Thursday, February 11, 2010

On snafus

Jim Lahey's got me. He's really got me.

That's how I was going to start the blog post called The Cheese Bread. I was going to go on and on about this asiago cheese bread I made from Jim Lahey's book. All about the cheesiness and the glory of it all. But the little elves in my computer weren't having it. They were absolutely not interested in supplying me with the necessary photos that I know are in there.

I won't bore you with what didn't show up where and who cursed at what. But I will say that I decided to treat it as an exercise in equanimity. It just is what it is. No cheese bread photo. No cheese bread post. For now.

I took the opportunity to sit here quietly and look out my window into my new backyard. Thinking about what a beautiful day it is and how lucky I feel about that and so many other things, I spied a little grey bird sitting on a post back there.

That little bird is a regular on that post. Well, I see a bird out there every day, and I've decided it's the same one. As I watched him, he flitted from the post to a branch and back to the post again. I was struck by the loveliness of the idea that it might be the same bird -- some little guy who flies all over the city but then comes back here to this post. You know, to chill before he heads back out into the world. As I thought that, he looked right at me. And I felt a very sweet connection with that bird in that moment. I really did. And it was in that quiet moment, that moment of perfect stillness, with our eyes locked in a peaceful and seemingly loving gaze that he pooped on my lawn and flew away.

True story.

I would've never had that experience had the computer elves complied with my wishes. So, see? It's all to the good. Now, whenever I'm having a sweet moment of appreciation, I have a bit of shtick I can employ that I didn't have before today. It's like a free gift from that bird! I have to come up with a good name for it, though, because "the poop and fly" really isn't up to the very high standards I have for my bits. Any and all suggestions welcome.

2 comments:

Whatsarob said...

I'm sorry to point this out, but the name is obvious: it should be called "the shitbird."

Ben said...

Yes, yes, little bird, peaceful, right.

So, you were going to tell us about the bread...?