TheMostBeautifulWord

BREAD

One of the most beautiful words in our language

BREAD

A loaf of Bread, one of the most beautiful things to behold

I make bread weekly. I do not measure. This is what I do.

I take a bowl and put some dry yeast into it

I add warm milk, a spoonful of sugar (to feed the yeast)

and enough flour to make a runny mixture.

I place a tea towel over it and let it rise.

I pour some warm milk over a bowl filled with rolled oats

when the bread starter has risen to three times its volume,

I drop 2 eggs into it, some poppy seeds, some sunflower seeds,

a handful of wholemeal flour, the soaked oats
and enough plain flour to make a soft pliable dough.

Mix it all together and knead it so that it becomes nice and stretchy.

Let it rise, when it is twice its volume, punch it down to get rid of the gasses 

which helped the dough to rise. It is necessary to get rid of them so that they do not kill the yeast

Let the dough rise again and once more punch it down. 

Now add a little salt (last because it kills the yeast)

form the dough and drop into loaf pan

Rise in a warm place and when risen place in an 160 degree oven

you know when the bread is done,

when you push a knitting needle into it and it comes out clean.

BREAD

One of the most beautiful smells on earth

     

'The poet and the baker, both nourish the world'

JustAnAutumnMorningImage

Just one of those somber grey mornings

when the spirit needs a bit of a lift

that is when I re-visit

some of the sunnier places

I have stored in my memory,

and physically in my computer,

If you are having a similar day

I hope these images will also lift your spirit

"Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present".
     

 

 

     

ColouringIn

When you reach just that little higher 

than you can imagine

you enter heaven, 

that space where the creative process places you

I didn't think so last Sunday afternoon

when I filled in the negative space 

between the two trunks and the lot collapsed

I rebuilt is three times

the problem was that the wind moved the trunks 

just enough to make the project unstable

but that didn't stop me

'The function of the artist is to provide what life does not'

SlowSculpture

 walking the trees

stopping here and there

to place a rock on top of another rock

a Korean zen like activity

therefore seeing the trees

'Honour the playfulness of spirit that lets everyone win'

MonkThoughts

A nun once asked the abbess:

"What is the meaning of life?"

The abbess replied:

"What motivates your question?"

 The nun thinking for a while said:
"Fear."

The abbess said:

"Resolve your fear and you won't need 

an answer to the meaning of life."

                                           Gil Fronsdal

MonkThoughts

A visiting monk asked the abbess,

 "How do I know if I am wasting my time?"

The abbess replied:

"If you are suffering."

                                           Gil Fronsdal

 

MonkThoughts

The Abbess taught:

"If you want to discover 

what you don't know yet about yourself, 

investigate why you say what you say."

                                           Gil Fronsdal

 

MonkThoughts

A young monk asked the abbess:

"How can I recognise if someone is enlightened?"

The abbess replied:

"The first thing to consider, 

is if they are helpful to other human beings."

                                                      Gil Fronsdal

 

ThenIFoundThis

still watching my shadow

watching found works in the forest

there is a rich booty

to be found daily everywhere

Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

BeEphemeral

On my daily walk

another ephemeral art work 

found in the forest

join the movement

and be ephemeral

make a work and email it to me

I will post it on my blog

art@petrusspronk.com

"Believe in miracles"

SilentSentinels

The ephemeral work continuous,

next to a solid bridge which 

as a result of the floods also 

became ephemeral.

as did lots of what we understood to be solid stuff

during the flood affected areas

which reminds me:

"If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back"

 

 

 

 

 

TheEphemeralArtMovementActivated

The best is yet to come

TheGiftOfBread

It was a rainy day, which stopped me from finishing a paint project.

I used the opportiunity of the rain softened earth to pull some weeds

in readiness for some more vegetable planting

Then, inside I decided to make bread.

I took a mixing bowl and placed a handful of flour, 

some dry yeast, a spoonfull of sugar (food for the yeast)

and some warm water, mixed it and let it stand.

I mashed some cold potatoes with cream to a creamy substance

when the flour mix was bubbly and twice its volume

I added the potato, a couple of eggs 

and enough flower to make a pliable dough

Nothing was measured, its simply bread, an ancient food 

I kneaded it and let it rise, punched it down

kneaded it once more let it rise and punched it down again

kneaded it again and shaped it into two balls

placed them into a bread tin, proofed it and baked it 

'It is nice to be kneaded'

ItIsCatching

0n my daily walk in the forest

 (and this day a soft summer rain created 

a gentle fragrant poetic experience)

 I found that the idea of the rock on the log

which I found and created some weeks ago

is catching

and has been inspiring others' creative spirits

'The business of man is the arts and all things common'

ASoftRockOnAHardLog

and then there were two

this one a soft rock

on a hard log

'The Power Of Limits'