Advancing Tradition

Ms. Strange sent along an acorn recipe from the NY Times. I agree with the article, that white oaks are preferable, but I don't really like aspics, so I'll probably not make acorn jelly. Color and leaf fall are peaking, and traffic on the road, as people enjoy the State Forest. At the first of the blind curves this morning I almost got a yearling turkey, but if I'd altered course enough to get it, I'd have ended up in the creek bed. Awakened around 2 AM I got up and had a short drink and a smoke, turned on the radio, to drown out the dying fridge, and the song "Carrie Ann" was playing, right at the line "I play the janitor, you play the monitor", which seemed rather poignant at the time. I stayed up for a while, considering Darwinian free-market commercial populism, then considered Edward Tufte, several of whose books I'm sure I own but can't find, the first one is the best, I think called "The Qualitative Display Of Quantitative Information". He's an advocate of visual density. Reading him is where I first saw the one page graph of Napoleon's Russian fiasco, the single page with the most information I've ever seen depicted. Wanting a late night snack, I make a pouch of instant mashed potatoes, "Home-style Reds" which are so good I eat a serving for two, with butter and lots of black pepper. I need to get ten pouches of these, for the winter larder, which is looking better, as I bring home something, a few things, every time I shop for dinner. The driveway is good right now. I need to utilize the ease of access, get rid of some things, bring in an almost new mattress D gave me, change out the fridges, get a new toaster oven, buy a load of firewood. A little extra cash eases the burden of winter, and now that child support is done, I actually have a little extra cash, stop at the pub for a beer, a time or two a week, eat something other than beans, though, god knows, I love beans. Especially pintos from Dove Creek, hard against the Utah border in western Colorado, where beans are important and they know how to raise them. I just ordered a ten pound sack, a lovely burlap bag, and ten pounds of their black beans, so that I wouldn't starve to death if the power was off for a long period of time. I can always eat beans and rice. Bought a two pound wooden box of salted cod. Cod fish cakes with eggs over easy. I drool. One of my favorite things in the world. The yolk of an egg is an extraordinary sauce. That "Carrie Ann" thing threw me for a loop, I had just turned on the radio, and the first fucking thing I hear is "I play the janitor,,," and I think I'm on stage. But I forgot my lines. I assume it's a dream. I'm on the subway or some rapid transit device, and the woman I could connect with is going the other way. Such are dreams. There was a joke I wanted to tell you, John Simon out his side window, but I don't remember the punch line. I'm always calling on the outside to let me in. Using the words of the outside looking in. I've thought about this a lot. Well and truly, I am not you. A singular monad. A rock in  the desert somewhere. Relocated by whatever event. Thunder storm. I have to go.