GRIZZLY PEAR
Driving up McLeod after lunch, I noticed a man on a bicycle with a couple foil balloons.
One each side of him were his two kids.
A trio in the heat, slowly heading home from the dollar store.
The practical man questions such fleeting luxuries.
The father in me knows he’s done right.
I pulled out my long forgotten harmonica and played it while watching the kids run around the yard in the lingering evening heat of the back yard as my wife picked tomatoes off the vine.
I can make noises that sound like blues and bend a little to boot, but honestly I don’t know what I’m doing.
Just pushing some fresh air around, entertaining myself and the kids as the last bits of daylight disappears behind the masonry wall.
In preparation for school, we started baking bread again.
The first one was the classic Jim Lahey No Knead Bread, which basically has a 90% hydration ratio. I had never done one of my loafs using yeast per his recipe, so it felt like a good way to get back into baking. It came out fine, no complaints, but the flavor is a little flat, as to be expected with a loaf using yeast.
The second loaf last week was a return to my old ratio, slightly tweaked due to the summer heat, since we keep the house at 80 degrees and I feared it would rise too fast, it did indeed rise very quickly.
400g all purpose flour (King Arthur)
40g ground flaxseed
320g water
80g starter
12g sugar
That loaf came out fine, but my wife thought it was a bit salty (after all those steamed breads, we’re not used to the usual bread!), and she wasn’t fond of the flaxseed.
So yesterday I decided to mess with the ratios, lowering the salt and starter
400g all purpose flour (King Arthur)
320g water
40g starter
4g sugar
It proofed all day, but I was too tired at night to bake it, so I put it in the fridge. This morning I pulled out the bread and it felt good in the hand so I let it sit a little but it seemed totally overproofed as it reached room temperature.
So I’ve added another 100g of flour and hopefully I can rescue this loaf.
Back in the game I guess.
A few weeks ago, we went up to Mount Charleston. On the way there we picked up some sandwiches at Dakao while my wife and daughter got veggies at the little grocery store next door. When I mentioned that there were some guys playing Chinese Chess at the sandwich shop, our daughter really wanted to watch but we were already on the road. So I promised I’d teach her the game instead.
The next day I picked up the set at my parents house and we sat down to play. She played in her usual silly, amusing way. I’m not even so sure she played as much as moved the pieces according to my advice. But even so, I think we had fun messing around.
My philosophy is that games are for playing, not winning, so I’m OK with that.
When she was born five years ago, I had two games I wanted to teach her – Xiangqi and Mahjongg. I’ve played MJ with her a couple times, and now I’ve introduced her to Xiangqi. Who knows if she’ll really get into either game, indeed I would prefer that she doesn’t become super serious about either game.
But at least this pair of games have now been given flight. Now I’m the one along for the ride.
So our girl stoically walked into school yesterday morning.
But I had a hard time seeing her go.
You’d think all that practice with preschool would prepare me for this. But I had puffy eyes all day.
Letting go isn’t easy, even if it’s just for six hours and twenty one minutes.
But she enjoyed her first day. On to day two!
My wife and I went on a run checking out the movies of Mamoru Hosada. We haven’t had a chance to see his most recent film Mirai, but we did get to see The Girl who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, and Wolf Children.
Each of these three films are fun enjoyable watches;
Each of them are very well done, but they aren’t completely crafted.
Almost there, but not totally.
I haven’t seen a great library of japanese animation outside of Studio Ghibli, but using their catalog as a yardstick, I would place them just a touch below middlin’.
So definitely worth a watch, but don’t expect a classic, even if there are some excellent moments.
Which reminds me, I need to rewatch Princess Mononoke, it’s been a long time since I saw that film.
The kids really do enjoy being pulled around the backyard.
The route is a looping crooked figure 8, with a portion of it on the lawn.
The air is still quite warm, even after the sun has set down beyond the block wall.
I doubt they will remember any of it when they grow up.
But I hope I do.
The girl is reading now, and we recently read Chris Raschka’s Charlie Parker Played Bebop together. The book is a brilliant play on word, image, sound, and absurdity.
Never leave your cat alone.
If you read it silently, it doesn’t seem like much, but read it with a preschooler and ham it up and the silly logic of the book opens up after several readings. I’m not a jazz expert, but it captures the feel and energy of bebop.
On a semi related note, the girl just read to me Cindy Ward and Tomie dePaola’s Cookie’s Week. Don’t leave that cat alone either.
My wife and daughter when to listen to a jazz saxophonist at a free library concert but it was so popular they couldn’t get in.
After they got back home, I pulled up some jazz on youtube so it wouldn’t be a complete loss and came across Unsquare Dance by Dave Brubeck.
I’ve heard the song before, maybe even danced in a performance to it. Or maybe it it was someone else’s performance in the same show. I can’t remember, but still it was good to be reintroduced to it.
It wasn’t the Sunday afternoon we planned, but it worked out well enough. And damn those are some killer tambourines in this performance.
We watched the fireworks at Fox Hill Park last year and this year for July 4th. It’s a bit far from the action but you have a panorama of the city.
There were a bit more folks this year around, presumably because it more people know about it, so there was a nice energy in the park.
Adding to the festivities, the local Las Vegas Tribe decided to have their drum circle on a knoll by the parking lot.
Next to us was a family that tried to have a birthday party at the park, but the day was so hot, apparently nobody came.
I feel for the parents and the kid, but they did seem to appreciate the cosmic compensation of being invaded by a bunch of hippie hand drummers.
Friends are hard to come by in this world, but friendly accidents abound around us.