May 5

The luncheon suggestion for today from 365 Luncheon Dishes (from 1902) is homemade Winter Squash/Pumpkin Griddle Cakes/Pancakes. Their recipe calls for 2 cups flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 2 Tblsps sugar, 2 eggs, 2 cups milk, 2 cups pumpkin puree – I'd like to try it, probably with brown sugar; they say if you add "a little more flour" you could make it in "muffin rings" -- maybe like English muffins?

John Keats had his first poem published on May 5, 1816! "O Solitude," in The Examiner:

O SOLITUDE! If I must with thee dwell,

  Let it not be among the jumbled heap
  Of murky buildings; - climb with me the steep,
Nature's Observatory - whence the dell,
Its flowery slopes - its rivers crystal swell,
  May seem a span: let me thy vigils keep
  'Mongst boughs pavilioned; where the Deer's swift leap
Startles the wild Bee from the Fox-glove bell.
Ah! fain would I frequent such scenes with thee;
  But the sweet converse of an innocent mind,
  Whose words are images of thoughts refin'd,
Is my soul's pleasure; and it sure must be
  Almost the highest bliss of human kind,
When to thy haunts two kindred spirits flee. 
One of my favorite memories of living in New York was going to a Keats exhibit at a private library/club. Read some more of his beautiful poetry today! He died terribly young, so you can get all of his poetry in one slim volume. If you want to sample more before getting a whole book, some nice sites include Project Gutenberg's ebooks including http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8209 and http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23684 ; on some artwork and manuscripts http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/houghton/collections/modern/keats.cfm ; on a couple of his homes http://www.keatshouse.cityoflondon.gov.uk/ and http://keats-shelley-house.org/.
from his last home, in Rome: