What could be more appropriate than baking bread for Thanksgiving? Baking bread is good for the nose, good for the soul. I'm baking bread right now, ordinary bread, the kind of white bread that's good for sandwiches, particularly turkey sandwiches. It's good for toast, for French toast, for bread pudding. Homemade store bought bread, the basic stuff that pounds are made of.
Perhaps singing an African Canticle while I bake would be even more appropriate. If I could sing, it would be good for the ears as well as the nose and even better for the soul. Alas, I can't sing. Here's my favorite. I'll just call it a poem and recite it.
All you big things, bless the Lord
Mount Kilimanjaro and Lake Victoria
The Rift Valley and the Serengeti Plain
Fat baobabs and shady mango trees
All eucalyptus and tamarind trees
Bless the Lord
Praise and extol Him for ever and ever.
All you tiny things, bless the Lord
Busy black ants and hopping fleas
Wriggling tadpoles and mosquito larvae
Flying locusts and water drops
Pollen dust and tsetse flies
Millet seeds and dried dagaa
Bless the Lord
Praise and extol Him for ever and ever.
Happy Thanksgiving and don't forget to be thankful.
Beautiful Thanksgiving post! You are right about baking bread...there is something profoundly fundamental to bread. Manna from Heaven! I suppose it is the simplicity yet wholesomeness of the end product coupled with the fact that an effort must be expended. One can not go pick a loaf of bread out of a field. One can buy a loaf of bread at the store, but (unless good bakery bread) it will not hold a candle to one's homemade bread. Have you ever noticed how good bread must be consumed today? Tomorrow it will have lost its magic.
ReplyDeleteLet us be thankful that we have been blessed with an Old Baguette that sometimes allows us to see the majesty in the simple and common. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!