I have added a link to my recipes [just above Worldly Distractions to the right of the entry], where I will keep a running list of the recipes I refer to in this journal. I have not found them all yet, since the journal has been around since 1999, but I continue to search and include.

Here we are, doing our spring cleaning in December when everyone else is putting up their Christmas trees and singing carols.

Does anyone sing Christmas Carols anymore, I haven’t since, well, the last I remember was Grade 8, in elementary school, too bad.

Weeks ago I was sitting at the computer happily clicking my way through something, when I began to sneeze. One sneeze, two sneezes, and on and on it went. The entire day was punctuated with my loud outbursts. Wood heat is wonderful, efficient, warm and soul nourishing. But it is a dusty affair, with all that wood moving through the house, and dust drifting out of the firebox as the ashes are cleared. Finally, admitting that air quality may be at issue, I began to research electronic air cleaners.

We found an air cleaner on sale, but of course there were not any left when we finally had an opportunity to visit the store. We obtained a rain check but then time went by, the product was still not stocked and the rain check expired. Weeks had passed and the situation had not improved. Then Attila came down with a virus that settled in his lungs and has a puffer to inhale in the mornings. That did it for me. We picked up the prescription for the puffer and went directly to the hardware store where we purchased a large HEPA air cleaner. The cost was far beyond what we had planned for, but there is a five-year warranty so that the unit should be of service for quite a few winters to come.

The air cleaner was easy to take apart, affix the pre-filter, reassemble, plug in and turn on. Within the hour there was a noticeable difference in the air quality. Since we turned on the switch I have sneezed four times in total. Attila is recovering nicely.

At first Mist was thoroughly put out by the noisy, blustery machine in the corner. She retreated to the bedroom and it was a few days before we found her sleeping on Attila’s easy chair again; it is one of her favorite haunts. Now Mist ignores the noisy beast entirely, it has faded into the background of her world, an insignificant annoyance.

I continue to work on my genealogy project. Currently I am tackling my source list. What a mess. Some sources are well formatted, as I took the time to set them up properly. Other sources, sadly the majority of sources, are quickly jotted jumbles of the pertinent details. Since all the facts are there, it is a matter of reconfiguring the information into the MLA format. I have 1,010 sources, and have managed to check and reformat about forty of them. Goodness! It took almost ten years to collect the information and therefore it seems worth the investment needed to set the sources right.

My last loaf of bread was the best I have ever baked in my life. Lionel the sourdough starter is coming into his own. It was a high topped loaf with a slightly chewy and highly flavoured crust. I seldom eat bread, but in this case I made an exception and ate two slices after the loaf came out of the oven.

Right now I knead my bread in the Zojirushi bread machine. We bought this machine in 1996, as best I can recall, and it has baked our daily bread since it arrived in the post all those years ago. It is getting a little long in the tooth and I know that one of these days I will need to replace it. After some research I have decided that when the time comes the Bosch mixer looks like the way to go. Making bread is a very necessary part of life.

At the end of the weekend, things are a little shinier for the dusting, a little clearer for the filters and another loaf of bread sits rising on the hearth.