saint michael's harvest song
in autumn saint michael with sword and with shield
passes over meadow and orchard and field.
he's on the path to battle 'gainst darkness and strife -
he is the heavenly warrior protector of life.
the harvest let us gather with michael's aid;
the light he sheddeth fails not nor does it fade,
and when the corn is cut and the meadows are bare
we'll don saint michael's armour and onward we'll fare.
we are saint michael's warriors with strong heart and mind,
we forge our way through darkness saint michael to find.
and there he stands in glory; saint michael we pray,
lead us into battle and show us thy way.
today we made our harvest loaf.
we gathered together three and one half cups of flour (a mix of white and whole wheat pastry), three tablespoons of white sugar and a sprinkling of salt, one half cup of currants, one egg, a few tablespoons of sesame seeds, flax seeds and sunflower seeds.
at the end i added the wet ingredients: one cup of milk warmed with approximately five teaspoons of yeast and three tablespoons of brown sugar and two tablespoons of melted butter (the story and recipe can be found in all year round).
we kneaded it and placed it in an oiled bowl . .
and then we set it on the windowsill to rise.
and then we set it on the windowsill to rise.
morgana and sandra got ready for their hike uptown to the cloisters . .
how long did it take them?
how long did it take them?
three and one half hours. here's their selfie with the cloisters in the background . .
and a pic of them relaxing on the lawn . . it was also a rather warm and humid day for hiking which i think made it even more tiring.
back to breakfast . . chanda and i had oatmeal this morning . .
and fresh local apples . .
we also started cyrano de bergerac and are enjoying it immensely. it's funny and i have two old movies to watch when we finish; one in french with gerard depardieu, and the other in english with josé ferrer. i've given up on finishing nicholas nickleby with chanda, though i'm continuing to read it on my own. i have many unpleasant memories of reading books during high school that i found too depressing, and chanda has felt the same about this particular dickens book. so cyrano is the replacement. thanks, eva, for the idea!
chanda finally wrote about cahokia for her history of the americas lesson book. eva and her family visited the mound city on their way home from california, which i found exciting. i'm amazed at how i learned nothing about these early americans when i was in public school, but now pre-columbian native american sites have been set aside as national historic parks and unesco world heritage sites. i visited mesa verde, home to the anasazi people, in 1990 and would like to one day visit cahokia in illinois, and also chaco culture national historic site in new mexico.
after lunch it was time to punch down the harvest loaf dough, brush it with egg and set it for a final rise before baking.
we baked it for forty five minutes at 350 degrees . .
and then had buttered slices for afternoon tea before her ballet class. happy michaelmas!
