ABCs of a few songs and one incredible book.

"All too Well" by Taylor Swift listen here
"Colors don't come out of nothing. They always start somewhere...with something... with someone."
"Dyeing with lichens an dother natural materials is thrilling. But nobody wants our love of color to hurt the environment."
Egyptian blue, also known as calcium copper silicate, is a pigment that was used in ancient Egypt for thousands of years. It is considered to be the first synthetic pigment.
 
"Fifteen" by Taylor Swift came out in 2009 but! ... long story... she owns Taylor's Version 
Giradol, turnsole violet - green fruits of the dyer's croton plant - preseed to extract green liquid that tunrs purple in light.
Iwan Tirta - Indonesian batik... batik artist... fashion designer said "I didn't create batik, but I preserved and nurtured it like a caretaker"
Juana Gutiérrez Contreras - Oaxaca, Mexico family rug business using only natural materials
 
Karen Casselman, a "Colorful Character"
Lichen Dyes by Karen Diadick Casselman
Mom, Ken, Caroline, and Violet all enjoyed this book too!
"Never be so kind / You forget to be clever. Never be so clever / You forget to be kind" ~ Taylor Swift's "Marjorie" listen here
"Ocher is a yellow clay that contains bits of iron and sand..."
Primary colors are red, blue, and green if you are mixing light. Cyan, magenta, and yellow... if you're mixing Pigments.
Queen Victoria popularized the color mauve (pinkish-purple dye created from coal tar).
Reflecting on colors, Van Gogh sad, "How wonderful yellow is. It stand for the sun."
Saffron crocuses bloom purple. In the center of each flower three red stigmas grow, each as thin as a thread. Soaked in water, these wisps make a brilliant yellow dye that people use for both food and textiles."
Tetrachromats are people who have four kinds of cone receptors instead of three.
"UV lights and infrared luminescence photography help Vinzenz and Ulrike Brinkma find tiny fragments of color that remain on marble"
Vincent Van Gogh 
"What is purple in the earth, red in the market, and yellow on the table? is "S" above.
Xanthopsia: a medical condition that leads people to see everything in tones of yellow.
Yellows from plant sources: jackfruit, kihada, foxglove, weld, saffron, etc.
Zapotec traditions of gathing natural materials and making dyes themselves.

ABCs of New Nick Bantock Book

 A Conundrum of Drabbles
"Blue Alice" p. 133 "Brushstrokes" p. 145
"Drabbles" short works of fiction of precisely one hundred words in length. The purpose of the drabble is brevity, testing the author's ability to express interesting and meaningful ideas in a confined space. source
"Existential Rodent" p. 37
"The Fallen" p. 21 and "A Fool's Kiss" p.. 171
"Germ Warfare" p. 119
Hiraeth p. 9 homesickness tinged with grief and sadness over the lost or departed, especially in the context of Wales and Welsh culture source
"Indochine... I shall arise, take her hand, and draw her into my lonely arms." p. 43
"Jump-starting" p. 181
"Kraken" p. 165
"Looking Back" p. 5 "Leda & The Swan" p. 75
"My logjam of Melabxholy effortlessly dissolved... My heart gaped, turned sideways,  and kindly informed me that it had reached its destination. " ~ Shiva's Fire p.109 
"Night Sky" p. 29
"Oracle's Mask" p. 55 "Oaks" p. 177
"Pangur Bán" is an Old Irish poem, written in about the 9th century at or near Reichenau Abbey
"... it wasn't for him to Question the nature of their wisdom." ~ Sandman p. 35
"Removing Chance" p. 67 "River Styx" p. 167
"Shadows" p. 39 "Spare Wheel" p. 63 "Sister of Mercy" p. 135
"Tommy" p. 91
"Uncle Albert" p. 23 "Undaunted" p. 61
"Vanquished" p. 183
"Weary" p. 175
"so eXquisite hwe could barely bring himself to purr." p. 141 "Equilibrium"
"Zigzag into the Forest of Reynard...maze of trees and undergrowth. " p. 187 "The Forest"

ABCs of Mitch Albom's the little liar

"A true and loving kindness." p.33 and p. 283
"Before the story ends, there is even a moment of magic, set against an endless tapestry of human frailty." p. 9
Chioni, the Greek word for "snow" - because he seemed so untouched by earthly deceit." p. 11
"Developes a penchant for blame." p. 28
Esplanada p. 21
"Four is a complete circle of the bases, until you end where you began, at home." p. 313
Gizella gave Frannie jequirity pea rosary, because ... "Sometimes it is better to leave this world by your own hand than theirs." p. 119
How a Lie Grows p. 28
"In a world full of lies, honesty glimmers like silver foil reflectingvthe sun." p. 11
Jequirity bean or rosary pea, is a herbaceous flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae.The entire plant is toxic, but the beans are highly toxic to humans.
Katalin Karády : After the German invasion of Hungary, authorities put pressure on Karády by banning her songs ... her new films... In 1944 she was arrested with allegations that she spied for the Allied Forces. Karády was in prison for three months, during which time she was tortured, and nearly beaten to death... Despite mishaps, she carried on with life in the war-torn capital, even..." see "R" below source

Ladino - language of his youth. The word ladino is Spanish (meaning “Latin”) source

Nicole Krispis
"Ochi!" (No!) p. 23
Poison rosary beads
"Quite the opposite. It all seemed rather pathetic to him..."
Rescuing numerous families at the bank of the Danube waiting to be shot by Arrow Cross guards, in exchange for personal belongings and gold which she had saved from her robbed apartment. She took a number of children home to care for them until the fighting stopped. source
"Sometimes it's the truths we don't speak that echo the loudest." p. 47
Tumultuous years p. 19
Udo Graf "finds a place to stay" p. 49
Venizelou Street in Salonika
"Whatever countenance you were borh with, Truth will enhance it." p. 11
Xaná means never again in Greek
"You've given me more joy than you can imagine. ou survived..." p. 244
Zekelman Holocaust Center... a precious and invaluable resource." p. 331