Hints of El Niño: Extended 8-9 day January thaw coming |
[As an aside, if Artificial Intelligence turns out to be as misguided and ineffective as current spell check autocompletion, we're in serious trouble.] To give some credit where due, the township's maintenance crew today did a plow pass on the road, increasing the likelihood we'll get to bare pavement if the weather model is anywhere near correct.
Yesterday we made dough. Overnight we left it to rise. This morning it hadn't risen very much, we think because the kitchen has been cooler than usual with our current below normal temperatures outside. Getting into the spirit of letting the dough tell us what to do, it occurred to us to move the dough-filled bowl to one of the warmest rooms in the house. We put it on the vanity in the upstairs bath. Next time we'll try to remember to put it in that room for the overnight proof. We're beginning to get a sense of just how sensitive Artisan sourdough bread can be to any number of variables.
our latest creation. if it tastes as good as it looks...
Photo by J. Harrington
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The loaf came out of the oven looking good, if a little lop-sided, and making the house smell great. Expecting the bread to also taste good would be like gilding a lily, wouldn't it? Maybe not. We'll see how it tastes this evening when we slice some to go with a wonderful soup the Better Half made. Fresh Artisan bread and fresh homemade soup, plus a warm house, an extended January thaw(?) and sleeping dogs lying on the
How to Be Perfect
By Ron Padgett
Everything is perfect, dear friend.
—KEROUACGet some sleep.Don't give advice.Take care of your teeth and gums.Don't be afraid of anything beyond your control. Don't be afraid, forinstance, that the building will collapse as you sleep, or that someoneyou love will suddenly drop dead.Eat an orange every morning.Be friendly. It will help make you happy.Raise your pulse rate to 120 beats per minute for 20 straight minutesfour or five times a week doing anything you enjoy.Hope for everything. Expect nothing.Take care of things close to home first. Straighten up your roombefore you save the world. Then save the world.Know that the desire to be perfect is probably the veiled expressionof another desire—to be loved, perhaps, or not to die.Make eye contact with a tree.Be skeptical about all opinions, but try to see some value in each ofthem.Dress in a way that pleases both you and those around you.Do not speak quickly.Learn something every day. (Dzien dobre!)Be nice to people before they have a chance to behave badly.Don't stay angry about anything for more than a week, but don'tforget what made you angry. Hold your anger out at arm's lengthand look at it, as if it were a glass ball. Then add it to your glass ballcollection.Be loyal.Wear comfortable shoes.Design your activities so that they show a pleasing balanceand variety.Be kind to old people, even when they are obnoxious. When youbecome old, be kind to young people. Do not throw your cane atthem when they call you Grandpa. They are your grandchildren!Live with an animal.Do not spend too much time with large groups of people.If you need help, ask for it.Cultivate good posture until it becomes natural.If someone murders your child, get a shotgun and blow his head off.Plan your day so you never have to rush.Show your appreciation to people who do things for you, even if youhave paid them, even if they do favors you don't want.Do not waste money you could be giving to those who need it.Expect society to be defective. Then weep when you find that it is farmore defective than you imagined.When you borrow something, return it in an even better condition.As much as possible, use wooden objects instead of plastic or metalones.Look at that bird over there.After dinner, wash the dishes.Calm down.Visit foreign countries, except those whose inhabitants haveexpressed a desire to kill you.Don't expect your children to love you, so they can, if they want to.Meditate on the spiritual. Then go a little further, if you feel like it.What is out (in) there?Sing, every once in a while.Be on time, but if you are late do not give a detailed and lengthyexcuse.Don't be too self-critical or too self-congratulatory.Don't think that progress exists. It doesn't.Walk upstairs.Do not practice cannibalism.Imagine what you would like to see happen, and then don't doanything to make it impossible.Take your phone off the hook at least twice a week.Keep your windows clean.Extirpate all traces of personal ambitiousness.Don't use the word extirpatetoo often.Forgive your country every once in a while. If that is not possible, goto another one.If you feel tired, rest.Grow something.Do not wander through train stations muttering, "We're all going todie!"Count among your true friends people of various stations of life.Appreciate simple pleasures, such as the pleasure of chewing, thepleasure of warm water running down your back, the pleasure of acool breeze, the pleasure of falling asleep.Do not exclaim, "Isn't technology wonderful!"Learn how to stretch your muscles. Stretch them every day.Don't be depressed about growing older. It will make you feel evenolder. Which is depressing.Do one thing at a time.If you burn your finger, put it in cold water immediately. If you bangyour finger with a hammer, hold your hand in the air for twentyminutes. You will be surprised by the curative powers of coldness andgravity.Learn how to whistle at earsplitting volume.Be calm in a crisis. The more critical the situation, the calmer youshould be.Enjoy sex, but don't become obsessed with it. Except for brief periodsin your adolescence, youth, middle age, and old age.Contemplate everything's opposite.If you're struck with the fear that you've swum out too far in theocean, turn around and go back to the lifeboat.Keep your childish self alive.Answer letters promptly. Use attractive stamps, like the one with atornado on it.Cry every once in a while, but only when alone. Then appreciatehow much better you feel. Don't be embarrassed about feeling better.Do not inhale smoke.Take a deep breath.Do not smart off to a policeman.Do not step off the curb until you can walk all the way across thestreet. From the curb you can study the pedestrians who are trappedin the middle of the crazed and roaring traffic.Be good.Walk down different streets.Backwards.Remember beauty, which exists, and truth, which does not. Noticethat the idea of truth is just as powerful as the idea of beauty.Stay out of jail.In later life, become a mystic.Use Colgate toothpaste in the new Tartar Control formula.Visit friends and acquaintances in the hospital. When you feel it istime to leave, do so.Be honest with yourself, diplomatic with others.Do not go crazy a lot. It's a waste of time.Read and reread great books.Dig a hole with a shovel.In winter, before you go to bed, humidify your bedroom.Know that the only perfect things are a 300 game in bowling and a27-batter, 27-out game in baseball.Drink plenty of water. When asked what you would like to drink,say, "Water, please."Ask "Where is the loo?" but not "Where can I urinate?"Be kind to physical objects.Beginning at age forty, get a complete "physical" every few yearsfrom a doctor you trust and feel comfortable with.Don't read the newspaper more than once a year.Learn how to say "hello," "thank you," and "chopsticks"in Mandarin.Belch and fart, but quietly.Be especially cordial to foreigners.See shadow puppet plays and imagine that you are one of thecharacters. Or all of them.Take out the trash.Love life.Use exact change.When there's shooting in the street, don't go near the window.
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Thanks for visiting. Come again when you can.
Please be kind to each other while you can.
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