Celery and Food Security

Last week at the grocery store I heard a woman exclaim about the price of celery, "That's ridiculous!  I would NEVER pay that much for celery!"  I looked at the celery and it was about $1.39 per bunch.  A decidedly high price, to be sure.  Her words remained with me throughout this past week, as I wondered what she will do as the price of not only celery but all of the other food in the grocery store continues to climb to more and more seemingly ridiculous heights.  And I was brought once again to the concept of Food Security.

The Smell of Hope and the Smell of . . . well . . . Something Else

A guest pastor at a church I once attended preached a sermon on hope. He spoke of hard times for his family and his people when he was a youth. But in the midst of that hardship, he said, there was hope. He knew this because he could smell it. Many was the afternoon when he would arrive home from school or from the fields to be welcomed by that smell. The smell of beans and cornbread cooking was, for him, the smell of hope. He went on to say that once he was eating those beans it was no longer hope. That was something altogether different.

Pride and Indecision

I have been in a bit of a quandary the last several months.  For years I have been a corespondent/mentor for several men in prison.  It all began with two young men I met in Brooklyn.  These two brothers made a deep impression on me and every time I went back to Brooklyn I crossed their paths.  Then one year one of them was not there.  His brother told me that he was incarcerated at Riker's Island.   We wrote him a letter and visited him before we left the state.  This embarked me on a long journey of studying the prison system and writing to inmates.  You see, this one man I was writing to encouraged others to write me as well.  I believe that at one point I was writing letters to at least ten men, counseling them, encouraging them, and often helping them in ways that I now realize I shouldn't have.  (i.e. helping them find addresses of people on the outside)  I owe my college degree to these men, because it was in writing to them and desiring to make a difference in the future of prisoners that I found the inspiration to return to college, to excel, and to graduate with a degree in Sociology.

This is where the indecision part comes in. 

Virgin Revisited

Who says doing the same thing over again expecting different results is a manifestation of insanity? I definitely disagree.  On Friday we went to Virgin Falls again.  (Click here to see the description of the first visit.)  This time we not only went with all of our wonderful boys, but we determined to do the entire hike, with extras, in a single day! Out of bed at around 3:00 a.m., coffee and a small bite to eat, and off we went. It was crisp and cold and my legs did not warm up until after the first mile of hiking!  It's just a little after that first mile that the trail starts to seriously drop off down into the valley.  The boys were having a great time exploring all sorts of off trail spots.  Beautiful pools that are oh, so inviting.  Joe and I however insisted upon staying on trail.  We knew what was to come