Meditations on Mincemeat
2015's supply of mincemeat pie filling is in the crocks. I've had boil-overs in years past, so I split this batch into both pots. The usual meat content is 3-4 pounds of 70-30 hamburger, because it's damn near impossible to find suet any more, and it needs the fat content. Well, I scored some suet a while back, and it's been sitting in the freezer awaiting this day. Freed from the need for 70/30 burger, I got a wild hair up. This year's batch only owes its fat content to beef. The rest of it is 3 pounds of ground bison. Yes. I'm making pie filling out of BUFFALO. There's an old SCA filk that I can't remember, but has the line in it, "There's raisins in the main dish, and meat in the dessert..." Yep.
Herein the reflection / meditation: I am surrounded by artistic people. I've never thought of myself, as an artist, though. I have a bunch of skills, but have never felt particularly touchy-feely-expressive about it. Last year's Temple project for Frostburn was a departure for me. I needed to get something out of my head, and for a Burner that frequently expresses itself in Temples. Others get a vision of a structure, and its beauty. I began with the purpose: Build a structure where people can scribble their mental / emotional / spiritual baggage on the walls, or in a couple of blank notebooks, and then torch it. From Purpose, I went to Design and Practice. In other words, I engineered it.
This coming February, at Frostburn, we will be in a new venue. One of the hazards is that there's no access to a heated, or heatable, building wherein to park those who might need to be saved from the cold. I have the beginnings of such a set-up. The issue is insulation and heating. A couple of suggestions from friends, put me on the path. Between now and then, my sewing machine is coming out. I'll be doing insulated walls for my EZ-Up. It occurred to me as I was slicing apples, that this too is Art, in its own way.
To go where I have not been, to make what I have not made, to apply skill to problems, to tweak and adjust a design to suit myself: This is my Art. I don't know that I'd actually call myself an Artist(tm). But things like mincemeat, chili cook-offs, and Ranger/Medic HQs are, I guess, creative.
[DW Original]