New Year

Fog in the hollow, creeping up over the ridge. It dissipates about ten feet off the ground into blue sky. I can see this, from the elevation of the house, but when I go outside I'm in the thick of it and can't see fifty feet. Hardy breakfast of beans on toast. Warmer, so I let the fire go out, to clean the oven chase and dump ashes. I'd heated water to wash dishes. I'd gotten the Shop Vac out, to do battle with dust and cobwebs. Auspicious beginning for a new year. Not that I actually got that much done, but it was a start. Got the laundry together, so I can get through the winter, and make yet another note to pick up a back-up battery for my headlamp. I get these at CVS, but they've moved to a new and larger store and it's not on my regular route. The old CVS was just across the street from the pub, so I could order a draft and zip across the street and pick up what I needed. A battery, super-glue, some juice, and be back on my bar-stool before the head had settled. Now, I have to go out of my way. Next time I get to town I want some green vegetables, cauliflower, that I can roast. I've been eating rice and beans for a while. I was wrong about some dates, Fabriano started making paper in 1276, earlier than I thought, and Dante was already bitching about damp paper making the ink run in 1301. In many ways, cheap paper changed the entire ball game. Copies were suddenly available. Dante left copies of the work-in-progress at every convent and monastery. He was much criticized at the time, for writing in the vernacular, but everybody read the new installment.