Cricket in a Biscuit

**Updated: when initially posted, this recipe called for 6 cups of flour. I have since tried it with 6 1/2, and the dough is much easier to handle.**     I never thought I would see the day when I would consider bread a huge expense, yet it has arrived. The kids are eating more all the time, which means far less left over after supper. With nothing in the refrigerator to bring to work, Darren has to fall back on the ol' two sandwich option. Lunch in our house has become a 12-slice a day affair. I've been buying bread four loaves at a time! They last almost a week. Then a lady in my spinning group posted this video: Normally, I would have scrolled on by, but spending right a round $50 per month — on bread , can get a person thinking it might be worth the few minutes spent watching. Plus, it's a solid group of gals, I spin with. Most of them are also foodies, and I trust their judgement. It worked out that Darren and I made a rare trip to the mall shortly a...

This letter has been forming itself in my mind and in my heart for a long time now — years, maybe. Tonight it demanded to be written. Dear Monica, There is a picture of you. The date printed on the back says 2001. It was taken during a camping trip — the one we were all trying to pull the rip cord on Jimmy's life jacket to make it inflate. It is one of my favorite pictures of you, but it has always haunted me. In it you are clearly ill, very thin and wearing a bandana, but there is also an intensity about you. There are three other people in the photo, all partially in shadow. Your face is in full light. Monica, I have always loved this picture. You were so tiny and tough; fragile, yet indomitable. On that trip we went for a walk. The trail was rough, so you held my arm for support. We walked nice and slow, talking the whole way. Sometimes solemn and quiet, other times loud and laughing. Your cancer became real to me on that walk. With every little misstep and stumble the ...