Apologies to my regular readers for the very delayed post today. Now that I have a large contingent of British readers, I really like to hit the 6:30 AM EST posting time, which I imagine is around lunchtime for them, so they have something to read over their tea and crumpets while my American readers have something to read over their grits and coffee.
As I’ve alluded to in other posts, the past two weeks or so have been absolutely insane for yours portly. As my school’s music teacher, I’m also the audio-visual wizard on campus. With Homecoming Week last week, it was my responsibility to make sure the sound system at the football field was working properly, and to assist with setup for some of the Homecoming games. I also set up another ad hoc sound system for my High School Music Ensemble to play a couple of songs at a pep rally Friday morning. When most of your musicians play guitar and piano, the logistics of plugging everything in become more daunting when taken outdoors.
Needless to say, all of my planning time was consumed with these activities, and I spent most of my Music classes using student labor to move equipment to and from the football field. That meant more time in the evenings and early mornings working on school-related stuff, and less time to focus on the blog.
In the midst of all of the Homecoming Week wackiness, I’m also running for reelection to Lamar Town Council and practicing and preparing for the 2021 Spooktacular. Tonight I have a candidates forum for the former, and last night my buddy John and I practiced for the latter.
Add to all of that a whopping dollop of after-school music lessons, and you can tell I’ve had precious little time for much else. I had a fun-filled day with my girlfriend on Saturday, then turned around Sunday and immediately set to work finalizing first quarter report card grades.
I’m not complaining—I like being busy—but I hope readers will extend some graciousness and excuse some occasionally late posts. My poor dog has been getting the short end of the bully stick, too, though we both collapsed into a snoring heap on the couch last night after John departed.
Such are the rhythms of life. Here’s hoping things return to a more stately tempo after the frenetic rhythm of the last few weeks. Again, I don’t want to be bored, but having a little more time to focus on writing would be great.
On the plus side, Spooktacular t-shirts should be arriving today or tomorrow. I am also blessed with a lot of lessons—I have thirteen this week alone. That’s more time, to be sure, but it’s been a real financial blessing, and helps fund some of these other endeavors.
Finally, I’m in talks to bring a poet friend of mine (not Jeremy Miles, but someone else) to the blog a couple times a month. He’s a great poet—sonnets are his specialty—and he’s been a bit discouraged lately. My audience isn’t huge, but I’d like to help him reach some more readers, and I’m hoping doing so might lift his spirits a bit. Nothing is guaranteed yet, but I’ll keep you all posted.
Well, that’s it for now. Time to write an Economics Test! I’m also providing the sound system for my own candidates forum this evening—ha!—so I’ve got to load up some equipment in the car for that. I love giving the people of Lamar a voice!
Happy Tuesday, one and all.
—TPP
The Portly Politico 
Love this post! It makes me remember the quote, “Oh, to be young again!” Lol!
The nice thing about a blog is the readership wanders in and out as their time allows and so early or late, we catch up with you.
Deep breaths – increases stamina and energy.
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Oh to be young again and have so much energy, reading your post Tyler makes me feel in need of a lie down and a large mug of tea. Crumpets were traditionally eaten in the afternoon after a long muddy walk with a dog or three over muddy fields and toasted in front of the fire then lavishly buttered so the melting golden deliciousness ran down your fingers but of course nowadays everybody, myself included, eats anything they fancy at any time of day. In fact I have a couple of crumpets calling to me from the kitchen and after a day at work I think a couple of the holey ones spread with salty butter and Gentlemen’s Relish appeals much more than reheated pasta which is the alternative source of this evening’s nourishment.
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I think I hate crumpets. Back in the Les days, I bought a pkg from Amazon. They were so intensely eggy I couldn’t deal with it. And I like eggs! I tried toasting them on the hottest toaster setting and they were still gross, lol. I hate to throw food away but felt blameless when I chucked them in ‘the bin’.
You’re almost as busy as Port! You’ve always got stuff you’re working or working toward or working through!
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I don’t know where your crumptets came from Audre or how they were made but they aren’t, or at least shouldn’t be, made with eggs. They are really a type of yeasted pancake and just before cooking bicarbonate of soda is added which gives them their traditional holey appearance. I love them. I have made them in the past but I like the shop bought ones even more than my homemade bizarrely, as that is not usually the case with other baked goods.
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I can’t account for it, of course, as I have no idea what they’re supposed to taste like. I suspect English crumpets in England is something quite different. Sigh. I’ll never know. But you know your food, that’s for sure and if you say it shouldn’t be eggy, then what I got was a poor substitute.
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I know far less about crumpets than I do trumpets but I do have a fair knowledge of lefsa, my ancestor’s unleavened bread, In fact, I remember mom making it with the lefsa iron that had been her mom’s, probably the main reason the last kitchen remodel involved a stove, instead of individual electric appliances and a wall oven, which worked very well and increases workspace in what was a fairly small kitchen.
Lefsa properly made is essentially a very thin, lightly browned potato pancake, best served with lots of butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar, mostly on Christmas eve. But without the Lutefisk.
Like Audre, I tried some from Amazon, and what I got in the expensive box was seasoned (pretty well) crackers, they were good, and tasted somewhat like the real thing, but bore about as much relation to it as hardtack does to whole wheat bread. In fact, they reminded me of Krumkakke. Guess I need to buy a lefsa iron and start practicing. Or settle, as I do sometimes for soft tortillas, lightly fried.
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