Preterite of Mash

Mush. A porridge of oatmeal or corn. As muss is a scramble. Heavy blast of rain in the morning. I'd gotten coffee and was rereading myself, sieving for extra commas. I'm up to 'T' in the dictionary Jude sent, reading it as a narrative, thar is to need, theak is to thatch, and theat, a word I've never heard, means close or sound, as a theat barrel is one that does not leak. Well after dawn I'm reading by headlamp and shut down everything when the leaves turn inside out and a big line of wind sweeps in from the NW. A violent front, then pelting rain, twenty minutes later it's dead calm and the birds come out, perching on the sumac and shaking water off their feathers. That beautiful sparrow hawk came back, to preen on the branch of a hickory, quite colorful when a woodpecker comes to check for bugs flushed out of the bark. Quite surprised by the fact that Joel played tuba in the high school band. Nothing should surprise me anymore, but almost everything does. Go figure. Last time I was at Kroger and Yoder's Cornmeal Mush, in a plastic tube, was on sale. This is as good as I make, a basic simple thing, so I bought a couple. I fry two or three slices in bacon fat or butter, top them with an egg, a piece of toast with bitter Scottish marmalade. It's one of my favorite meals, maybe add sausage or bacon on special occasions, a slice of ham, a hash of chicken gizzard and shallot. Also I like all of those cream soups served room-temperature or cold, squash soups or berry soups, the green one I make from watercress and sorrel. Looks like pease porridge cold, but with a dollop of sour cream and a few grinds of black pepper, it's a whole different thing. A new window AC unit is on the list because the heat is getting to me. Black Dell is being cranky. B stops by, a rare visit, to say he and the boys enjoyed making music for Glenn and me as audience, which is cool, because we enjoyed being there. The last thing Glenn said to me was that he had to work on his calluses. I call Jude, to thank her for the dictionary, and we talk about Cape Cod, in the day. Everyone played music, everyone read Greek and Latin, Harvey was always speaking in Spanish, a neap dish, mashed turnips with pepper and sea salt, I love this with lots of butter and a flash of apple brandy.