Making bread, breaking bread

Today was one of those sumptuous Spring days in Central Oregon, warm and smooth, yellow and rich, a day like softened butter.

After 18 hours of sitting and rising, the sloppy wet dough was ready to pop into the Dutch oven, the recipe clipped from the Oregonian while I was in Salem last week trying to figure out the fluid dynamics and surface tension of Oregon lawmaking.

I didn't learn what I wanted about governance, but the YMCA just down Court street from the Capitol has a nice weight room and will let me lift for $12 per day.

The rule-of-the-today was that everybody had to be outside. Except the 17 year-old, who fell asleep at noon, recovering from his all-night birthday party in the garage, where he hosted six friends, the goobs played X-box all night long. My job was to take them to the movie and back, buy pizzas and be a presence. Good boys, every one. No worries.

The bread came out better than I'd hoped, I was beginning to worry I'd lost my palate, even boutique store-bought loaves had lost their flavor, and all went stale in hours, it seemed. The recipe made a great round loaf of country bread, my twin daughters love it with a thick spread of butter, I dip it in olive oil with a splash of dark wine vinegar. Lauren won't wait for the new loaf to cool and warns that this is one of her few addictions, that I may not start baking fresh bread regularly.

Sitting in a deck chair with my feet on the railing, I grew drowsy over a book listening to the rhythm of Lauren typing, kids laughing, Molly my dog chasing a butterfly, her teeth made a popping sound when she snapped and missed, I remembered the commotion when my first dog decades ago played the same game and caught a yellow jacket.

Aunt Ruth called to remember my Mothers Birthday, St. Patricks' Day, my mother a woman who died too young 33 years ago, while I was in India, she'd seen too much, drank too much. Every year Aunt Ruth calls on this day, to reconnect, to remember.

Today was a day to be open, to read a book outdoors, drink fresh cups of coffee all day, hug the girls and the boys and be glad of Spring, plan and provision a short vacation trip for four kids and four pretty good size dogs in a 38 foot RV. A day to nap in the sun.