Settling In

haha
foggy view of the lake from top of Coon Mountain
my house mate and i
salamander
first burn
wild orchid


Wow, I really cannot believe I am still awake right now. I have been going since 4 a.m. Today was the most eventful day so far I think. I worked four days in a roll. The shift is very intense to say the least but fun and interesting at the same time of course. Baking bread is almost a 24 hour job and very meticulous- scaling during the day (1-2 hours), mixing in the evening (2-3 hours), and baking in the morning (always starting at 4:30 a.m. 5-6 hours). Bread doesn't wait on people. You can take ineffective naps or try to squeeze in reading, biking, hiking, writing letters, etc in between these hours but I haven't quite gotten it down yet. Perhaps once I have adjusted better, I will be able to do these things with more ease. It is hard but I have to give up the coffee and espresso- My first morning with Phil, he had an iced espresso prepared for me and he sat and played his guitar while I cleaned the ash out of the wood burning brick oven. Today was my first semi-day off. We baked all morning but we are closed until Thursday so I won't have to be back in until Wednesday afternoon. Starting June 19th, we will only be closed one day a week!


Today, after baking all morning, my house mate and I went on a nice hike up Coon Mountain. We saw a few pretty snakes, an awesome orange salamander and some wild orchids (i think they were orchids). When I got back, a girl that works at the bakery asked if I wanted to go jump into Lake Champlain and I said heck yeah. It was about 40 degrees. Needless to say, we jumped in and jumped out. After that, my house mate and I cooked a very nice dinner (since we finally had time). Then with our bellies full and content, we walked to a friend's house to give them a loaf of olive bread because they had given us some of their delicious baby greens and spinach. Bartering is the best. Yesterday, I walked down the creek next to my house and I saw about 20 frogs at least. They were all comparatively small- because the last one I saw was one gigantic mother of a frog.

Well folks, that is enough for now seeing as how I can hardly hold my head up any longer. I promise to post more photos soon. I'm sending my love your all's way. Miss everyone. Good night and take care.