"What Has It Got in Its Pocketses?"

Pockets have always fascinated me. My parents have always loved to tell a story about how when I was about Bella's age I would say to them, "I have a secret," and then whisper in their ears, "Pockets." I was delighted the first time I read the Hobbit to find that a pocket and its contents played a key role in Bilbo's riddle game.

Also, I think the catalog is one of the greatest forms of poem. Homer uses it to marvelous effect in The Iliad with glorious the catalog of ships. Thus one of my favorite scenes in all of literature is the catalog Mark Twain gives us of the contents of Tom Sawyer's pockets.

And so in that spirit, I offer a list of the contents of my jacket pockets as a sort of impromptu poem and sketch of my days as a stay-at home mother and housekeeper. (This is my everyday 'round the house gray hooded zip-up jacket that I put on as soon as it is cool enough in the fall and will keep on until late spring or early summer and will feel bereft of most of the summer as in general my skirts do not have pockets.)

In my right-hand pocket:

• My iPod Touch
  
  
• Two AAA batteries I collected off the dining room floor when I was sweeping this morning.
  
  
• A one dollar bill I found on my dresser last night
  
  
• A tissue
  
  
• A folded paper with last week's menu plan roughed out on it in pencil (written on the back of a notice from our paper delivery guy that he is returning to Brazil after Christmas).

• Two socks I confiscated from Sophia just before nap. She insisted that I put them on her feet. They were too small and kept falling off; but she kept insisting. Finally I tired of the game of continually putting them back on and I shoved them in my pocket and put a different pair on her feet. Ones that fit.
  
  
• Half of a purple crayon. Removed from the dining room floor when I swept this morning.
  
  
• A tube of chapstick. Obviously for chapped lips. The girls' lips are terrible just now and I try to apply it liberally whenever I can.
  
  
• A tube of lanolin. Also for chapped lips. Put in the pocket when I couldn't find the chapstick.
  
  
• A green butterfly barrette and a blue butterfly barrette. Probably picked up when I was cleaning. Sophie always asks for barrettes and then removes them after no great length of time and abandons them all over the house.

Bread in Five Minutes a Day?

The other day Dom sent me this article: Artisian Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I love fresh-baked bread. I love baking. I love the idea of baking every day. But I just don't have the time. At most I seem to be able to bake a loaf one a week.

This, if it tastes good, would seem to be the answer.

On Saturday I mixed up the flour, water, salt and yeast right before nap time. I made the basic boule recipe, substituting white whole wheat for two cups of the flour. A little fiddling was necessary-- adding water to get the dough to be as sticky as the recipe said it should be.

I let it rise for several hours, loosely covered then shoved it into the refrigerator. This morning I pulled it out, scooped out a lump and shaped it into a ball, put it on a semolina dusted pizza peel to rise for 40 minutes. Then I baked it for half an hour.

This was very easy. Definitely do-able with my weekly schedule.

The result: Pretty good.

A smallish loaf. About what we'd need for one day.

The shape was a bit too spherical, about as tall as it was wide. I think I should have pressed it down a bit.

A lovely crusty exterior. A light and fluffy crumb, very tender. A nice slightly sour taste.

The girls were not as impressed. They don't like crusts.

I've probably got two more loaves left in this batch. Then I may tweak a bit for the next batch. Perhaps I'll try their whole wheat sandwich bread and see how it matches up to the honey whole wheat recipe I'm already using.

Still, on the whole I think this is something I can work with. I really love not having to do the whole process in one day. And no kneading is a huge plus. With three small children, one of them a totally-breastfed infant, somehow a crisis always arises just in the middle of kneading.

St Francis de Sales on Patience

Thanks to the lovely Jennifer at As Cozy as Spring for sharing these words from St. Francis de Sales today:

Be patient with everyone, but above all with yourself; I mean, don't be disturbed about your imperfections, and always have the courage to pick yourself up after a fall. I'm very glad to hear that you make a fresh start each day. There is no better way of growing toward perfection in the spiritual life than to always be starting over again and never thinking that we have done enough.

But most important, don't lose heart, be patient, wait, do all you can to develop a spirit of compassion. I have no doubt that God is holding you by the hand; if he allows you to stumble, it is only to let you know that if he were not holding your hand, you would fall. This is how he gets you to take tighter hold of His hand.

Maria Stella Maris

Sophia sings: "Like a diamond in the sky...

Up above the world so high...

Ave Maria

Ave Maria...

Twinkle, twinkle little star..."

Bella Reads to Sophie

Poor Sophie. Mama was nursing Ben and didn't have room in her lap for that big book. Luckily Bella came to her rescue and 'read' her some of the nursery rhymes.

Of course the rule of small children and cameras is such that as soon as she realized the camera was pointed at them, Bella stopped reading and began to interact with me.