~and the roof overhead has no holes in it~

I pulled out a loaf of homemade bread from the oven Saturday afternoon and although it will never taste as good as the bread my mom used to make, I'm not doing half bad.  The dough rose nicely and the kitchen smelled delicious as it baked to a golden brown in the oven.  We let it cool for a bit and then proceeded to sample a couple of slices of it with butter.  

There's nothing like the heel of a loaf of fresh bread.

Lucky for Mike and I, there are two of them.

Long ago, back when I was so much younger, I used to bake bread on occasion.  Then I got out of the habit of doing it, mostly because it took so much time from start to finish.  It was easier to just buy a loaf of bread or break open a package of those frozen rolls that so many people use.  Baking bread was not at the top of my most important things to do in life list and for quite a while I got along with that excuse quite well.

Then came the pandemic and the time of Covid 19.

I remember the day that Mike and I went to the Dillon's store in Arkansas City to try and buy a few groceries and things to get by on if a total lockdown because of the virus went into effect.  I'll never forget the shock of seeing the entire bread aisle decimated.  What once was filled with a variety of breads and rolls was now about as barren as the Arctic tundra in the winter.  Both of us just stood there, wide-eyed and mouths gaping open, surveying what had happened.  It was a sign of the times ahead and truly for several weeks afterwards it was more common than not to have zero luck in securing a loaf of bread anytime we went to the store.

It was after the second time of finding nothing to purchase in that part of the bakery when I suggested to Mike that perhaps it was time for me to start baking fresh bread again.  I couldn't promise that it would be blue ribbon winning, that's for sure.  But at least it would be something in case the current shortage continued on into the summer.  Finding the key ingredient in bread making, packets of yeast, became the epitome of going on a that proverbial wild goose chase nearly every time we went shopping.  There were days when the flour section of the grocery store had few offerings for shoppers as well.  Yet somehow we managed and after trying several different recipes,  I finally found the best one to use for our purposes.  

More than 6 months into this time of living in a different way, I am remembering all of the ways that our life here at home has changed.  That change has brought about a whole new way of looking at what is happening in the world around us.  Seldom have we gone out to eat since March, opting more likely than not for simple take out if we don't already plan to eat at home.  We watch church services online rather than attending in person.  I'm thankful to go to school each day and have the kind of job that I always dreamed of having, but I never leave my classroom and venture into the hallways without wearing a face covering of some kind.  And sadly, it will be well into 2021 before I feel it safe enough to get on an airplane to see my granddaughters once again who live more than 2,000 miles away from us here on the Oklahoma prairie.

Yet in everything, I still give thanks.

I am alive and well.

There is food aplenty in the cupboard.

And the roof overhead has no holes in it.

(1 loaf bread recipe)

Mix 1 packet of yeast into 1 1/2 cups of warm water.  Add 1 T flour, 2 tsp. of sugar, 3/4 tsp. of salt, and 2 T butter into the yeast/water mixture.  After the yeast has bubbled, start slowing adding the equivalent of 3 and 1/4 cups of flour.  Mix/knead well.  Makes a nice loaf that you bake at 350 degrees until the outer crust is nice and brown.