I sit here while the last of the rye loaves bake in the cooler oven of the late evening. I’ve just swept while a few drops of rain softly pattered on the bakery roof, and a few hours ago, the hills were bathed in a warm golden glow as the sun gleamed from between the clouds as it set behind the pines. It was a beautiful light and gave me pause to think; warm for what has been achieved this year, and gleaming bright for the future. Well, perhaps!
I wanted to say thank you from Greg and I and our children, to you our customers, for chatting at markets, for the smiles, for asking questions, for understanding when I don’t make sense because my brain has stopped, for patiently waiting while a young person counts change (or me!) and for being so encouraging, for choosing to eat good bread, and supporting our community. It is a wonderful thing to be able to bake bread for people, and you all enable us to do it. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
Earlier this week while I was walking in the bush, I saw a pair of Spotted Pardalotes, Pardalotus punctatus. They were so beautiful and so unafraid, only a step away from where I stood entranced. Their clear-cut white spots on black wings, rumps glowing from goldenest yellow to red, and orange chest of the male, their friendly faces and unworried flittings, the fact that they were there, was such a special event. It would be years since I’ve seen a pardalote, and to see them so unexpectedly seemed a gift, something I’ll treasure and remember. In this season of festivities, it’s all we can hope that we could all give and receive such a gift, that we treasure and hold dear and all have an element of what is most important to us and the world around us. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and happy holidays 🙂
Love, Betsy, Greg and family.
P.S. We are having a short break to go camping and will be back baking in early January. I have put my mother in the fridge!