Artisan Bread Baking

Michael had a frost delay Friday morning (12/20) until 10 AM.  We both left at 9:45, him to the golf course and me to Pineville to an eye doctor’s appointment.  It felt like the appointment took forever, but the good news is that I have not lost any more vision (due to glaucoma) since my vision test last year.  She still wants to see me 3 times a year to check that my pressure isn’t going up, but she seemed pleased.  

I stopped at the liquor store (a case of champagne), ALDI’s and CVS and was finally home around 1:30 PM.  

So, when I went to the Cooking Fingers Christmas Tea, one of my old bread students came up to me to say that she would love to make the artisan bread as a Christmas gift for someone….but she hadn’t done it in over a year, so she was too afraid to do it.  Also, there’s one guy who never got to take the class…and he’s been bugging me about it….so today was the day.  They were all there within 10 minutes of me arriving home: 

Ron

Judy

Sally

and we made the dough.  It needs to sit for at least 24 hours before you bake it….so I had made dough on Thursday night just before bed.  We got it out and baked it, then all sat around and ate it…it was HEAVEN!!!  

Ron & Judy got me the most adorable and perfect ornament as a thank you:

After they left I was going to change my clothes and head downstairs..I got the clothes changing accomplished, but after that I took a nap  :~).  

We had leftover soup for dinner, then settled in to watch TV and I got some yarn wound.  

In my early years at Travelers I used to work with a guy who would say some crude or rude or totally inappropriate things…then, if you called him on it, he would say ‘oh, I was just kidding’.  Finally I told him he was not and he could just stop saying them.  

Why, or why do we have the same type of person in the White House who has no filter at all…and constantly does the same thing: 

The White House said Donald Trump was “just riffing” when he took a swipe at the late congressman John Dingell during a raucous impeachment day rally, when the president suggested the popular politician may have gone to hell.  

The remarks drew a quick rebuke from the longtime Michigan congressman’s widow and successor in the House, Debbie Dingell.  

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said Thursday on ABC’s Good Morning America that she did not know why Trump decided to suggest that Dingell was in hell. “You’d have to talk to the president about that,” she said.  But Grisham added that Trump is a “counter-puncher,” and suggested Trump was venting his frustration after being impeached by the House. “It was a very, very supportive and wild crowd and he was just riffing on some of the things that had been happening the past few days.”

Trump told the Battle Creek rally that Debbie Dingell had thanked him profusely for providing “A-plus treatment” after her husband’s death in February, including ordering flags flown at half-staff.  He quoted her as saying, “Thank you so much. John would be so thrilled. He’s looking down.”  

Then he added: “I said, ‘That’s OK. Don’t worry about it.’ Maybe he’s looking up. I don’t know.”  

The remark drew wary oohs and aahs from the crowd in Michigan, where John Dingell was a powerful advocate for the state he represented for more than 59 years. The comment came shortly after Debbie Dingell voted in favor of two articles of impeachment against the president.  

Trump then offered: “But let’s assume he’s looking down.”  Debbie Dingell tweeted her response, telling Trump: “Mr President, let’s set politics aside. My husband earned all his accolades after a lifetime of service. I’m preparing for the first holiday season without the man I love. You brought me down in a way you can never imagine and your hurtful words just made my healing much harder.”  

John Dingell was the longest-serving member of Congress in US history  His widow wasn’t the only one upset by the president’s comment.  Republican congressman Fred Upton of Michigan, who voted against impeaching Trump, tweeted: “I’ve always looked up to John Dingell – my good friend and a great Michigan legend. There was no need to ‘dis’ him in a crass political way. Most unfortunate and an apology is due.” 

Grisham insisted that the White House respects the Dingell’s family’s public service, but noted she hadn’t discussed the incident with the president.  “I am very, very sorry for her loss,” she added.

And here's an adorable picture of a dad and daughter: