld had spent his formative years in Amsterdam, where he threw himself into the Dada movement, making drawings, photographs and collages that combined political commentary with a humorous approach to the human form.

In one 1932 work, he cut the eyes, mouth and nose from a black-and-white photo of a woman and shifted them around the frame.

With his Vogue cover, produced almost two decades later, he took that idea (moving Patchett’s birthmark from the upper right to the lower left side of her face) and made it feel fresh, opening new possibilities for fashion photography experimentation.

Geese afoot are gaggles

(Even when one goose gets loose,

Falls behind and straggles);

Skein‘s the word for geese in flight.

Turtledoves form dools.

Barren‘s right (though impolite)

For a pack of mules.

Starlings join in murmuration,

Pheasants in a rye,

Larks in lovely exaltation,

Leopards, leap (they’re spry).

Ducks in flight are known as teams;

Paddings when they swim.

Herrings in poetic gleams

Please the wordsmith’s whim.

Cats collect into a clowder,

Kittens make a kindle.

Sloths of bears growl all the louder

As their forces dwindle.

Lapwings gather in deceit,

Apes convene in shrewdness,

Mares in stud (an odd conceit

Bordering on lewdness).



Foxes muster in a skulk,

Squirrels run in drays

While collectives in the bulk

Make up word bouquets.            — Felicia Lamport

A Brooklyn bookseller distributed this card during the 1880 U.S. presidential race between James Garfield and Winfield Scott Hancock.

What does it say? Tell us here and you will be lauded by the 6,000 people who regularly read this opus. And, get a gift card as well. Must be precise.



 Also – there is a new Netflix movie about the Garfield presidency. If it is longer than 4 episodes it will exceed his time in office.

What? No Shadow? https://www.youtube.com/shorts/pfma8-qqrgI