Bread!

I made bread today. Well, I should really say I baked bread today. I preheated the oven and the baking stone, then I cut the dough in the Tupperware in half, rolled it into a boule, topped it with sesame seeds, and set it to rise. I have enough dough left to make another little loaf next weekend.

I let it rise about 45 minutes but it didn't get too much bigger. (I think my yeast wasn't up to par.) But I baked it anyway and here's how it turned out. It's not very big, maybe as long as my hand, but it sure smelled great. I confess that I've eaten quite a bit of it, some while it was warm (yum), and some instead of supper. Who could resist fresh-baked bread and butter? Not me.

The next drawing lesson was Fabulous Fish. I like it. I even like the tiny circles that represent scales and the bubbles coming out of its mouth even though fish don't blow bubbles.

And the next herb was Purple Coneflower, aka Echinacea. Which is actually pink. I've always wondered if the person that named the flower was color blind since I've only ever seen pink ones, never purple.

This afternoon I went out to fill the birdbath and decided to fill the feeders since they were all empty, even the suet cakes. I wasn't expecting to see any birds so quickly but this one Sparrow showed up to sample the seed in the round feeder. The Red-bellied Woodpecker showed up this morning but only stayed a second because the suet pellets feeder was completely empty, not even crumbs in the bottom.

I tried to work on the manuscript today more than once. I just can't wrap my head around it right now. I have to figure out what Rose's stakes are and nothing is coming to me. Is she in danger of losing the B&B? How could the warring women affect her business? I do not know but that's something I need to figure out before going forward. I'm so frustrated by it and I think that's part of the problem. Help!

--Barbara