Mulling things over

I was going to mull some wine tonight — the air has a snap to it, and it took me an hour to drive home from work, so I figured the project would be relaxing and the wine would be a treat. However, because nothing is going my way, really, today, we don’t have adequate brandy for me to go about this in my preferred way. So, I will tell you nothing of how to mull wine, and instead tease you with a photography of mulling spices. Look at the star anise! Is there a spice lovelier than star anise?