Give thanks to God - he is good and his love never quits.

Back in July, Sadak Hassan Abdi, aged 18 months, was acutely malnourished and his mother was afraid he would die. But a combination of hospital treatment and special food from WFP has restored him to health and provided a striking illustration of how the right action can be critical in the Horn of Africa.

Coffee beans, snow fungus, and Sponge Bob

First, for good measure, let's throw this up here from a prior post:

Now, as a disclaimer, I fully admit to being a gringo (i.e. – Foreign White Person) and I also do not have any experience in critiquing food other than what my tongue and stomach end up thinking about something. I am not trying to be culturally insensitive.

Okay, that said, whoever thinks that going to a Panasian market is like going to a grocery store, it. is. not. It is like going to a travel agent who also happens to be a clothing designer who also can read your fortune and who is going to tell you that buying a variety of pickled vegetable products is in your immediate future. At least that's how it was for us this Sunday when we went.

We entered said Panasian market with high hopes to buy one particular item.

No, not that item.

We wanted to purchase "shredded vegetable" in a can. As far as I've been able to figure out in the 5 years and 5 months I've been with S, shredded vegetable in a can is a mustard plant, pickled in pepper spices, and cut into little slivers. The result is a tasty, extremely salty treat that is best eaten with rice:

Soy sauce:

Does the regular mushroom soy sauce feel inferior to the "superior" sauce? Perhaps so.

and tofu (of which I bought three cases, but of which did not take any pictures, because there was just so much else going on).

Instead, we bought flour cakes, moon cakes, shredded radish, rice (we had two unopened bags at home already), mochi, seasoned bamboo shoots, and ramen.

We were delighted that mi gente were somehow represented among the other cultures:

 And we delighted in the presence, if not creepy the presence, of our favorite cartoon characters:

Most importantly, undoubtedly, is that we found an ear picker. This is the tool S uses for stratching the insides of his ear. This is the tool he lost over a year ago. This is the tool he, since that point, has substituted with all of my bobby pins. For $0.99, though, problem solved.

There's no question that will be back to this Mecca of Panasia. and soon.

September pond run

A week before the amazing race, I finally had the foresight to remember my camera on one of my last trail runs before October. Can you believe we're headlong into fall? I knew the quickly changing seasons would freak me out.

The run is approximately 20-30 minutes, and it covers the distance right outside my front door, a quarter mile down the street, out of our community and into a group of horse trails, across the street from a lovely horse farm close by.

The horse trails run parallel to one of the largest ponds on the reservation by our place. Yes, there are bugs there, and it's humid, and there may be a puddle or some horse poop to look out for but...

I know - it's straight out of Dawson's Creek. I love it. I can't wait to run here in a month or so when it is truly autumn (i.e. the humidity and bugs are gone), to look out at the clear, chilled water and feel at peace.

I'm so thankful for this race up ahead. It's brought me so much already - an appreciation of the cause at the heart of the race, the ability to bond with my long-distance buddy across months and hundreds of miles, and the self-discipline to put one foot in front of the other.

With the 14-miler out of the way as this Wednesday, it's home stretch time. I'll run for 30 minutes or so a time or two this week, and on Friday, I travel to Orlando to git 'er done.

I'm telling you to love your enemies.

I don't know much of anything sometimes, but I do know that the greatest, most powerful, most just man who ever lived (and who ever will live) gave his life for the weak and the sinful, while countless men before and after him kill, claiming that they somehow are great enough to have the authority of life, somehow powerful enough to execute the end of life, and somehow just enough to challenge the mercy, grace, sacrifice and wisdom of the only judge who matters.

http://www.ncadp.org/

Awestruck

Sometimes I am just awestruck that this is what we do. I get so floored by the impact my organization has the privilege to have on a week by week basis.

No, we're not the WHO, but a  thousand little kids who probably speak a dozen different languages are going to hear a story this week that they are likely to carry with them for the rest of their lives.

Then next week, we get that privilege again. So cool.

Easy Sunday

Today we went to the Big E for the second year in a row. Last year we were newbies - this year we were ready.

Here are some of our favorites Big E elements:

Food

Fauna

Friends

When I first moved to New England, I was sad that county fairs weren't really a big thing here, in that they didn't particularly exist. But S's friend L was kind enough to let us know that all you need in a fair experience can be yours, times six full states at the Big E. Thanks, L, for taking a chance on the new kids. We've loved our Big E adventures together, and we can't wait for next year!

Stoneham Day

Welcome to Stoneham, a town just north of Boston, of which I am apparently all set PR-wise to run for mayor.

Withstanding how very appropriate I look next to this fine town's hall, I learned just yesterday where Stoneham was, in preparation for their town "day," on which one of my favorite artists would be performing at the Stoneham town common.

Cue me waking up late, and then S and I rushing to the as of yet unvisited town, only to catch the last 30 seconds of the amazing Brett Dennen's set.

Goodbye, Brett. I love every bit of your music and your message. I promise that one day I will pay for a concert starring only you, I will show up early, and I will be in the front row.

Luckily, Augustana had yet to go on stage, and they were fantastic too.

It's become a fall time tradition for us to see outdoor music up here in New England during the month of September, just as the weather starts to turn (it was in the mid-60s today), but the grass is not yet too chilly for our flip-flopped feet.

I can't believe that in the course of two months, all the leaves on the trees will flame out and die, and then there will be snow.

Until then...

September's Outlook

My Outlook calendar organizer looks like a sub-optimally played out game of Tetris.

Of course, I plan to get myself together.

Intention is nine-tenths of the law.

Right?

Happy almost Friday!

LH's Epigram

Oh, God of dust and rainbows, help us see
That without dust the rainbow would not be.

Birth

I have a friend. I will call him T, because that’s his first initial, and that’s how I – D – roll on this blog. It’s T’s birthday today. Happy birthday, T!

There are lots of great things about my friend. I work with him, and my favorite thing about him, in a completely selfish way, is that he is so easy to work with. He’s smart, kind, funny, and so extremely hard working that it baffles me. He goes from plane to school to plane to school making this world a better place. And he never draws attention to himself. I am fairly sure he would hate that I am writing this blog post, because he never wants anyone to make a big deal about his birthday or about him.

But it is his birthday today, which got me thinking about something that will probably offend a lot of people. I don’t claim to be in the business of offending people. But sometimes, me, we, all of us, may need to be offended, so that we can live as the people we were truly meant to be. Or so I think. So here goes.

T was born today. So were thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people maybe, still living on earth here and now, with a chance to hope, dream, give, be. Tens of thousands of people were born on this day, people who are now somewhere else in eternity, and they made the human race a part of what it is right now.

And the rest of us, whose birthday it is not, we’re here too! Here or there, having contributed or having still the opportunity to contribute.

Last year I forgot why the flags of my country - the geographical space within this created universe where I was born one unseasonably warm day in February - were at half-mast on this day. I did. I remember looking out at the brilliant late summer sky and marveling at the sun behind one such flag mast and being thankful for the beauty of life.

I’d imagine that experience is available to all of us, today and most any given day. To connect to the reality of it all. That we live and we die, but we’re blessed if, no matter when or how or where we die, we have been fully alive, we have known God, and we have witnessed a glimpse of God’s majesty as mortals.

We’re blessed when we know in our hearts that there’s more love in the birth of one child than there will ever be hate in the truly hateful act that killed 2,996 on this day. And - this is so important to consider - that there’s so much more beauty in the cultures of the people who killed and the people who perished than there will ever be ugliness.

So please honor today by living in a spirit of gratitude for what beauty we all get to have in the time given us.

And if you happen to see my buddy, tell him “Happy Birthday!”

Mindful

Understanding our interconnectedness is not a spiritual luxury; it’s a societal imperative. J K-Z

To read the whole article, go here.

I think this may be one of the most important things I teach my children one day. Not my cat, he's a lost cause, but my kids.

I'll be writing more on this tomorrow in a sense, because most of what I write here has a common theme - to be authentic in what we're waking up to every morning to have ongoing gratitude for that responsibility.

But how we isolate! And how we feel that our feelings are so very unique to us.

We are unique, but our lives are constantly being interwoven with our common Creator.

To live that is really, simply, just to live purely. 

To understand that, for my cat and my kids and myself, takes so much time. 

Deep Thoughts with DMV

Dear God,

Please make this huge old pimple on my right cheek disappear as soon as possible, so that I can take new passport pictures and submit my renewal application.

Ten years is a long time to have a pimple on your face.

Day late, dollar short

So I am two weeks behind in my running training schedule. Two weeks!

This lag started when I went on vacation and continued when I hosted the lovely J as she vacationed here. Then training hit at my work. And Irene. Irene during training.

I am talking about this as embarrassing as it is because this is public health - being real and accountable and talking about why we make health decisions and excercise decisions and why we make excuses not to make these decisions.

I had a great 4 mile run today, but all I am thinking about now is how to make up two weeks of running by this Sunday. It shouldn't be to bad, but I do need to get on it now, because the race is 25 days away!

If I am truly honest, I am a little scared to run my longest training runs, the 12.5 and the 14 miler. I have been surprised at how much I can ru in the past few months, but also frustrated at times. The 11 mile run got my body to a completely different place than it had even been running - I actually felt how my hips were involved in the process, I took short stretch breaks, and I went through 2.5 bottles of water. It is infuriating and yet liberating to push my body to it's limits in a healthy way. I am so lucky to have a friend running with me every step of the way who inspires me to keep going, and who laughs with me and as regail one another with our running fauxpauxs and funny times.

Here's to the amazing race. Here's to being honest and open and working on myself even when it's two steps forward and one step back. And most importantly, here's to October 1, 2011, when we kick this half-marathon's booty.

Castle Island

With all there is to do, sometimes it's fairly overwhelming to live in this area.

I'd imagine I'd feel this way in other places too. For instance, I've never traveled extensively on the west coast. I feel like I would have a million spots on my wish list in Arizona or New Mexico. But right here in New England, after two full years of settling in, I have yet to visit whole states like Rhode Island, or anywhere in Connecticut that I haven't been to just for work. Add to that much of Western Massachusetts and Northern Maine, and there's just way too much to see.

But Castle Island, S and my first stop as we are beginning to explore the Boston Harbor Islands, was a fantastic Labor Day trip.

Castle Island, with its causeway swooping around Pleasure Bay, is close to the airport and, of course, the harbor. As we strolled around, I got excited every time a plane took off and moments later, we'd see it overhead. I've spent so many flights looking down at the land and water on my way to Baltimore or somewhere for work, and today, I got to see those trips in reverse.

There was also a large freight station right on the island with which I became pretty obsessed. I kind of react like a preschooler when I see things in life that are new to me still, like these huge cranes in vibrant colors that they had docked there.

Castle island is also home to Fort Independence, which was once a British stronghold prior to the revolution as was also the Boston Public Health Service's hospital starting in 1799.

We had a pretty great time just people watching, and boat watching, and people-on-boat watching. It was fun for me to participate in a civic holiday, being traditional as I am about commemorating special dates and having adventures when adventures are due. It couldn't have been prettier outside either - with a mix of sunny and overcast skies and lots of big wind gusts.

Soaking up the sun, perhaps one last time before it's fall, was a gift fit for these two laborers.

Hope you had a nice holiday weekend!