Busy, Busy, Busy

 I was late posting yesterday because I awakened at full run. I took Her Highness out in the pouring rain as soon as light broke, and then we went into the village to fetch some cream. While there, I looked around and found that they were selling the kind of meat I use to make the Fried beef dish I love so much. Two packages of this finely sliced beef that I can so easily cut into strips are in the freezer.

I also got some Butternut Squash. I like making squash soup with curry. Armed with all my goodies, I returned to the car and headed home. Not long after I passed the schoolyard, I realized that I had forgotten to get cream, the reason for my trip to the store. So back we went.

When I got home, I got busy cooking and baking. I made a quick run to my neighbours to see what they were making for our lunch together today, but they had no plans. Lynn suggested that she’d make soup, so I went ahead with baking a plumb cake to take. And I made the soup at the same time. I was a sweaty mess after just a short time, so when I was finally done, I had my second shower of the day.

Once in the shower, I panicked. I realized that I had forgotten about my STAMMA meeting on Zoom for group leaders—a meeting I’d been veery keen to attend. So, out of the shower, quickly into clothes and then very quickly into the group chat. I was only there for the final 15 minutes. I was so sorry to have missed the rest of the meeting. But Marylyn, the host, was very glad to see me because she wanted me to tell the group about our meeting with one attendee.

I was very relieved to hear that Zoom meetings with support group leaders is going to become a regular thing. I will never repeat my mistake of yesterday. I am a huge fan of STAMMA and so I feel badly when I screw up like I did yesterday.

I had lunch on my feet. I had some of my soup and a slice of my bread. When I opened the bag with the bread, the fragrance knocked me out. It’s so lovely to smell the bread. It smelled so fresh and enticing. That never happens with the bread I buy, even the artisanal loafs can’t complete with homemade bread for fragrance.

I cleaned up the counter and did some dishes between taking mouthfuls of soup or bread, and then I got to vacuuming, followed by recycling sorting and bundling in the shed. After that, I put the soup in containers and put some in the freezer and the rest in the fridge. The cake looks okay (not great) and will be a part of my lunch today with Lynn and Hugh.

When all my tasks were done it was almost 14:00. My bone spur foot was killing me because I’d been on my feet and go-go-going since 5:30. But it wasn’t time yet to read. I took Sheba for a walk because I’ve been doing three walks a day now that the Winter season is here and I have f-all to do all day. Walking her meant that when I got home, I could read guilt-free.

Finally, FINALLY, I was on the chaise with my book. It was 14:40, and I was more than ready to chill. I read through the balance of the afternoon until I finished the book, and it was time to feed the brood and turn on the electric blanket and television. It was a very productive day, and I have a nice tidy house in which to chill all day today.

It's another nasty day. I’ll walk with our friends and then I’ll come home to drop off Sheba, and I’ll pick up the cake and go to Lynn and Hugh’s place for lunch. 

I ♥️ Aidan and SPACE

It was a cool and damp morning, and my friends chose to walk at Ricki Ave. That meant climbing a long hill, so I was not terribly keen to walk yesterday morning, but once I am warmly dressed and we got ourselves moving, I felt much better about being outdoors. Still, I was looking forward to coming home to a big fire, a warm and cozy house and my book.

When we got home, I opened the book as soon as I could. I could not be happier! I am over the moon about being so engaged by a book again. And I have three more books to read by Mr. Mason. But I must confess, the heat and my joy had me fall asleep as I was reading. I woke up just in time for lunch.

After lunch, it was time to Zoom with Aidan. It was so, so great to be back in touch with him, and as we talk, I am becoming clearer about SPACE. I want to help, but I’m not sure how. However, I find myself advocating for the creation of memberships as a prelude to becoming more active in fundraising and communications.

Aidan asked me about becoming a board member. I told him I’d love to be a board member because if I am to help with technical writing for SPACE, I have a lot of learning to do about their institutional vocabulary and becoming a board member will be an ideal training ground for me.

I’m very excited to be so engaged by Aidan and SPACE. My brain is waking up; I’m reviving an enthusiasm for advocacy work. I’m becoming who I once was a long time ago again, and I couldn’t be happier. And I’m ‘meeting’ very, very interesting people.

My story on the Library of Dysfluent Voices is a hit. I’m thrilled of course, but I’ve been listening to all the others who have submitted their story. And yesterday, the curator of the Library sent me an email asking me to “draw” my voice. He, Connor, is revising his dysfluency font and by asking people with stories on the Library to draw their voices, he hopes to be inspired with ideas for his new font. 

As each day passes, since I met Aidan, I’ve become far more integrated with the international stuttering community. It’s positively thrilling. Stuttering is proving to be anything but a disability; it is opening my mind and my heart to an amazing community of people. My fingers are crossed that I become a SPACE board member because I’m so incredibly inspired by Aidan and by everyone whom I meet through him. I am terribly proud to be part of his world. 

Last night I watched The Great Escaper, a PBS Masterpiece show. And oh my God, I loved it. It was a bittersweet masterpiece for me. I was so charmed by Glenda Jackson when she burst into my consciousness with such fury and genius. It was through tears that I watched much of this program knowing that it was her last work. 

And watching Michael Cain was incredibly moving. He is a master actor and seeing he and Ms. Jackson work miracles in this dramatization of a true and terribly touching story was profound. War stories devastate me. The scenes shot in the Bayeux Cemetery absolutely shattered me. There are five thousand graves there. Five thousand young men were robbed of their lives. War is obscene.

We haven’t had rain for a long time. We’ve had brief showers of angel piss, and overcast skies, but no heavy rain … until today. It’s mighty wet out there, so I’ll be spending my day reading and, yes, doing more baking. I’m going to make one of my favourite fruit cakes: a plumb cake. I’ve an invitation for lunch tomorrow at new neighbours Lynn and Hugh’s place, and I’m taking the cake.

Beautiful Bread

I walked Her Highness in the very cool air of a bright sunny morning after tidying up the kitchen following the messy job of making the shredded beef yesterday. I’ll be making that dish again—and often. It is addictively delicious.  I reckon I’ll find some nice Asian vegetable dishes so that I can put a meal together to serve friends.

It was the first morning that had me doing up my hood to keep warm and wearing gloves. It was one mighty crisp morning, but it was beautiful and bright. When we got home, I got busy making the bread that I didn’t make yesterday. I decided to make two loaves and freeze one. 

I’ve fallen in love with bread making. The smell of yeast is the smell of such a rich history of baking all over the world. I love using my hands to shape the balls of dough one it’s been mixed in the mixer, and the need for rising gives me a rest period in which to clean up or to read. I made simple white sandwich loaves. White bread is my favourite, but fun times are ahead making bread with nuts, fruit and/or seeds.

The dough rose perfectly during the first rest, so I divided into two parts and set them out for their second rest in the two bread pans. Again, the rise was perfect and so they went into a hot oven, and I added boiling water to see if I could get a nice crispy crust. I could hardly wait to eat a piece when it was done. Watching them rise and slowly brown on top through the oven window was very exciting.

I took the loaves out of the oven at 13:00, then Her Highness and I went to Drumbeg to walk while the bread cooled. I wanted a warm piece, but it’s best to leave the loaf to cool without breaking the seal of the crust. When we got home, I warmed a piece and had a taste. It was yummy! It tasted of bread whereas commercial sandwich breads have no taste at all. And the smell of baked bread in the house when we came home was divine.

Next up was some reading before dinner. I saved watching the final of The Great Canadian Baking Show until after we’d all eaten. And after that, I got into bed very early to read. It was a lovely way to end the day. I love my book, and I love reading with my pets around me, all of us on the bed. 

We’ll walk with our friends this morning, and then today will be a chill day. I’ll not be baking or taking on a cleaning/tidying project. I’m going to read and be a good boy about eating. I ate too much on My Day because it’s allowed on my weekly special day. I’ll read and do some light housekeeping, and at 13:00 I’m really looking forward to Zooming with Aidan.

Yum! Shredded Beef Asian Style

Sadly, early in the morning, I got an email from Kelly cancelling our lunch together. She came down with a cold and kindly cancelled. I’m extremely careful about socializing for fear of exposure to a respiratory virus. I’m grateful to her for cancelling.

Facing another day alone at home, I started planning my day and then I got an email from Stacy inviting me to meet her at Mad Rona’s for coffee. I was thrilled, but it wasn’t quite as much fun as I’d hoped. She had her granddaughter with her, who needed a lot of attention, and they didn’t have a lot of time. Besides, it was impossible to have an adult conversation. So, our coffee together was short.

I came home and fed everyone lunch except me. I had a cinnamon bun at Mad Rona’s. And then I went outside to clean up part of the courtyard so that I could fetch wood without tracking in billions of Fir needles and fallen leaves. And then I got started on making the shredded beef that looked so delicious and easy to make in the video. Not so.

Yes, it’s fabulously delicious, but it sure ain’t easy to make. My kitchen looked like a cyclone had hit it when I was done. But it was so, so good to eat, and I have enough for a couple more meals. I was very lucky to have seen some extremely thinly sliced beef for sale a few weeks back, so I bought it and froze it because I had to wait for a hamper full of exotic Asian sauces, wines and dried Asian spices to arrive from Amazon.

No bread was made. Cooking the beef dish took up most of the afternoon. I took Her Highness for a walk while the meat marinated, and when we got back, I fed everyone dinner and then made mine in the wok. When I was done eating, I was beat. I could hardly wait to open my book and read more chapters. 

Now that I have a good book, movies are boring me. I’ve watched hundreds of them over the past year, and I need a break. The arrival of the Simon Mason books was perfectly timed to get me off television and back into books.

Today, My Day, has dawned bright and sunny. We’ll enjoy our walks today, and I’ll also enjoy reading under the electric blanket and having a nice big fire going in the firebox. Another slow day on my own with der kinder.