Barking dogs.....

In this business...bakery not bloggery...we are on our feet all day...rarely any sit down time...on hard cement floors usually saved a bit by some rubber matting but basically a little rubber meeting a little rubber just NEVER enough protection for our dogs...new shoes help...changing up the shoes will help but really comes down to you picked this profession or it picked you so deal with it...worked with a women who used to bring a piece of cardboard where ever she went to stand on....massages help but only for a few moments then the dogs bark...lots of chefs are wearing the clogs but i am a baker and need to...work...so they just wouldnt work for me...we take for granted our feet and how much work they do....throw in a sore ankle and it's no wonder old bakers have the same walk...we sort of amble gingerly....but we move...we have to...and we wait until that moment...that great moment...sitting...feet up...socks off first then shoes...cold drink...ahhhhhhhhhhhhh....the dogs may live another day

fall fell....and i caught it

Summer is sneaking out and fall falling in...leaves changing and last gasps of sun...naaa...still nice out...went kayaking today...found a river/pond in the middle of my new city...gorgeous day gorgeous place...well mostly gorgeous...little urban filth but not bad...blink and i'm in New Hampshire or Vermont....begins my busy season...the world ramps up a little and off to work i go...still necessary to capture some quick moments of fun and pure beauty....in the old baking days.... and occasionally still.... brides would get frosting flowers on their cakes...now ....brides.... and grooms?!( for reasons this old baker cant ever figure out...the groom part?)....we have time consuming and expensive hand molded flowers but NO ONE EVER can beat what God? has done with flowers...colors never so vibrant..shapes superb....plain old boring cake add some flowers and BAM...people rave.....stunning! spectacular!...so forget work til we have to or at least find some time to see nature while it is still nice outside...quess i'm saying take time to smell the flowers....

50...&^$(!!

When did THAT happen?...i turned 50....things hurt more...talk about ailments and who is in the hospital and for what....AARP....what???...oh yeah im 50....i am happy to have got here but what happened to 30?...i know a ton of junk i wish i hadnt...i have seen things...in my work this is all fine..nothing is a shock..nothing to hard.... nothing i cant handle....i remember working with the old bakers when i was younger..they all walked funny...but seemed happy and funny...^&%!!!...i may become one of them!...recipes are in my head...songs of the 60's and 70's plastered in my brain instead of knowing what day it is...some of to days celebrity chefs were having a symposium of some sort and the marketing boss asked if i wanted tickets...i'm sure i shocked her a bit but i had zero interest...find me a cold beer and an old chef and we can swap stories for hours i don't need a prima donna or some ego maniacal young pup to tell me HIS stories...i have some great ones...you got a cold beer or two just call.....my personal life i remember as a teenager having my parents car...we raced across the parking lot and BAM...something bad happened to the car...it stopped some transmission issue...i called my father and he showed up...says what happened? i said...well dad we were just driving out about 30 miles an hour and heard this small noise so we stopped...he looked around and said...nope.....you were racing across the parking lot about 65 and when you got to this point right here you gunned it.....ah...ah...ahh....what?....there is nothing my son can get by me now...i'm becoming my father...and old creaky walking baker and my father...good...its about time!

the greastest story ever told...ok the second greatest

Ttubby Smith a college basketball coach told this story at a press conference...i might forget a few details might even add a few the basic core will hopefully remain the same...when he was growing up in Mississippi he was the oldest of 9 brothers and sisters...his father was an uneducated cotton farmer...Tubby(not sure what his real name and when he actually got such a sour nickname) would pick his row of cotton ...each kid having their own row...and when he finished he would go to the smaller kids rows and help them...nighttime came and his father beat him...next day same story..next day same story again...he thought by being the strongest and oldest he was helping so at the end of a week of beatings he got up the nerve to ask pop why...why am i getting beat for helping...this uneducated farmer said you are not helping the smaller kids get stronger...get faster..get more efficient....he said you pick your row perfect and let me worry about the rest....Tubby was equating this story to his basketball team...the center shouldn't dribble down the court and the guard doesn't hang under the basket for rebounds...do what you do best...people i work with i'm sure are tired of me telling this but i see it daily...big time sports try to say a player should "stay within themselves"...an odd statement but i think to the same point...people try to think they are helping by putting too many eggs in a basket...another saying around to the point...do your job...do it to the best of your ability...one day a young baker who worked for me was making potato salad as i walked in...i said...hmmm whats up? why are YOU doing that?...she said she was caught up with her work(impossible to EVER be caught up in the bakery business)...and the catering staff needed help...i said i understand they needed it and you are doing a nice thing to help...HOWEVER...wrong row...because she was doing this the other department never solved the problem...did they need more help?..were they unorganized?..were they a bit lazy?...if the boss walks in and everything done to him or her there is no problem...i didn't beat her...i thought that might be wrong...but in explaining the cotton story she realized the enabling process she was jumping into...their problem became hers which then became mine which then became my bosses...all because she chose to "help"...i'm not heartless and i realize at times we ALL have to jump in and pick ANY and EVERY row of cotton if necessary but Tubbys dad may have been a genius...

Stolen!

The pic to the right of the latest blog...(this one)......is a pic i stole off someones website...i actually made all that stuff...put it on mirrors and a former company stole it and put it on their website...seems fairly dishonest to me..i made the stuff...my creativity and my work..they now claim that they do that ...maybe...but not exactly like mine.....i worked with a woman at a large banquet facility and we usually made the wedding cakes.....occasionally one from an outside person or bakery will be brought in..this woman would take pictures of them and put them in her personal portfolio as if she actually made them..i called her on it said it was not honest she said after she had seen the cakes she could now duplicate them...integrity?...honest? the right thing to do?...Not in my portfolio...people have commented on the fact i do not have a portfolio of my work...i will tell them if i can do it i can and if i can't i will tell them...i have had workers with gorgeous pics of things they have made but cant produce them when i say ok..go make something...oh um that was at school in 20 hours and teachers help and um....as a famous man once said..."man's got to know his limitations"...please comment or write to davem18@sbcglobal.net if you agree or disagree with my thought...lots of people not being truthful or living up to their own responsibility..always someone elses fault....say what you mean and mean what you say...truth

blog day

Busy day...seems the world is getting back to busy again..GOOD!!...good for everyone...seems the party sizes are still down but we are still partying....a little creative salesmanship and marketing needed but we seem to be on the right path...people always eat bread they say and oh you will never be out of work...not true in my life..at least 4 times not true...but persevere and keep on staying positive seems to help...lucky i guess...i like the quotes...the harder i work the luckier i get...and my all time fav is...luck is the residue of design....just have to keep the distractions of the days to a minimum...had a boss who had on his desk where his name sign would be this quote...DO IT NOW....i would go in to ask him something and if he was on the phone i would read the sign and figure it was talking to me...so i left and did something right then...my mothers famous quote when my sisters and I were younger was.....go clean your room...followed by...AND DONT MAKE A PROJECT OUT OF IT!...we understood...get in get it done...do it now...do something...just do it....My boss now says...keep it simple...he doesn't add the stupid part for me at least not in my earshot...k.i.s.s...Keep It Simple Stupid...i can follow that...project makers beware...your time is up!