Day 322

I have decided that I will, probably, (how is that for a decision?) I will stop naming the days of quarantine, and start actually naming the subject matter, like I did in the beginning. I have to think about this for a bit.

Good news. My sourdough starter taught me a significant lesson yesterday. It showed me that I have been doing it all wrong. Go figure! I thought I needed to make five hundred milliliters of a healthy starter, in order to make bread. Not so.

Two, maybe three, years ago, I bought an online course from Mike Greenfield, called SourdoughU. Mike is one of the sourdough people I trust with advise; he, and his brother, Josh, are also Kombucha guru’s. I really never had the time to watch the course, what, with work, the grandkids, and then, my father in law coming to live with us.

Now that I am retired, however, I have gone through the course twice, and plan on a third. There is so much information that I did not understand, but now I do. A new advance in my sourdough journey. Yay!

On a separate note; I have been “plagued”, if you will, no pun intended, with two new, yet, different ailments. A week ago, I started with a left lower quadrant abdominal pain that grew worse until this morning. As the esteemed diagnostican that I am, it felt like, what might have been, an ovarian cyst. Was it? Who knows. We no longer have a physician to call upon.

The other, poor me, is, again, what I believe to be arthritis, in the ring finger, the metacarpophalangeal joint, of my left hand. You can search that, if you want; it just means the joint of my left ring finger that joins my finger to my palm. I have arthritis in several of my knuckles, at, what is called the distal interphalangeal joints, for sure; as do most older people. But never have I had such pain in that joint. It is hard to grasp a glass, or make a fist, without significant discomfort. Again, poor me.

All things considered, with my obesity, and growing really old pains, Ivan and I have made a pact; he will go outside, with me, to ride our bikes, or walk around the park, in return for doing things with him. I have agreed, whole heartedly, and cannot wait to begin.

Until said time of mutual agreement, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.