Loafing

Day 332: I decided to loaf today, and before you accuse me of being lazy, let me assure you that quite the opposite was true. I've gotten a bit spoiled with the Dutch-oven sourdough which takes all of five minutes to put together for the first rise and only requires stirring with a spoon to make the dough. Yes, you have to punch it down and shape it, but neither of those tasks takes more than a few minutes and very little expenditure of energy. No, I wanted to knead. There is something eminently gratifying about feeling bread dough become more elastic under your hands, and my cinnamon-swirl loaf requires a full ten minutes or even twelve before it has that magical texture. Plus, the recipe is for two loaves and takes almost eight cups of flour. That's a pretty hefty mass to manipulate on the bread board, and yes, it's good exercise for arm and back muscles. I definitely "kneaded" that!

Priorities

Day 365: As 365 Caws is poised to enter its eighth year of daily publication tomorrow, I am struggling to keep my priorities straight. It is difficult when the leader of the country is set upon destroying each and every value and institution I hold dear. As I see human rights being taken away, humanitarianism being tossed aside, science and intelligence being disdained, nature being destroyed in the name of predatory greed, I wonder if Man is worth saving, or if it would be a mercy if nuclear holocaust wiped us all from the face of the globe. Dark thoughts plague my mind when I am idle, so I strive to stay busy to keep myself afloat. My dreams are troubled and disturbing. Lack of rest makes it harder to cope. My most effective route of escape is into Nature, but I am presently caged by bad weather. I need light. I need lichens. I need to hike until my bones and muscles are so weary that the weight of my body dropping to the mattress at the end of day takes my mind with it into the oblivion of exhausted sleep.

Priorities: make bread, clean the kitty box, pay bills. Taking one day at a time is liking climbing a world-class mountain: put one foot in front of the other, breathe, bring the back foot forward, breathe. Kick in a step, test it. Bed down and wait out the storm. Stay out of crevasses. Keep going. Be sure your belay is secure. Belay? Dammit, I don't even have a rope!

It occurs to me that at my age, I will not live long enough to see undone the damage one man has done to the United States of America both internally and in the eyes of the world. That is not a thought which encourages one to get out of bed in the morning nor to put on the face of the cheerful scientist who brings you these daily posts. Yet Year 8 opens tomorrow, and if I can just get over that next roll, maybe I'll be able to see the summit.