Thinking about:
Bread.
I’m amassing all the gadgets and gizmos required for making sourdough: proofing baskets, bench scraper, bread lame, thermapen, Weck jars.
I’m going to wait until I get back from Emily’s, though, before I start. I tend to over-complicate things. She’ll help me simplify. She’ll teach me the Zen of Sourdough.
Hiking
I have always loved hiking. It’s my favorite thing, but not eastern hiking. Eastern hiking involves hill climbing, not mountain ascents. The trails around here go straight up through dense trees and spider webs. No gradual switchbacks. Ultimately, the reward is pretty, but not spectacular.
My favorite kind of hiking is in the mountain West: the High Sierras or the Rockies. Yosemite is my soul’s home. But lately, Nikki and I have found a few hikes around here that feel deeply nourishing to me: soft paths leading to streams and waterfalls, as well as mossy, fairy-tale-like spaces. Big shout-out to Nikki for getting me out into the woods.
Nikki
Cars
I got my 2011 Subaru Forester with less than 80K miles inspected the other day, and the bad news is that I may need a new car within the next 6 months. Rust. Exhaust. Brakes. $$$. The mechanic suggested maybe it’s time to get something new rather than invest in something that’s 14 years old. I dunno.
I hate new car shopping. New car having is fine, I just don’t want to research, deal with car salesmen, test drive, figure out options, and packages, and financing. I just want a Fairy Car Mother to make the perfect small SUV appear in my driveway. Is that too much to ask? Any of you have any suggestions? Bring them on!
Health
First, it was my mishap with the tree, which resulted in eight staples in my head. Then my eczemic ear canals decided to close, rendering me deaf and needing a professional ear syringe at Urgent Care to hear again.
Last week, on the weekly hike, I caught my boot on a root and face-planted spectacularly. My left hand, while not broken, is boogered up pretty good, and I hurt a rib.
Then, a few days ago, while brushing my teeth, a filling fell out, resulting in an extraction of a back molar yesterday.
WTF, universe? Enough already!
Project Last Hundred Days
My meditation practice has been spotty to non-existent lately, so for the next 100 days, I have committed to practicing daily with the Waking Up app for 20 minutes.
Reading
This month I read:
A Marriage at Sea (5 stars)
A Trusted Advisor (4 stars)
Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast (5 stars)
Watching
The Bear, which we never finished, so we have a season and a half left.
The Morning Show, which isn’t working for me this season because it’s too closely paralleling real life. And real life is way too much.
Survivor started last night, but we tape it and watch it later so we can FF through the ads.
I’m looking forward to October. We have getaways planned to Oregon and Connecticut.
Onward!
Inspiration Location 
Hi, Kath! I tried to comment by replying to the email I got containing your post, but got this reply from WordPress:
We ran into a problem with your recent comment reply by email. Specifically, we weren’t able to find your comment in the email.
Since there was nothing wrong with the outgoing email, I’m baffled as to why they supposedly couldn’t find my comment. You might want to look into that.
Meanwhile, here’s my comment 🙂:
Kath, as it happens I was just reading Consumer Reports’ articles on car reliability. Based on 20-point annual surveys from more than 300,000 readers (including me), they now rate Subaru as the most reliable make, and the Forester as the most reliable Subaru.
Having owned a 2014 Forester (still on the road in the hands of a friend, with 300,000+ miles), an Outback, and an Ascent, I can recommend the Forester and Outback from personal experience. (The Ascent’s reliability is not great.)
In short, it’s an easy choice: get another Forester! If it weren’t for the fact that I need a pickup to tow my Airstream, I’d be driving one myself.
Best wishes,
Andy Baird (Holly’s RVing friend)
LikeLike