It's been a long, long time

Wow, I can't believe my last post was in April. My family has been very careful about quarantining and staying safe while the pandemic continues. So much has happened, but then again not much because we are self isolating. I have been baking a lot- different breads, donuts, quick breads- I try to limit myself to one or two every couple of weeks. Have read many books- quite a few very light reads (rom-coms), and trying to keep up with my book club selections. Sadly we could not do our annual get together in Rhode Island. We did meet and sit outside on my deck. My husband served pizza and salad and I packaged cookies and chocolates for dessert. We picked our books for the coming year. Our meetings have been Zoomed which is interesting. We may be a little more efficient in our discussion. I think that is because so many are working from home and on the computer all the time. Our October book was How to be an Antiracist which was so interesting and generated a really good discussion. Our November book was Murmur of Bees,and again the discussion was very good. I did not read it because I was on the wait list from the library. Have now borrowed it from a friend and will add it to the top of the TBR pile. Our December book is Red at the Bone, again I am waiting for a copy from the library. Our yearly Yankee Swap will have to wait until the spring or summer (Christmas in July?). The big news is of course the pandemic and the election. I was again the moderator for mail in ballots for my town. I had a a crew of 12 and I believe it went smoothly. I did work more days than anticipated because of the huge volume of ballots and the precautions taken to ensure there was no fraud (there wasn't). Still going back and forth to RI where it is quite peaceful and we keep to ourselves in a little bubble. I take a Zoom exercise class about 5 days a week and try to walk 3-5 miles every day if possible. Our Thanksgiving will be small. My daughters are unable to join us (Covid again) and my brother and his family are not gathering with us as in the past. Next year it will be better. And with three companies having promising results in vaccine trials maybe in the spring things will ease up.... maybe.

Just a couple of picturs taken on one of my morning walks.

Crazy times

It's been a long, long time since I wrote anything. December was a crazy month for me dealing with family stuff. I ended up taking care of my mother's dog when home.

January and February we went to Maui. We had a great time in Maui. Read a lot, did some hiking

and basically relaxed. Had a fabulous meal at Mama's Fish House.

This was our dessert! Amazing. Right before the Covid-19 explosion. In fact when we came home in March, we were not sure we would get home. Our trip home was uneventful and the plane was pretty empty. So glad we got home. We have been self-isolating since March 16th (when we got home). I have jokingly mentioned that I am being dragged into the 21st century with Zooming, online banking and ordering. I have plenty to keep busy- lots of sewing, some reading, some little projects (scrapbooking) that have been waiting for completion for a long time and baking. At first flour was a real issue to find like toilet paper. Now apparently it is yeast! I am trying to limit a new baking project to once a week because I am eating most of it!

Made this Lisbon chocolate cake for Easter dinner. Such a crazy and scary time. I have ventured to the grocery store a couple of times. My son has also helped with groceries. My husband has to be extremely careful because of his health issues. The office closed March 16th. Everyone is working from home. Not sure what will happen with our summer rentals. I have had one cancellation so far. Basically a wait and see. Our book group has had two Zoom meetings which have gone pretty well.

Our book in March was The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. Our book in April was Pachinko. Our next book is Circe. I hope to get an "ebook" to read.

Welcome 2020!

Welcome 2020! Hoping this year is BORING! So many health issues in 2019 looking forward to routine doctor visits. Met my Goodreads reading challenge- actually surpassed it! Read 79 books. I will continue the challenge with another 75 for 2020. I did a lot of bread baking. I decided a year ago to try to make sourdough bread with homemade starter. Amazingly enough I actually created the starter (following #bakerbettie on Instagram) and successfully created bread using my starter! I have made banana sourdough bread, sourdough chocolate cupcakes too. There have been some great recipes on King Arthur flour to try. I really like the Holiday Star loaf. It looks so complicated but is actually very easy.So some pictures to document my success with bread making.

I also baked apple pie for the holidays.

Making our favorite pinwheel cookies for Christmas. I have been making these since 2004! Think I finally got it down.

My book group had its annual Christmas potluck dinner and Yankee Swap. The highlight was posing with Santa! My friend had a pretty big Santa Claus that could "dance" and sing.

And our 3 grand- dogs visited, plus my mother's little dog for the holidays.