Loaf Learning

Mike baked his first semi sourdough gluten-free loaf today; it tasted good, actually, but he thinks it could be improved with a bit of roughage, like fine oats.

Our son's fiancée has fairly recently been diagnosed with celiac disease, so it's crucial we eliminate gluten while she's here. It´s a learning curve, any hints gratefully received. 

The good news arrived sometime this afternoon - Duarte, our mechanic, has drained out the petrol, replaced the filter, and got our car working again, we are SO grateful. Should be able to pick it up tomorrow in time to go down to Faro to collect Paul and Felicity.

The bad news is that Rodrigo's sheep got through the fence around our ten new trees, and eaten the lot. Mike thinks the trees will survive, but we'll get nothing from them this year. It really upset me, we've been watering them and they were looking so good, covered in leaves, blossom, buds, tiny fruit. And I was so looking forward to Paul seeing them, as he helped plant them. 

The thing is that we need the sheep to keep the vegetation down because of the risk of wildfire. In fact, it's a crime to have it high after the end of April. Mike has strengthened the fence, but the problem is that the sheep are hungry and desperate. 

Gratefuls:
- Duarte salvaging our car without too much expense
- Jaime finding the sheep and getting them out before they'd totally destroyed the trees
- our kids caring about us

They say troubles come in threes - we've had the fall off the ladder, the petrol in the car, and now the trees. Hopefully, we can now move on to a more peaceful time!