mountaintop muffintops.

duders,
get that corn outta my face!
.
.
.
.....SIKE!!
corn is good for you, probably.
cornmeal is, definitely.
i mean, it's a meal in itself.
duh.
the name says so.
friends,
here's the thing-
i get up SO much earlier than everybody else.
huh?
no,
it's not the earliest in the whole wide world,
but,
in the Folk Life & Liberty Fortress.
i'm up hours and hours before the next creature starts stirring.
heck,
even crabtree, my a.m. wake-up warrior terrier,
craps and crunches on some kibble with me;
but then he still crashes back out for a few most mornings.
it's true.
but i'm an early riser,
and i'm a get-busy guy when i'm awake.
morning people are the best people,
and for whatever reason,
they all seem more adult to me than late sleepers.
y'feel me?
i'm sayin',
no disrespect to all the beautyresters still snuggled up under the covers,
but c'mon, snoozers,
there's work to do.
i stay ugly, i stay dope,
and i get up and at 'em from the jump-off.
that means that as soon as my eyes pop open,
i'm out the door with the dog,
the teakettle is on,
there oven is lit,
the toast is browning up,
and there's bowls and buckets of treats getting activated.
plus,
i'm writing out these true stories for y'all to read when you finally wake up.
ha.
...
anyway,
when i'm up before the crack of dawn's earliest first lights,
i make sure that i've got something nicey-nice for my family to wake up to.
awwwww.
that said,
you know i get it fired up,
and that's where we return to the corn and the relationship
of it's proximity to my face.
neighbors,
check the yellow-gold-type teleport:

kaBOOM!!
maple-syrup corn muffins!
sun-kissed warm knobbly nuggets of breakfast sorcery,
served up split up,
with some beautiful butteryish blops on top.
expert.
masarepa, and coarse grits,
and semolina flour which is like wheatcorn (it's yellow),
and a slow-curdled batch of cider-vinegar whisked soymilk,
with a cup of unsweetened apple-style sauce, melted butters,
and that tree sap slap that sweetens the whole deal considerably.
the batter rests, the butter melts, the corn-grains soften,
and the outer skin gets just crisp enough to bend before it breaks
at the very first bite.
mmmmmmmm.
i do what i do, because it needs doing.
yeah,
i guess could sleep in,
if i was somehow physically incapacitated, and able to stay idle for longer,
but then,
NObody would get muffins,
and that's some bullsh!t.
*
i had the day off yesterday.
a snow day, with shoveling and snowshoeing,
and wintry outdoor family togetherness needs energy to be accomplished.
that's no joke.
so,
i couldn't skimp out on the first meal of my last full day with my peoples.
i mean, c'mon,.
what am i?
an A-hole?
nope.
so i made it good from the very first to the very last,
and we overlapped all our time,
and that way, it felt like longer, and it seemed like more,
and that's really all i ever want for me and mine.
so out of all these excellent days this week,
there's actually only one whole day with harvest and maple
and ampy and crabtree.
and it's already over.
womp.
so,
although we'll have fun tonight,
it'll be after work.
and yes, i'm working tomorrow, too,
to start the new year with realistic expectations;
and it's the same the next day, and the next, and so on,
so it's really only our in-between time that makes the memories mean something,
and that's accomplished through concentrated interactive participation.
it starts with muffins,
and it spreads to treats, and treks, and tricks, and texts, and teaching,
and it goes on until it's darker than dark and the snow looks blue in the moonlight.
yep.
it's ALL really happening,
and i wouldn't change much,
except,
maybe i'd like a little more company in the first four hours of the day;
never quiet, never soft.....