12 rosemary rolls
Mixed: 9:30 am
Molded: 11:15
Baked: 12:20
Gave to handymen, Pat and Jack

Everyone had left for the coffee shop; I stayed behind to start on some bread. I wondered who I might be able to share some rosemary rolls with in this remote setting here in Vermont. With no neighbors nearby (we are staying at a 200-year-old farmhouse on lots of open acres) I prayed, while kneading, for someone to share with…
…and then in walked two older gentlemen, Pat and Jack, straight into the farmhouse. They startled me at first, and I startled them. Neither of us knew why the other was there…

I came to learn, through a very lively conversation, that they are retired, but work a bit doing small side jobs in the neighborhood. I liked them immediately–they were funny and open, and seemed to think it humorous that I was enjoying the rain.

And it was raining. Southern California is not known for its annual rainfall, so I’m always a bit childlike when it starts to drizzle. I immediately want to send everyone outside to dance in puddles and sail boats down the street gutters. We rarely get to wear rainboots… And though we didn’t pack any rainboots for this summer adventure, just the thought of them made me happy.

“You know,” Pat said with a grimace. “Here in this county, it rained 23 days last June.”

I pondered 23 days of rain in one month while I continued baking and told the gentlemen to come back in three hours for some hot bread.

So off they went to clean a neighbor’s barn and three hours later they were back.

Feeding new friends, in the rain, in an old charming farmhouse, in a Vermont that smells so green and alive, with lots of time and space to pray… It doesn’t get much better than that.

Today is a good day to be thankful. Don’t you think?