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This afternoon would have been Day 4. It was marked on my calendar, for quarter past three: Feed Sourdough Starter. The soupy concoction was rising nicely, building in size, growing larger. Yes, indeed. My little kitchen experiment, my first attempt at making starter for sourdough bread, was humming right along.

That is, until I preheated the oven to warm up a couple of slices of leftover pizza. Argh!!

Per the instructions on the website I’m following, it’s important to keep the starter cozy and warm in a 70-to-75-degree environment. The site suggested placing the jar, with the bubbling, potent mixture, in the oven with the light on for short periods of time.

However, I forgot that my sweet, little monster was in the oven when I set the oven temperature. To a scorching 400 degrees.

Ruh-Roh.

So. Back to the drawing board. Begin again. And this time, I’ll place a sticky note over the oven controls every time that space is ocupado!

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Daily writing prompt
Do lazy days make you feel rested or unproductive?
View all responses

Used to be, when I was being lazy, I hovered between feeling guilty and feeling glorious.

After I retired, it took almost six months before I could sit back and feel at ease with those days when nothing much was ever done or accomplished under my watch. Shortly after I left work – for good, on March 15th, 2017 – All Hail, the Ides of March! – I started keeping a WIAT journal: What I Accomplished Today.

Some days, the only thing I write down is the word nothing while some days there are several entries. Over the years, I’m increasingly just fine with that though truth be told, those nada entries, are pretty rare.

It’s all good. I’m at peace.

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SO tired and weary and distressed by the utter chaos, hatred, pettiness, poison, misinformation, un-American-ness and division of this regime.

Sorry.

Just HAD to vent…

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the lake today was divine.

we trolled the perimeter,

nice & slow & easy —

I took the helm, briefly,

piloting twisting curls

atop the water’s glass,

jumping & jostling across

our own wake.

*

later, you relayed

a few Hegseth outtakes

from today’s uber-odd military confab.

mood-killer on steroids, that’s for sure.

damn you, MAGA morons. all of you!

not once, but twice

you animated this monster

to the detriment of all.

I’m so angry and outraged,

worried and frightened.

Seriously.

Is this really what you all wanted?

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I am truly fearful. This country has turned into a dangerous, divisive, unstable republic. All thanks to one ‘man’ (hardly a role model for any young boy, or girl!) and the millions of misguided, hateful, misinformed voters who not just once, but twice, put this despicable, deceitful, self-serving moron into the office of the presidency.

And then there’s this….

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Uber-fans, like me, of the 1979 classic All That Jazz will recognize those lyrics from a film that chronicles one man’s journey toward his demise. The movie is chockful of spectacular performances and never fails to fill my eyes with tears.

Yesterday, less than a month after my own mother passed away, I attended the funeral of a beloved uncle. Sitting there, during what seemed an interminable though well-intended sermon, it occurred to me that I’ve reached that stage in life where one by one, my elders and eventually my familial peers will eventually meet the same fate. As will I…

There will be more funerals, the gaps between each one and the next more slender; they will not occur as infrequently as they did even ten years ago. My mother’s remaining six sisters’ and their spouses’ bodies are in decline, some more evident than others. My husband’s family, even larger, tells the same story.

We will be attired in black, yet again, many times in the coming days, weeks, months and years. None of us know the when only that the if will never fit inside the equation. Never has.

Angelique, the Angel of Death, who troubles and endears Joe Gideon in the film, is beautiful and charismatic. Joe both adores and fears her. Not yet, he tells her at one point, and she demurs, backs away, allows him to live a bit longer.

May we all live – well and truly! – just a bit longer though one day, this same inevitability will arrive for each of us.

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The holiday hoopla is over and done. All fine and well and good. It’s a New Year. We’re moving on. Already, resolutions made and broken. Such is life.

And now, the COLD spell begins. I saw a headline in my Google feed this morning containing those dreaded, winter-month words, polar vortex. Yikes! I remember well, those frigid days and weeks, from just a few years back.

Ah, well. Bring it on, I say. We’re Iowans, Midwesterners. We can handle a few frozen temperatures. We’ve got Netflix and Hulu and Apple + TV. There are LOADS of books on our shelves and downloaded to our Kindles (and we know where to get more). There’s the Internet! Streaming! Painting tutorials: watercolors, Bob Ross, acrylics! We’ve got quilting, reorganizing, Sudoku, baking bread, crock-pot lasagna. Take-out, for crying out loud.

Knife sharpening!

The miraculous wonders of YouTube….

Yeah, we’ll manage alright. That doesn’t mean we have to like it.

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I want to apologize to those of you whose blogs I follow – and also thank everyone who continues to visit and support A Sawyer’s Daughter. The last couple of months have been pretty busy and the rest of October promises to continue in like fashion.

One of my morning rituals is scrolling through my Reader and catching up with what others have posted and offering my comments and Likes. I’ve been pretty lax in doing that of late and hope to resume my contributions as a member in good standing in The Land of Blog after we make it through the rest of the month!

We’ve been absorbed in all things ‘boat’ this summer and early fall. Husband just finished winterizing our new toy and we’ll be hauling it to the storage shed later today until warmer days return next spring and we can once again take to the water!

I’m hunkered down this weekend and will be likewise so throughout the first of the week preparing and distributing ‘poetry packets’ for next Saturday’s Iowa Poetry Association’s Fall Workshop. For the past three years, I’ve served as the Spring / Fall Workshop Coordinator and while I’ve enjoyed the experience, I’d like to step down now – yes, now after I’ve finally gotten everything all figured out and have my methods and processes down to a (somewhat) well-oiled machine! I’ve decided it’s time and I look forward to just being a participant instead, going forward.

Most pressing right now, however, is that both my husband and I are also dealing with the health concerns of our parents. Bill’s dad has back surgery on the 21st and he will be staying with them, out of town, for at least a week. In the meantime, my mother was just diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer and it looks like her doctors are moving quickly in response. She has a troublesome heart so that will play into any available treatment options which they will discuss with her next Thursday.

October is my favorite month of the year but with all that’s been happening, I’m not able to fully enjoy and appreciate it as I’d like. But — the weather has been absolutely glorious this year and for that I am so grateful!

Take care, friends, and I hope to reconnect with you all after the fun and spirit of Halloween gives way to the thankfulness of gobble-gobble in November and the wintry joys of the holiday season throughout December — and beyond!