adjusting.

Awhile back, I was feeling bad for the trouble my dietary issues inflict on our household. Boy is voluntarily gluten-free, simply to reduce exposure for me.

Anyhow, I was lamenting that he had to eat gluten-free bread. One day, I tasted the China Black Rice bread he likes so much. He toasts it and spread nut butter on it. That day, he had cashew-macademia butter.

It tasted like cake, like dessert. It was decadent and fabulous and rich. And here I'd been feeling guilty for months, while he had an incredibly tasty snack every single day.

Recently I was feeling the guilt again.

Boy's a good guy, he pointed out that I bake bread for him almost every week. When I don't bake bread, he gets his black rice bread treat.

I hadn't tasted the bread I make for him because it goes in our old bread machine, which is a gluten-contamination source for me. Last month, I finally baked it the old-fashioned way, in safe ovenware. He's been getting incredibly good, wholesome bread from me. It tastes like real bread. He considers it a treat. It doesn't require toasting to be edible.

I didn't bake bread every single week back in the gluten days. It was reserved for special moods and holidays. Now he gets almost every lunch with homemade bread.

I suppose this isn't such a hardship for him, after all.

Sunday Drive

Today we wanted to go to the mountains, but had some housestuff to do first. After the mowing was done and lunch was eaten, we headed out. We're both too tired to hike, so we just decided to drive from Rockfish Gap to Swift Run Gap on Skyline Drive. Forgetting that it's now October (peak tourist season), we ended up waiting in line at the entrance station for 15 minutes. Fortunately, we have a pass, which means those folks behind us lucked out since we were at the window for about 30 seconds.

Out West, the National Parks all require photo ID with the parks pass. Back here in Virginia, they don't give a damn. They *do* have a card reader here (to swipe it), but the magnetic strip on my card is faulty, so it has to be keyed in. The parks out west didn't have card readers. They just looked at my card and stared at my driver's license. Weird.

Anyhow, it was a pretty day for a drive. The black walnuts are starting to turn red, but most other trees are still green. The higher elevations (3000'+) show a bit more color variance, but not much. In another couple weeks, I imagine the upper elevations will be pretty bright. By the end of the month, it should be gorgeous.

We got out to sit a couple of times, just enjoying the afternoon. We came back through the countryside in the foothills, via Dyke and Free Union. It was lovely.