A hard-working day. The bread is well advanced, and I will be able to tuck it up in the refrigerator for the night fairly soon. The extra hydration went well. I put in olives, which are breaking through the beautiful smooth sheets of gluten in a rather alarming way.

The work isn’t hard, but there are lots of little separate episodes. It starts with making a “levain” – some starter, flour and water. This time I put it near the Aga, and it was ready for the next stage in five hours or so. Last time, I had to wait until the end of the afternoon before I could start doing everything else.

Then in the midst of all this, some plants that I had ordered weeks – if not months – ago, turned up. I have dealt with some of them, and may be strong enough to do a bit more this evening.

And I knit some more sleeve.

Comments

Peggy, I think you could be right that the avocado would like a summer outdoors. We are now in the few Scottish weeks during which there is not likely to be a frost. (There was an ugly one in May.) I’ll see what I can do, about getting help carrying it out.

I am grateful for your 10-best-books lists. Gretchen, I don’t know Ursula LeGuin or Kim Stanley Robinson, and will have to investigate. Beverly, I’ll happily swap Age of Innocence for House of Mirth. It was just a make-place to indicate that I wanted Edith Wharton. But I will cling to Mansfield Park.

I love every syllable of Pride and Prejudice, but I love every syllable of Mansfield Park better. And I prefer its darkness. Mr Darcy is utterly wonderful, but real life does not offer many such. Henry Crawford, ¾’s villain, is much closer to young men I have actually known. And his sister!