Ripple

Still flowing, for the moment, but it's a mere trickle and if the weather carries on like this it will have stopped by next week. I went outside to sit on the bench by the fountain to enjoy the pleasant evening temperature but unfortunately was subjected to rants by two neighbours about how the country is going to the dogs (Britain: "Hold my beer").

 In other news, today has been punctuated by the sound of Canadairs droning overhead, fighting a 200-hectare-and-counting garrigue fire about 10 km away.

Apart from that: yet another quiet day at home. The tennis is over: boo! (and not in the way I wanted!) Instead I watched some videos from the online sourdough school I've joined. I've been making sourdough for a good few years now, but there's always something to learn. Vanessa Kimball's approach is very scientific, down to measuring the temperature of flour, water, and dough. I went through the 3-day process of making a loaf to her formula and from the feel of the dough thought it was going to be a disaster: floppy and unmanageable. But to my surprise, after S had fought it into the cast-iron casserole and baked it, it was remarkably good. A bit damp, but a nice open crumb, lovely flavour. As instructed I made notes on every part of the process, so now I can tweak it. I suspect at least some of the problems were due to it being 29C in the kitchen ...

Extra: an uninvited but welcome house guest. Hope Mystère doesn't find it as he likes geckos too.