220507 busy being mumma

 May 6

The trilliums are showing their nodding buds while still only inches from the ground. I may miss them in flower if we are gone to Toronto. (We still have to go and get our summer tires put on, and run other errands.) In Ontario I am used to seeing the trilliums tall and white.  They are Ontario's official flower and are depicted white in logos and photos, but I have only seen one white one in these woods. Here, they are a burgundy colour, which I rarely saw in Ontario. 

*****

18 degrees on the porch, and hotter in the sun. Rain and the baby spent the afternoon on the porch while I came and went, mostly from the kitchen. I was making bread: sourdough with potatoes and chickpeas. (Recipe below.) I made this mashup by happenstance last week, while feeding my sourdough starter. I don't like to discard the "discard" when feeding the starter. It is too precious and alive. So I made bread with it. I had some leftover chickpeas and potatoes on hand so I added them to the bread. It came out quite well. Wednesday was feed-the-sourdough day again. I had already cooked some chickpeas and potatoes, just to have some prepared food on hand, before I remembered I had to feed the starter. It seemed planned. 

The bread was ready for dinner. It came out well again, very moist because of the potatoes, but I rose it twice before forming into a loaf for a third rise and it was not too heavy.

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On the last Saturday in April, I had a table at a craft sale in town. I was excited about getting my work known in the neighbourhood. It would have been cool to sell something, but that doesn't happen often. As the date approached, I realized that I hadn't taken Rocky into account. I wanted him with me.  He has been left with K only a few times for a hour or two, but this would be all day. Truth be told, it was I who needed him. He is my support dog! I asked, with some trepidation, if I might have a table outside, (it being prudent for covid as well as suiting my wish to have Rocky with me), but since he is not officially my support dog, I said that I was his support person! Being a new rescue, he is not ready to be separated from me. I assured the organizer that Rocky would be perfectly behaved: I was certain that he would sit quietly and not be a nuisance. She said that it would be fine, so I packed up five mosaics I have done here in the Estrie, and set off with Rock for the day. 

Rocky did indeed behave as if he had been trained for it, sat beside my table relaxed and quiet in his fancy harness (to look professional!). He liked to say hello to visitors and soon learned to wait on my release before greeting them. He did not bark, nor did he pull to say hello to other dogs though he wagged his tail excitedly. He behaved perfectly with several children who were playing about the door while their parents worked or shopped at the craft show. At one point he was calmly lying down while three five-year-olds sat around him, feeding him treats! He was a good conversation starter with all the dog people. He has excellent manners!

Rocky with three little friends: 

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On Sunday Baby spent a few hours with me while Rain went to a driving lesson. I will stop there a minute and give a short lecture. Young adults, while they are in their formative years, should learn to drive a car (among other things.) Dogs best learn hard-wired lessons when they are puppies. I think that humans do, too, (when they are "puppies") for good and bad. But for this reason driving should be learned then, while the young person's brain is still in that plastic state and when their urge to explore and test themselves is still strong and the reins of experience and maturity are not holding them back from learning a new thing. Then driving becomes second nature and the skill is ingrained in their young bodies and minds. It is frightening to think that I learned to drive at sixteen - it seems far too young to be behind the controls of a four thousand pound lethal machine, but I think that some time between sixteen and twenty-five years old, everyone should learn this skill. At thirty or thirty-five, it suddenly becomes necessary, and there isn't time nor, I think, the mental environment to learn. Only Tamar was interested enough to learn to drive in her teens. The others were in lessons but Elf went to study in New York, and Rain went to Montreal, and the ball was dropped. My mistake. They were both expert transit riders and so I did not press the issue when I should have. End of lecture. 

So Rain had to leave the baby with me while Tal took her to Cowansville for her lesson. Baby knows me and I have some experience with children, but Rain does not like being away from him even for a half-an-hour. We managed very well. I played on the lawn with him, and gave him some apple sauce and baby cereal for lunch. I took him for a walk in the stroller and he slept for a good while. Then we sat in the sun some more. Baby is a happy-tempered child, interested in everything around him. He likes it when I talk to him and sing to him. I enjoy being of use to Rain and as Baby grows older she can leave him more often with me. (Especially once she has her driver's permit!) 

*****

K and I walk daily in the woods. Rocky and I do a second walk, at least to the ridge to see the stream, in the afternoon. There are the daily domestic things to do, and the cooking. Not everyone likes to cook. My mother-in-law, in spite of having lived independently for many years and still enjoying good health, was happy to move into a seniors' residence and hand over the cooking to the excellent staff. I feel fortunate, since I love to cook, to have my health and a lovely kitchen to work in. (Okay! ... in which to work.) I can at last prepare food that I enjoy cooking and eating. Although I felt entitled to a few days off after the craft show, I am putting in a bit of time each day on my mosaics. There are several works in progress on my tables and they beckon to me. 

My writing suffers; I am busy being Mumma! After my father retired, he used to say that he didn't know how he had found time to go to work: he was busy with his garden, with helping friends and neighbours, golfing and travelling. He also had two families of grandchildren a few minutes drive from his house. He was a very involved grandparent. I know just how he felt about being busier than ever. I have certainly had busy years: when I had a house full of children, and then when I was working and had a house full of grandchildren, but at the vineyard it is a slow and pleasant busy. I have time to give to my own work and play, and time to walk in the woods, and read. 

*****

Here is the trout lily. Many that leaf in the woods don't flower, but enough do, I guess, to keep the woods full of their mottled leaves in the spring.

The bloodroot seems more sparse this spring, in the only patch I have seen near us. It doesn't grow on the hill where we are. 

This plant is the azure bluet, it is like a tiny Alpine flower. It grows in a few spots on the meadow.

The Carolina spring beauty is plentiful among the trout lilies on the woods paths:

*****

I am dismayed by the numbers of covid cases happening just now. The pandemic is not over. Rain has expressed concern, however, that school-aged children are not being exposed to common cold and flu viruses and wonders if this carries future repercussions. It is something to look at. Keep well. Be kind to others, and to yourself. 

Mumma Yaga

*****

Potato Chickpea Bread

This would work with regular yeast bread too.

Night before:

1 C sourdough starter

2 C flour 

1.5 C warm water

Mix well in a large bowl, cover with a wet tea towel and leave in a warm place 12 hours (or so). Try oven with light on inside, or on fridge, out of drafts.

Add 3 T oil, and 3 C each mashed potatoes and cooked chickpeas. More or less! A can of cooked chickpeas will be enough, as would 1 or 2 cups of potato. But then your flour amount might be higher.

Mix well. 

Mix together 2 C flour, (whole wheat or white) 1.5 t salt, 1/2 t baking soda, 3 T sugar, (or add 3 T maple syrup to bowl). Add to bowl and mix. . You will need another 2 to 4 C of flour for this stage. When becoming stiff (not you!) turn on to floured board, and using flour you have measured, knead, adding flour as needed (sorry!) for ten minutes, slowly forming into a ball, until dough is not sticky. Wash and dry bowl, oil it and put dough in, turning to coat with oil. Cover with warm wet tea towel and put to rise in a warm place, 1 to 2 hours. Poke with a finger to test: poke should stay. 

Punch down and turn out on floured surface, knead for a minute and form into ball. Cut in half and shape two loaves. Place on cookie sheet orin loaf pans, oiled or with parchment paper. Cover with damp cloth and set to rise (again!) in a warm place, about an hour. When ready by poke test, (take out, if in oven) set oven to 375, and bake for 40 to 50 minutes until browned. Should sound hollow when tapped on bottom of loaf. Cool, ten minutes and remove from pans. Allow to cool completely before wrapping to store. 

This bread is quite moist when done.

You can always punch down the risen dough and let it rise again before making loaves, then rise once more, as I did above. If it has risen too long you need to do this. Too long means dough has sticky, heavy texture, but bread is very forgiving, in general.

cookie sheet orin loaf pans.

end