Good Morning

Good Morning
Originally uploaded by korcepaul

Happy Saturday.

We had guests last night, what a nice time!
The girls are watching a film from the library.
I am making carrot ginger soup.
We are painting the ceiling (ouch my neck!).
It is unseasonably warm and a hike is calling my name- I need to spend some time with my son.


I am working part-time with women who are fleeing domestic violence and living in a shelter. Their lives are turned upside down and many have numerous lessons to learn. I think it's good. I love that my paid work in life has been used to make life better for people. I have learned to see beneath the exterior of people, to know there is not necessarily bad or good but a complicated history. Everyone has a story. At my last job, I worked a full-time with foster children, their biological parents, their foster parents and all service providers they were linked with. Stories of a 12-year-old orphan who was sent to live with a distant aunt and forced to sleep in the dog house with the dogs all winter or the girl who witnessed her mother's murder at 6 or the toddler who is the same age as your own daughter with an intentionally broken leg are hard to keep in objective perspective. A wave of urgency runs through your veins to help all be well for these kids. Yet in many ways, integrating and fixing these dark places will be their own life's journey. I could only assist in their safety and external success. As a result of this work, I can never see an adult without imagining the child in them. The child who hurt, the child in fear, the child without a voice, the child who may have moved from stranger's home to stranger's home with a black garbage bag full of broken toys and holey clothes always enters my mind when interacting with a difficult adult. I see that child in everyone-even my own mother.

I am particularly excited to see the film Precious, a story of a 16-year-old girl in Harlem who weighs 350 pounds, has been abused by her mother and is pregnant fro a second time by her father. Given my career path, I can say I know this story and I look forward to this film inspiring many to see the child in all people.

Have a good Saturday!

happy halloween

happy halloween
Originally uploaded by korcepaul

pumpkins
friends
poker
dancing
apples
children
glow sticks
school party
parade
chocolate
and them

First Snow Fall

First Snow Fall
Originally uploaded by korcepaul

The apples are processed, dried and put away.
The veggies are processed and put away.
The garden is covered and ready for spring.
The grass seed is planted again.
A mouse found his way into my kitchen and ate the pinto beans.
The first fire in the fireplace.
The car top carrier with camping gear is in the garage.
The Chacos are in the closet.
The World Series is underway.
Soccer is over.
Snow pants, boots, wool.
Wolf Creek is open Saturday.
Winter is here.

What To Do With Apples?

We have picked so many this year! On the most recent pick my basket was nearly full because I shook a branch and the apples that fell really FELL. Several on my head!
Anyway, the last week has been an interesting series of making applesauce, apple pie filling and dehydrating. Nonetheless, I love it. I am thinking about canning some apple butter, but then I think that I really do not like the stuff. Anyone with some ideas? Claire just loves it all! Fall is divine, with richness, with love of home and abundance. So thankful for seeing what real abundance is after the melancholy of recent weeks.

And even though many of my favorite cooking supplies come from thrift stores, I am sad to say goodbye to Gourmet Magazine a source for many of apple recipes and Epicurean dreams.