Rosemary Rolls–shared with neighbors
Seed cookies–shared with science class
Sourdough on the rise…
My youngest is attending preschool for the first time, two mornings a week. It’s his first foray out of the house–and his play time gives me a few extra moments to really concentrate on my Madeleine, who is homeschooling this 8th-grade year. The school is just a two-block walk, and they have dance class, and art class, and music class, and a playground with water features! Plus, they get to go to the library… When Madeleine and I walk John Ronan to school, and settle him into class, we always longingly look at each other–wishing we too could stay the day there and play!
Though John Ronan is a clear machine boy–with a penchant for underground pipes, copper downspouts, gears, lights, levers, and pulleys, he’s also a baker’s son, and a baker’s grandson, and a baker’s nephew. Bread abounds in this family, so I laughed when the preschool teachers handed me two books that he had checked out, both about BAKING. Too funny.
The one I particularly liked is Sun Bread by Elisa Kleven. The story begins,
The wind it whooshed, the snow it whirled,
The rain streamed down; it sloshed and swirled
And washed the colors from the world.
The prose is really lovely, and full of humor, and the story centers on a very grey and wintry world that a baker makes bright and cheery by creating a giant loaf of bread that looks like the sun. This world is populated by creatures of all sorts who are invited to share the sun bread,
“The baker’s made a sun!” they cried.
The baker let them all inside…
And filled them up from toe to head
With puffy, hot, delicious bread.
Then, they dance and sing while eating bread, and eventually the sun itself finally comes out to play. The baker’s giant loaf of sun bread reminded me of this loaf that my brother’s made a few weeks ago.
This would be an adorable book to bring out in the middle of winter, just when you and the kids are starting to tire of the white sky and grey clouds… I know it’s only fall now, but the days pass quickly and before we know it, winter will be here!
Meanwhile, I’m off to the preschool to return the book and collect leaves along the way. Our sky is blue today, but I just might shape the sourdough that’s rising into a giant sun anyway!
The Woman and the Wheat 