It Floats!

Mr S is resurrecting his sourdough. He put it away last week when we thought we might have to leave, but things have changed enough that he’s back to bread making. I won’t pretend that I understand the whole process, but you mix some starter with flour and water, which is then called levain. Leave it overnight to do its magic, and in the morning if a bit of it floats in water, you’re in business! We should be slathering butter on a slice of  fresh sourdough sometime tomorrow. There is an awful lot to be grateful for in that paragraph.  



Air quality was terrible all over town all day; it looked and smelled toxic. App shows dark red dots as far as Monterey. I heard a controlled burn was generating the smoke. But the fire is now 21% contained—very good news. And the University has been allowed to repopulate. (Repopulate is the opposite of evacuate. Who knew?) so it looks like they are gradually letting people back in, at least in areas that did not sustain damage. It’s a different story for the folks from areas that were less fortunate. Even if structures are intact, it could take months before all the safety inspections and waste cleanup happens. And infrastructure—water systems have been damaged, power needs to be restored. It’s an immense task, and so many people are affected. Are they all remembering to wear masks? Teams are beginning to evaluate areas where the fire has died down. There are maps showing the places that are still standing. Lots of families still don’t know if their homes were spared. Opening day for some schools has been delayed. Children are scattered all over the place, and a couple schools are in the fire zone. I don’t know if those schools were going to be live or not when Covid was the only threat. There is so much that is unknown right now.