On the move again...

A few years back when we moved to the Pacific Northwest, I really thought we had come here to stay. We love the landscape, the food (especially the bread and the seafood), the people, the vibrancy of Seattle and Portland, the proximity to British Columbia, the islands, the ferries, the rainforest, the mountains, everything except maybe for the climate: summers are extraordinarily beautiful but the rainy season does tend to linger... Although, you know, even that isn't entirely accurate: what we discovered about Seattle is that there is truth to the local adage that when you don't like the weather, quite often you just have to wait an hour or so to be rewarded with unexpected bouts of glorious sunshine. But still, I'll give you this: most of us don't move to Seattle for the weather. However we would never have moved out because of it either and even as I write, I already look with longing at the greenness of it all: green trees, green bushes, green lawns (except in the dry season when they turn to yellow), green everything.
But see, we used to have kids in the area and we no longer do. They moved back to Northern California last summer. After several months of pondering, we decided to follow. Onwards to an environment of golden vistas and drought-resistant yards. It will be quite an adjustment, I am sure. But a happy one too. And as much as I love the Northwest, I'll be glad for more sunny days and long walks on nearby beaches.
The house is sold. We found good homes for what we couldn't take with us and packed the rest. All my baking stuff is already down in California (our son came up to help us pack and drove back with it), so that right now this baker's only connection to bread is eating the loaves stored in the freezer, which is good but not as much fun as playing with dough! I have a couple of Meet the Bakers posts lined up but they will have to wait until we settle down again. New starters will need to be created, a different oven experimented with, local ingredients sourced and tried out. All this plus a visit to our other kids across the country next month is making for a busy start of summer with little computer time. So please bear with me if I don't post much for a while... I'll be back as soon as things quiet down a bit.
Also, if any of you are traveling to the south of France this summer, I'd like to point you towards a bakery which a friend of mine is opening this Saturday in Marseille: it is called Dame Farine (it means "Lady Flour" and it has no connection to this blog) and it is located 77 avenue de la Corse (more photos on facebook). Marie-Christine is an excellent baker and I can't wait to visit her bakery myself. If you go, please say hi! to her for me and send me pictures of her bread!