Take a 13 lb turkey, a lot of water, some celery, a lot of carrots, a couple of onions, some run of the mill seasonings and some time over two days and whattayagot?
Merely what has to be the best turkey soup I’ve ever made. Have I claimed that before? Perhaps. But it wasn’t true until now. Perhaps that goes to Beethoven’s point about liking what you’ve just done best of all. Or it’s just plain true.
This soup does not seek to be anything it is not. There are no secret ingredients, no obscure flavorings. I can only hold out to you that a small bowlful is a large comfort. How else shall we count the success of a pot of soup? Feeds and comforts body and soul. And when I say a lot? 2 gallons, 1 quart and a few bowlfuls. And that’s without rice or meat.
In other news, since I seem unable to sit and sew anything at all, last night I did an assignment for an online challenge – I painted four color studies. Same design for each, and each had a required size. Indeed, I took primary color paint and made color studies, and amateurish though they might be I think I successfully fulfilled the assignment and that is that. On to the next.
It hasn’t been that long since Witold Riedel has been in my blogroll but I’m sure enjoying keeping up with him.
The floor is littered with layers of paper. There are some odd magazines, some bills, some receipts. I somehow decided to organize that box behind the sofa, just as an attempt to procrastinate a little, get a bit of a breathing room.
Ah! Many of us can identify with this “purposeful” procrastination. When about to launch some new project, or for me when I’m about to start the actual quilting, suddenly everything else looks much more appealing. Clean the sewing room. Do the dishes. Lay in food for the long winter ahead. Defrost the freezer.
Anything but committing to the start of the real work. I think his description of needing that breathing room is right on. Sometimes you just can’t keep up the pace. Sometimes there’s some problem (perhaps even one that is without a name or description) that hasn’t found a resolution yet. Just a little more time is needed. A little more behind-the-scenes computation time so that when you do sit down to work, it’s fully time to work, with no excuses.
Each thing in its own time, even if it’s cleaning the bathroom sink.
Geeks Put the Unsavvy on Alert: Learn or Log Off
From the NYTimes (requires free registration):
The tension over the MyDoom virus underscores a growing friction between technophiles and what they see as a breed of technophobes who want to enjoy the benefits of digital technology without making the effort to use it responsibly.
The virus spreads when Internet users ignore a basic rule of Internet life: never click on an unknown e-mail attachment. Once someone does, MyDoom begins to send itself to the names in that person’s e-mail address book. If no one opened the attachment, the virus’s destructive power would never be unleashed.
“It takes affirmative action on the part of the clueless user to become infected,” wrote Scott Bowling, president of the World Wide Web Artists Consortium, expressing frustration on the group’s discussion forum. “How to beat this into these people’s heads?”
Many of the million or so people who have so far infected their computers with MyDoom say it is not their fault. The virus often comes in a message that appears to be from someone they know, with an innocuous subject line like “test” or “error.” It is human nature, they say, to open the mail and attachments.
But computer sophisticates say it reflects a willful ignorance of basic computer skills that goes well beyond virus etiquette
Everyone has to learn about computers. No one is born knowing any of it. But those who use computers need to take responsibility for their actions and learn enough to do so. For all the people I hear describe themselves as “computer illiterate” or “technophobe”, some treat themselves as victims, poor-mes who just don’t seem able to learn. Others don’t feel they should have to (a lot of that goes back to the real men don’t have to type – that’s what secretaries do). And others are too willing to lay blame on anyone else. And some of it is the fault of the techo-marketers — it’s EASY. EASIER. ANYONE can do it. YOU can do it without knowing anything. So people don’t back up their files. They throw away files that their computers need to run. They click on viruses etc etc etc.
Disclaimer – Mom and Dad – you’re doing quite OK in the scheme of things! This isn’t pointed at you at all.
More in the Beethoven adventure – bold is my own:
When a friend asked Beethoven which of his quartets did he consider to be the best, Beethoven answered, “Each in its own way, Art demands of us that we should not stand still.” However, the composer later eluded that Op. 131 was his greatest work in this genre.
Now what a great response that is. It’s hard not to love love love whatever it is you’re working on now, but at some point my brain starts turning towards the lure of new projects. Without even knowing perhaps what those projects are, I start noticing new colors, or some new shape. I make a small pile of fabric to consider and it sits while I work on the current work. And as much as I love the thing before me and the excitement of seeing it come to being, and as exciting as the future work seems, there are things I love about most of the past works. Some I like very much indeed, often not for the reason I was first excited about.
I shall be telling this with a sigh; Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–I took the one less traveled by, and it has made all the difference.
