Many years ago, we visited friends who served us fresh, hot bread – it was a real treat. They made it in a bread machine that they’d bought from DAK Industries – we liked it so much, we bought the same machine and named it R2. We made a lot of bread over the years; eventually, R2’s paddle got scratched up, but we were able to buy a replacement on eBay and we kept using the machine. After Jeff left for college, we used it less and less, but it’s always had a place on our counter.

We didn’t have any bread in the house for Shabbat, so Diane plugged R2 into the wall and made one of our favorites, English Muffin Bread. Even though the flour and yeast were fresh, it didn’t rise a lot – but it was tasty, and that’s what counts.

Shabbat Shalom!

It’s been a very busy day – I’ve felt like I’ve been running behind ever since I woke up.

As usual for a Thursday, the day started with a Toastmasters meeting followed by a walk, a trip to the chiropractor, and grocery shopping.

By the time we’d made and eaten lunch, it was almost 1:30pm. We were going to watch a “Sip and Sail” presentation about Portugal from Ama Waterways (we had planned to take their Portugal cruise in late August; we’re now booked for 2022) at 2, so I hurried to put away the last of the condiments.

As I turned the top shelf of the lazy Susan, it suddenly dropped by nearly a foot. Nothing spilled, nothing broke – but this was clearly not a good sign.

We emptied the shelves and I looked at the problem – eventually, I discovered that a set screw had come loose allowing the shelf to drop under its own weight. I pulled the shelf back into place and tightened the screw (and all the others I could find). Since everything was out of the cabinet, we got rid of some items we didn’t need (like cornmeal that was six years past its “best before” date) as we reloaded.

There’s more room in the cabinet now. And I’ve put a note on my calendar to tighten the set screw in five years or so.

I’ve had a few pairs of New Balance 990-series shoes over the years; my most recent was a pair of 992s, which are showing their age. I wanted to buy more, but the reviews a few years ago talked about their developing a “cat pee” odor if they got wet; I switched to other shoes.

I needed shoes again this month; the current New Balance model is the 990v5, and the reviews I saw online didn’t mention the odor, so I ordered a pair, which arrived today. We went out for a quick walk and were surprised by a sudden shower halfway through – we were fairly wet by the time we got home.

I am pleased to report that New Balance has solved their odor problem. The shoes felt comfortable, too; I am, so far, a happy customer.

We got our first rain of the season this afternoon, but the morning was nice, with the sun shining through the clouds.

We continued stocking up on essentials – today, 18 boxes of Cheerios arrived from Costco (last week, it was 18 boxes of Shredded Wheat and Bran from Walmart). I’m not expecting a shortage of cereal, but you have to order a LOT of it to meet the minimum for free shipping!

And we spent too much time watching the news. I was hoping for video or at least audio of Rudy in the Pennsylvania court, but had to settle for reports on Twitter from lawyers who were following along. Perhaps Stephen Colbert will have something. And then there was the Flint County fiasco – that got me to suggest watching two hours of MSNBC for analysis and discussion, even though I knew that the board finally agreed to certify the results.

Watching Ted Lasso after that made me feel a lot better.

It was a beautiful day today, so nice that we had lunch outside. The morning was pretty cold, though – we had to be do our workout inside with the trainer (in a big room with no one else there). That won’t be possible next week – Santa Clara County (and much of California) got demoted all the way back to the Purple Tier, which means the only thing open inside the JCC will be the restrooms.

We also watched V for Vendetta in preparation for library trivia on Wednesday (the host promised questions about the movie). We’d seen it when it first came out, but I didn’t remember much of it (hence the rewatch). I am glad I didn’t watch it just before the election – the similarities to today were very disturbing.

After that, we watched another Ted Lasso as a palate cleanser. Neither of us wanted to stop after one episode, but we mustered the willpower and did it – tomorrow is another day, after all!