The Last Hoorah

My subscription ran out early Friday morning.  Although I hadn't normally been logging on for fishing during raid time (on purpose), as Thursday evening was my last night, I went ahead and quietly snuck in on my priest alt.  The raid was getting ready to face Ragnaros (regular--they've only got Shannox down on Heroic, so far), and they were down two people, so the officers asked if I would like to tag along, one last time.

Would I?!  I decided Anachan could wake up long enough to see Ragnaros fall.

It was wonderful to see everyone again.  One member of the raid whispered to see if I was the "real Anachan", asking a question for which he knew only I would know the answer.  (It referred to a previous conversation, pertaining to food and my kids.)  The healers told me they had gone down in civility since my departure, but reassured me they would be nice while I was there.  The guild master announced this would be my last time, so we should commemorate it with no wipes.  I had to grin.

Because I was sitting on a bunch of fish feasts and a few cauldrons, I went ahead and dropped them.  (Too bad these things are soulbound, or I would have handed a lot more fish feasts to someone.)

And you know what?  There were no wipes.  We cleared the trash and Ragnaros fell without any real issues.  It was cathartic.

I will miss raiding and playing with everyone, but finally I am reasonably at peace.

Moonglade, T8, Val'anyr, Sentimental Trinkets, Moonkin Hatchling . . . Time to sleep.

I may be revealing way too much about my inner psyche if I confess I actually purchased a ring as a memorial to Anachan.  It is silver, like her eyes (truthfully, I picked up silver because I have allergic reactions to low-carat gold), with a created emerald, for the Emerald Dream.  Flanking the emerald are leaves in Black Hills Gold, appropriate to both her race and her role.  I wear it often, and it makes me smile.

Migrating

With a change in a season of life frequently comes a migration of some sort or another.  In my case, as I change from a WoW player to a non-player, I am now migrating blogs.

I have loved blogging these last two years, whether I had one or three or fifteen people reading on a daily basis.  (As I mentioned once to my fellow-officers, I obviously like to hear myself talk . . .)  But without the continued contact of playing the game, it makes no sense for me to try to maintain a blog based on WoW.  I knew I would have to find something else to focus on and muse about and inspire bits and pieces and anecdotes.

My husband, actually, came up with the best idea.  "You're making all these breads from around the world," he said.  "Why don't you blog about your bread?"

I thought about it.  Blogging about bread?  It reminded me of the synopsis of the movie he keeps wanting me to watch, "Julie and Julia", about a woman who decides to make every recipe in "Mastering the Art of French Cooking", in an effort to "find herself".  Might not my bread explorations be considered something similar?  I put the idea away in the back of my mind.

But I couldn't help returning to it.  Finally, I approached my husband.  "What do you think of 'Around the World In 80 Breads?'"  I asked him.  He liked it.

The next time I made bread, which happened to be cinnamon rolls, I took my camera into the kitchen.  It meant things went a little more slowly, because I was busy trying to juggle adding ingredients with camera shots or having to wash the flour off my hands between steps in order to snap a picture.  But by the time I was finished, I had a fair amount of pictures, photo-journalling my experience with my sister's cinnamon roll recipe.

It was kind of fun.  (Even my daughters, who looked at me taking pictures with odd expressions on their faces, thought it was kind of fun.)

I think I'm going to like this new blog.  I love good bread, and I was already trying to explore the world through bread, so why not document and write about my adventures and experiences?

I know the audience will be different.  I suspect only one person in my guild will have any interest at all, and he is a far better chef/baker than I am.  (Who knows?  Some of them may surprise me.)  But, unlike my WoW blog, this will be one which may have more universal interest.  I can share it with my extended family and my real life acquaintances, as well as others I have known for years on forums.

So now it's time for me to crack my knuckles, take a deep breath, and dive into yet another exciting bread recipe!  I'll write about it after I've watched my husband's eyes roll up in delight as he tastes the newest creation.  (It's good to have someone who appreciates one's efforts, lol . . .)