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January 4, 2020

CHANNELING MA WITH OATMEAL COOKIES

    
... i decided to make cookies ... all by myself ... from scratch ... figured step one was to find a recipe, then follow it ... internet for the first, the second would be will power ... put bowls holding the ingredients on my counter, then, before mixing them up i took a moment to close my eyes and step back into ma's kitchen ... i picked our house in alaska, circa 1961, of course, because cookies are most appreciated by a ten-year old ...

... as i worked i found myself immersed in a sea of memory ... waves of metallic creaking as the oven liner expanded, an aromatic fog parfait wafting about me ... "that's good, patrick, but you need to tap the pan after you've floured it" ... how satisfying, the sublime satisfaction of an egg cracked perfectly ... "no, don't add everything at once, a little of each in turn" ... pa, in the living room reading argosy magazine, suzzie galloping around the house on her little wooden stick horse, mike reading, a boys' life magazine being pretty much the only thing to distinguish him from pa ... ma, "if you don't stop eating the batter we won't have any cookies" ...

... (that was one of our serious philosophical debates: "why," we would ponder,"does it matter when we eat them" ... to this day, i believe, the issue remains unresolved) ...

... making cookies with ma, creating knowing how temporary the creation would be, was another of many lessons in the meaning of time ...

... and, yes, i cried a bit as i was licking the bowl ...
     

... as christmas should be ...
     
     
    
... from a little around town wanderabout ... the waterville's soon-to-be posh hotel ... i wonder if the tree will be respected ...
     
    
... one of my main street friends ...
     
     
    
... robert asked me to take a photograph of him in his government office ... while there i also snapped a few images of brady and his chums ...
     

     
     
    
... john and i shared a little wanderabout in the direction of pittsfield ... at vittles we enjoyed a most excellent lunch, after which i noticed some dried plants outside the bank ... while taking this picture a bank lady came out, "oh, what are you doing"  ... "just enjoying the dried plants" ... she accepted this with a smile, which i thought was nice but also—well, i mean, do you think someone would answer, "oh, i'm casing your bank for a heist i'm planning" ...
     
     
    
... i like this picture 'cause it shows exactly what i saw ...
     
     
    
... envisioned even as i pressed the shutter button, the simplicity and symmetry of the composition belies the two hours it took to coax it from the original images ...
     
     
    
... i'm going to do something a bit different this year ... rather than posting per event or happening or whim, my plan is to make a journal entry once a week ... "why," you ask ... no idea ... also, i'm going to distance myself from facebook ... again, "why" ... many reasons, but probably foremost is my belief that this year that particular venue is going to become an unhealthy place for me ... if you're not already on my journal mailing list and you'd like to have your address added, please do so using the comment box or send me an email ...

... also, this year i'm going to republish "the rocker" as an on-line ebook ... "why, this, patrick" ... that one's easy, it will please me to have more people read the stories i write ...

... time for bed, but—hmmmm, is no way i'm going to pause "caddyshack" ... after all, it is quite possibly the greatest movie ever made ...

... g'night ...