Hello, friends. I’m trying to re-establish a routine and a very important part of my routine is writing this blog. I can’t think of a better time to jump back in than with Three On Thursday since I know several of you participate in this weekly exchange of ideas.

Today I’ve got three things you should do for someone who has experienced a traumatic event.

1. Check in with them every day. It can be a text, a phone call, an email, whatever is easiest. Tell them you are thinking of them, ask them how they are, and (this one is key, I think) tell them there’s no need to respond. By doing this you are letting them know you care and are thinking about them but also that you aren’t putting any burden or responsibility on them to take care of you.
2. Do something for them without asking. I had countless people say, let me know if there’s anything you need. That’s wonderful and I appreciate it very much. But even better were the people who just showed up. I had a friend drop off coffee and avocado toast from my favorite coffee shop. She didn’t ask, she just did it. And that was smart because the reality is that if she had asked I would have said no. Someone, and I still don’t know who, had a meal delivered from a local restaurant. Again, they didn’t ask. They just did it and it was a wonderful and thoughtful surprise. One day last week my sister-in-law Mary called me and said she was going for a walk and she wanted me to join her. She didn’t really ask, she made it pretty clear that she wasn’t going to let me decline. And oh boy did I want to say no but when I tried she insisted so I did it. And it was one of the best things I did all week. If you can’t think of anything specific you could always try saying, what can I do for you today? Providing a specific timeline is helpful when it comes to filling an immediate need.
3. Send a card or a note. This seems like such a simple thing but it really means a lot to walk out to the mailbox and gather a stack of cards to read. Just knowing that someone cares enough to make that effort is huge.

As an update, we are doing well. Dale saw the surgeon on Tuesday and he said his leg is healing right as it should be. The Physical Therapist comes for the first time today. We are learning to adjust to his temporary mobility challenges and navigating new territory as we face the emotional fall out of this whole experience. I’ve said it before but I’m going to say it again because it means so much: the love, support, and compassion we have received from all of you is making a gigantic difference. Thank you.

Don’t forget to include your link if you wrote a post for this week. It’s good to be back.

My thoughts are scattered these days, friends. Today I am sharing 3 sort of random things that are on my mind.

Sick of: certain words and phrases. Repeat them with me, won’t you? Quarantine. Unprecedented. An abundance of caution. At this time. Social distancing. I can’t wait until these phrases are in our past and not mentioned every damn day.

Committing to: uploading my photos to flickr more frequently. I’m good about taking photos every day. I’m even (mostly) good about prepping them (I use instagram a lot for that and then remove them before anyone sees them) but I’m awful about getting them on flickr. And I know, I know, no one uses flickr anymore, but for me it’s the best tool for creating the mosaic I share here every month. On Tuesday I had to add the entire month of April and it was a pain in the ass so I’m going to really try to do this at least weekly.

Grateful for: the way the natural world continues despite the pandemic. Hummingbirds come back, birds lay their eggs, bulbs grow and bloom, perennials push up through the ground, it all just . . . happens . . . as if nothing has changed.

Those are my Thursday things this week.

If you wrote a post to share with everyone please add your link below.

There are a lot of people out there these days experimenting with sourdough. And I’m one of them. I like to joke that I was a little bit ahead of the curve since I actually got my starter from Sean on March 7th, a full week before any real shut down and grocery store panic started. But I’d be lying if I didn’t say that my enthusiasm for sourdough has been enhanced by the fact that so many of my friends are also learning to work with it at the same time. I’m far from an expert but I have found some thoughts to share on sourdough and today I’ve got 3.

1. Get the book Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson, the man who co-owns Tartine Bakery in San Franciso with Elizabeth Prueitt. This book has a ton, as in way more than you need, of information. It’s just a fabulous reference book on sourdough bread. You might also check out Tartine Bakery’s instragram page because Liz Prueitt has some great videos up there on the process of baking sourdough bread from start to finish.
2. Get the right tools if you can. You can absolutely make sourdough with things you already have, I bet. But if you can get a well established starter from a friend (mine, as I said, came from Sean and his came from King Arthur Flour [it’s not available at this time, FYI]) that’s going to help. Also helpful? A dough scraper and bench knife, a lame, a kitchen scale, a banneton and a dutch oven. Remember that Le Creuset one I bought a couple of months ago? My timing couldn’t have been better on that. These tools are really well explained on this blog post at Homestead and Chill.
3. Figure out things to do with your discarded starter. The recipe for the popovers I made is here. And the cracker recipe can be found here. I added Everything Bagel seasoning to mine and that really enhanced the flavor. I know people also make pancakes and waffles and more. I even made crumpets one day! Using your discarded starter will help you feel like you aren’t wasting it because you do have to throw away (or share with someone else) quite a bit.
4. Finally, a bonus tip from Kim. Name your starter! Kim claims this helps her to remember to feed her starter and, while I don’t know if that’s true, I do think it’s a fun idea. My starter is named Mama Cass because (a) starter is often referred to as a mother and (b) San Francisco is the home of sourdough and I associate The Mamas and the Papas with San Francisco culture.
5. Actually, I have one more tip to share and it’s probably the most important one. RELAX. It can be really intimidating to read about all of the tools you can use and try to absorb all of the information out there. But you know what? It’s just flour, salt and water. If it doesn’t come out right, try again. Yes, it’s time consuming and frustrating, yes, it can take all freaking day, but it’s always a learning experience and, at the end of the day, it’s just bread. And also, with regards to that all day thing, there are ways to make it fit with your own schedule by slowing down your fermentation in the fridge overnight.

I hope you’ll share your sourdough stories with me whether you have tons of experience or are just starting out.

Please share your post in the link party below, I’d love to have you join in this week!

Did you know it’s National Library Week? Yeah. Kind of a dud this year given that libraries across the country are closed. I’m hearing from a lot of people who miss going to the library . . . and I don’t just mean my colleagues and I! If anything it’s giving me a good feeling to know that libraries are as relevant as always, even when we are exclusively virtual.

Here are 3 things libraries are doing right now to make a difference:

1. Making collections available virtually. You can read the first Harry Potter book right now with no restrictions. You can access Ancestry from home. You can read magazines and listen to audiobooks and download ebooks. I realize some of this varies depending on your library’s budget but if my rural library community has these things I’m betting yours does, too.
2. Using 3-D printers to create PPE. This is a case where my library isn’t involved (no 3-D printer for us) but libraries around us and across the country are helping out by making face shields and mask straps. It’s an amazing thing to see technology repurposed and used to make a difference.
3. This last one is a catch all of all the fantastic things libraries are doing: extending due dates, encouraging people to use WiFi in their parking lots, offering online programming and virtual events, relaxing rules around obtaining a virtual library card, using social media to engage patrons, and sharing resources and information from trusted sources.

I wish I could tell you that my library is doing all of those things but last week my entire staff, with the exception of myself, was furloughed. It was (and still is) a difficult time for all of us as we are a close group of 10 coworkers and we miss each other and our library patrons very much. I had a Zoom meeting last Thursday and gave my best effort at encouraging and uplifting all of them, hoping that this time will be over soon, and offering my best advice for navigating the unemployment process, but I was heartbroken and they were, too. These days when I’m at the library I’m there by myself and it’s very very quiet, something people always think is true of a library but generally isn’t true at all.

Ironic, isn’t it?

If you wrote a post for today please include your link below and thanks for joining me this Thursday.