It is the 2nd of October and if my dad were still alive he would have been celebrating his 85th birthday. Sadly he passed away four years ago and of course I still miss him.
I miss him when I have something nice to eat, I miss him when I read something profound and I miss him when I visit somewhere interesting. There was no one like my dad, and we were so very fortunate to have had that time together.
If my dad were still alive I would not have baked him a cake but instead would have bought him a professionally made one, from one of the grand hotels. His favourite cake would have been made up of light layers of sponge filled with creme Chantilly and topped with a mountain of piped sweetened chestnut puree. He had his first slice of Mont Blanc cake in Maxim’s in Hong Kong in the 1970s and loved it so much that every cake ever since had to be up to the standard of that cake.
Needless to say I have never made a Mont Blanc cake, either for my dad or for myself. I know my limitations.
This morning I woke up and wrote a poem (more later) and this afternoon I baked a simple Italian Torta Caprese. Simple cakes have nowhere to hide so I baked it in a cute pan I bought in KaDeWe Berlin. I am going away for a short break so the cake is a gift to my hairdresser who always looks after us so well.
I have been writing poems since I was at school and I really only had one fan and reader, who was my dad. He loved poetry and we shared that in common. Mostly I write when I am sad or when something traumatic has happened, causing me to reflect on, say, the brevity of life, the wretchedness of the human condition, the betrayal that is so possible in every one of our human hearts.
Today’s poem is a bit less dark and it is about how we can always move forward and not dwell on our past setbacks. My dad was ace at picking himself up, shaking off the dust and starting over. This is what I want for myself and for my family.
RE:
On
This new day
Pick one verb for your
Life
Review
Reestablish
Renew
Refresh
Your time starts
Now
Reset
The poem is entitled RE: because when we write formal letters we usually let the reader know what we are writing about. The words after RE: at the top of the letter will tell you what the subject matter is. My subject matter is about life and it is also about all the great words that begin with re. Placing the re in front of another words allows you to do that action again. It ends with the word reset as this is what we can do with our lives each new day.
I will write again after our time away from work and London, towards the end of October.