One of the joys of arising in the morning is to step outside and to take a deep breath of fresh air. This morning, however, was an exception for, as I opened the door and took a step forward, a familiar barnyard smell greeted me. From time to time our neighbouring farmers have to spread accumulated cow manure over their fields and, for a couple of days, the air is a little sharp with the smell of the necessary farm nutrient. By noon, however, the air returned to its former freshness and we soon forgot about the earlier smell. I began to prepare a prosphora for Sunday but, when I peeked into the oven, I was horrified to see a huge crack across the surface of the prosphora. No doubt I used too much yeast, so I had to start all over again, this time even using the second stove in the kitchen. This time, though, the result was favourable, so perhaps I should use this oven in the future [and less yeast]. Meanwhile a group of women arrived to spend several hours cleaning and mostly transplanting flowers, trimming grass in out of the way places and bringing annuals back to life. How much we appreciate their help.