Happy Memorial Day

I'm down here at the bakery, have been for a number of hours. We are closed today. As you've been reading, this whole artisan process thing forces us to never miss a day. If we are going to have goods to sell tomorrow, we need to start them today. I'm in the bakery by myself. Few visitors stopped in, they knew I would have coffee made. Arturo, our lead night baker, stopped by to be assured the starters are ready for tonight's production, and pull a few things out of the freezer. Six pm, it all starts again.

While I was here early morning, the radio was on, they were talking about Memorial Day. They talked about the numbers of folks we've lost in battle. They played an interview with Ken Burns, author of "Band of Brothers". A little later, I was in the freezer myself, I was removing puff pastry dough that will thaw overnight. It was cold, and I was cursing under my breath. I came out of the freezer and I felt guilty about complaining. In one episode of Band of Brothers, they portrayed the battle of Bastogne. It was winter, our soldiers were pinned down in foxholes, knee deep in snow, awaiting attack. No fire, couldn't create smoke. They were all huddled together, shivering. Those guys were cold. I don't think any of us know cold like they knew.

My dad is a veteran, he was a sailor in the Pacific in World War II. Still sees his Navy buddies annually. He's told a story many times, about loading wounded GI's onto the ship he was on. The did a kinda fireman's water pail line, passing these stretchers from one ship to another. He gets choked up when he remembers one of those wounded marines, thanking him, for lighting his cigarette.

I'm not waving the flag here. Don't want to create any political unrest against the bakery. Just want to make sure we all know why most of you have the day off.