On Bread and Friendship

This afternoon I called a friend just to check in and see how she was, as friends often do

and we ended up solving life's problems, talking shop (oh, sisters in silver (and certainly now copper and brass!), you've no idea how wonderful it is to have common topics of work!!)

and I hung up with a heart so big, so grateful to know

such a woman.

I thought ahead to this coming week when a hero of mine and her teenage son will spend a few days in my company,

reached back to when my sister was here

and how we laughed while kayaking horribly together, two control freaks in a double sea kayak, barreling toward a bank of randy elephant seals, their barks getting louder, our laughter and bickering while we tried to turn...

I thought about the fact that my days are spent working with metals, hides and leaves, listening to country radio and cherishing silent meditation

bustling off to yoga in the evening hours to stretch my sore body and quiet my mind...

and I got lost in gratitude, completely turned around in a forest of women and men I love, deciding to settle in for a spell and adore.

Just adore....

what better activity to do than to make bread while being in love with it all?

It's my mother's recipe from a cookbook now so dog-eared and moth-eaten its binding is gone;

every time I make these loaves it turns out beautifully,

but I always wish I had my Mom with me here to knead, just so the essence of her hands could be in the bread

Today it was whole wheat

And it baked golden and dense, as whole wheat is that...

salted butter pat hat,

I ate a slice in the last of the evening light

and relished every crumb, dining as I was, amongst a crowd of friends.

xoxox,

Allison