Indira Ganesan, Provincetown Garden Tour, 2013

A friend said he never met a muffin he didn’t like, and I tend to agree.  Today, I wanted to use up condensed milk, so I googled and found this recipe.  As I mixed, I decided to substitute cocoa powder for shredded chocolate.  Not a great move.  Even worse was that As I scooped the batter into the tins, wondering why it seemed so thick, I realized I forgot to the condensed milk.  So I scooped the tin’s contents back into the bowl, added milk, and got them in the oven.  The result was okay: edible certainly, and possibly more enjoyable if I  top them with something.  Muffins with corrected mistakes.

I am thinking about how seeking perfection is not always possible or advisable.  Once a friend invited me to see Mikhail Baryshnikov dance in–was it Giselle?  This was in ’77? ’78?  Back when he could leap like no one else.  I didn’t go, but now, thirty-six later, I will see him in a play, but he won’t be dancing.  My editor once told me that if I wait for the perfect time to go to a museum, I will never go to the museum.

I am going to attend a memorial for my dear friend, and though I am glad I am going, I cannot help wish that I had simply bought airplane tickets to see her alive these past two years.  I kept waiting for a good week, but in retrospect, every free week was a good week.