Wow, really fat pregnant ladies have no time to blog because they are too busy eating. Thanksgiving was delicious and wonderful and, yes, Maggie, I did think back to that one magical Thanksgiving years ago when Jamie Berger made the most wonderul turnips in the whole world.

But speaking of eating, after two and a half years of a struggle involving probably at least fifty dollars of flour( whole wheat, white, rye, spelt-- you name it! ) and mounain spring water and untold amounts of tears, fist shaking and wailing and grinding of teeth, I have FINALLY baked a sucsessful loaf of sourdough bread. What does sucsessful mean?

It is useless as a weapon or projectile object, being light and springy in texture.

It will not break any fillings in your teeth.

My children ask for repeated slices rather that giving my strange mistrustful looks.

Ben doesn't say. "Well it's not too bad."

Now part of the suscsess is due to the fact that the starter was from Dian who got it from Sophia who got it from the magical city of San Francisco, and was not a starter of my own concoction. But I did nurse it back to health following the move in our wonderfully chilly north facing clothes closet which apparently is the ideal temperature for the little yeasties.

So I can now die a contented woman.

I also managed to knit Ben two hats this past week. The first was horrible and looked like an old lady hat. I think Ben gave it to the girls and now it has disappeared hopefully forever. The second has turned out much better and now graces the head of our little family.

Lastly the midwife came today for the home visit and I was all embarassed because I didn't have me records from Karen yet and the Cascade Health people hadn't sent the birth kit yet and then while the midwife was here the UPS man deliviered the birth kit. Talk about convenient timing! So now I can breath easy about the baby comming. (otherwise we were going to have to look around for something to use as a cord clamp. ) The other good news is Hatke # 3 has decided to be an obliging little one and become anterior! Hooray!!!! I thought I got him to shift positon when I was doing my hands and knees exercises but I wasn't sure. Mary Ann says he has definitiley shifted positions which will hopefully mean shorter less intense labor but we'll see. I am not out of the woods yet. If he decides to return to his wayward ways she gave me the phone number of a chiropractor I can go see. I'd rather not, just because I hate "seeing" anyone. I loathe the dentist, doctor, tax person. You name it. All those things are appointments that keep me away from important buisness like growing starter in my closet, and blogging. Sheesh.

I need to go to bed. I will post pics of the sourdough when I get around to loading them.

I am glad it is rained so much today. I finally checked out the book Dian recommended to me from the library called "The Omnivore's Dilemna." It is a fascinating read though slightly depressing and scary as well. You can bet that meat in the grocery store doesn't look the same anymore. It is interesting though. The author explores three meals and the systems and ingredients behind all of them. The first meal, industrial, the second agrarian, the third hunter/gatherer. So first he eats McDonalds and then a chicken dinner supplied by local farmers, the last, a meal hunted and gathered by the sweat of his own brow. (I'm at the third meal now.)

As for me, food is theme of the day tomorrow as we prepare to gorge ousrselves again this Thanksgiving, I will be baking pies all morning while Ben does the turkey again this year. He is very good with roasting large animals, something I am not good at. Perhaps some day we will have a large open fire with a lamb turning over the spittle, like we saw in the little hostaria in Montagnola.--that was indeed the very best of my Tasis memories. . . . .

Update

No I haven't died, but we did sell our house and move to Indiana so things have been more than a little crazy the past couple weeks. I am finally back to having internet and we are living in the apartment Angelica was born in, a little servants quarters of an old Victorian, complete with a woodstove and clawfoot bathtub. It feels a little bit like Italy. I do miss our big yard in Virginia though as it was wonderful to have the woods right outside but as the cold weather approaches we usually do more indoor things anyway.

I was very exited to find that there is a farmer here who does local produce drop off in front of the hardware store once a week all through the winter as he grows stuff in solar greenhouses too. His lettuce which I sampled last week was incredible and the best part is you order the produce online and pay with paypal. I guess Joe Saladin is right and the internet really could be responsible for revolutionizing the way we find our food.

I went up to the midwife today and baby's heart sounds good, I have gained weight---something I was worried I wouldn't do with the move, and the coolest part is there was this little Amish couple who was just finishing their postpartum check-up with their first baby. They had a tiny newborn in little Amish clothes. I have to say the dark cloths look a little stark on a newborn---but the little Amish bonnet was cute. Our baby is posterior (AGAIN! Rrrrrrr) So I am banned from comfortable armchairs for the remainder of the pregnancy. Mary Ann is however going on 1500 deliveries now so I am in good hands.

Oh and my sister in law had her baby, a little girl, Ana Louise. She is tiny and very cute. Even cuter than the Amish baby--but then I am a parital aunt. She has the most wondergul long toes I have ever seen.

Otherwise I am running around like a mad woman trying to get life organized before it gets disorganized again as soon as possibly two weeks from now (when I'll be full term. ) At least three of my mothers four pregnanices were Christmas babies so she is very sympathetic and comming to be with me after the baby comes. I can't wait to see her! (its been a long time.) We did talk on the phone the other night and she told me she got to see Gravagna in the snow before she left. Che Meraviglia! I am tutta gelosa!

Enough posties for now.