I decided to get a digital SLR. I couldn’t be more excited about it and I went to a few stores and talked to a few folks- most of whom pointed me toward Canon or Nikon. But I was stubborn and thought I could get away with the Sony A200. Hey, it’s a 10.2 megapixel camera too, plus it’s way cheaper than any of the others.

I soon discovered that there was a reason why it’s cheaper- soft images. I couldn’t get anything as sharp as I wanted. I really thought it was a bummer. Here’s one of the images from the Sony. You can see, it wasn’t BAD, just not the type of image I wanted, so I decided to trade in the A200 for a Canon EOS Rebel xti. It just arrived today and I’m totally stoked!

Photos and a review to come.

This little guy was hanging out on the front steps by my classroom on Sunday. I can’t honestly believe it’s already Thursday- I feel like the week should not be so far along already.

I’m in Central NH teaching a Wilderness First Responder course. I’m in a great room, at a beautiful school that’s taking care of everything from room to board, and so I have no idea what to do with myself after class. I wake up at the crack of dawn everyday and go to bed at 11:30. I just can’t seem to feel truly tired during the longest days of the year. No complaints here- it’s just a bit strange…

Wow.

It’s been a while. Since about Memorial Day. A lot has happened. I’ve been up and down and over and under the East Coast and now here I sit in the middle of New Hampshire, about to embark on six or seven new journeys and I’m having a blast, though I can honestly say I am so bloody excited that I have some time to go play in July. I should be working about 6 days in July. That will be the first true quiet time I’ve had in a long time.

On Memorial Day Weekend, Hannah and I went out to Borne and Stratton ponds. Aside from an abundance of black flies on Sunday evening, it was one of the most enjoyable, magnificent adventures I’ve had in years. And coming from someone who goes on adventures all the time, and someone who doesn’t particularly care for Memorial day crowds, that’s saying something.

Anyway, that Sunday, before the swarm, we wandered around Stratton Pond, stopping frequently to take photos and once for a long pause by the shore to enjoy the beauty. We ate well, slept in, and generally had a great time.

Just to put things in context, in the past 20 years in the US:

1989 San Francisco earthquake kills 68

1998 Northeastern US Ice Storm kills 35, many people without power for weeks

2001 9/11, simultaneous terrorist attacks on DC and NYC kill 2993

2005 New Orleans Hurricane Katrina kills 1836

In the past 20 years in Southeast Asia:

1989 Bangladesh, massive tornado kills 1,300

1991 Bangladesh, flooding kills 139,000

1993 India, Earthquake kills 22,000

1998 Papua New Guinea, tsunami kills 2,000

1999 India, ‘Super Cyclone’ kills 9,885

2001 India, Earthquake kills 20,000

2004 Throughout Southeast Asia, tsunami kills 229,866

2007 Bangladesh, Cyclone Sidr kills 3,500

2008 Burma, Cyclone Nargis kills at least 100,000 (numbers still coming in)

These numbers are incomprehensible. To anyone, I would think. I can comprehend 35 dead. That’s a tragedy, a human, terrifying tragedy. But 100 times that? 3,000 times that? The numbers lose their meaning. On Monday, there were 100,000 more people alive on the planet than there are today. How can this be?

The facts are there for anyone to look up all over the internet, even the American press is covering this one. Reports are sketchy. All I can do is share what I know:

Burma, the country ravaged by this storm is ruled by a military junta. A totalitarian government whose only support worldwide comes from within the government itself. The oppressed people are forced to march in government rallies for fear of being fined. Monks are shot for protesting the appalling conditions. The country is poor. There is wilderness to explore, there is money to be made in eco-tourism.

Instead, the government can’t even be bothered to give it’s citizens the heads up that a category 4+ hurricane is on its way. They knew about it- they were told. They did next to nothing. And now there are 100,000 less humans inhabiting the 24th largest country in the world.

Relief boats are waiting off the coast for the junta to let them in. People are desperately searching for potable water (the price of water had quadrupled!), and the relief is there, offshore! Who knows how long it will take to clean up this mess, or how many more people could die for lack of relief, how long the relief will sit there waiting for a despot to let them in. There is an eMail campaign to pressure Ban Ki-Moon at the UN to take action. To send him an email, please click on the following link: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1189/t/5102/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=24494

I can’t expect that my words will move anyone to action, but if they do, here’s a suggestion. A woman I work with is part of the US Campaign for Burma. As an insider she had the following to say:

there are some things that you can do to help. The most important thing on the ground is the need for clean drinking water. There is an excellent organization that is on the ground providing water tablets and purifiers called Thirst Aid. I can personally verify that this is an excellent organization and all donations will go directly to people on the ground. The organization is run by two awesome Americans that have full access to Burma (they already have visas). They have worked inside Burma for a number of years and they have a well-established network to get out fresh drinking water. Here is a link to their donation page (click on the “donation” tag in the top left corner): http://ttocirrod-foundation.org/Thanks.html

I can’t believe that this is our world, the same world in which I sit in my bead and use my laptop, prepare for bed. I just don’t know how these victims, the citizens of Burma can be so punished while I am so rewarded. My hopes are with them, and I hope that one person who reads this takes action, gives money, time and spreads the word. If this is what it takes to focus the world’s attention on a country that has desperately needed help for so long, then let it not happen in vain. Blog about this! Write about this! Write a congressman, write the UN, write the president!

The people of Burma deserve better than what they got.

Savory Bread:

3 1/2 C Fresh Milled Kamut flour
2 t Sea Salt
2 t Herbs De Provence

1 C Warm water
1 Tblsp Dry Active Yeast
2 Tblsp Raw Honey

1/4 C Olive Oil

I milled the Kamut (by hand), crushed the sea salt and added the herbs to the other dry ingredients in a ceramic bowl, allowed the yeast to proof in the warm water and honey then added them, slowly to the flour. As this flour was hand milled, and therefore somewhat coarse, the kneading process took quite a while, but I got there eventually.

I let the bread rise for 40 minutes, beat it down and added the olive oil, 15 minutes, beat it down, 5 minutes, then baked it for 25 in the oven at 375°

This, just like the pea soup was savory and delicious!

The other night I made some split pea soup. Here’s how it all started:

2Tblsp Coconut Oil
2 Carrots
1 Large yellow onion
2 Crimini mushrooms

Stir-fried until the oniions were clear and the mushrooms were soft. At that point I added to the stir-fry:

2C Split Peas
1/2C Barley

Fried that up until I could smell the peas, then:

2 Tblsp Herb de Provence
1 splash soy sauce
2 splashes sherry

Fried that until the liquid was gone, and then moved the stir-fry into the pressure cooker, adding 7C water, and cooked it at low pressure for about 40 minutes.

It was really incredible soup, and the smell as it was cooking was so good that it inspired me to make bread!

A few months back, I was chatting with some of my students and I mentioned my addiction to Kombucha Tea. If you don’t know what that is, you’re probably not alone. Kombucha is an Asian thing, where you brew up some tea (1 gallon w/ ~ 1-1 1/2 C sugar- I used Sucanat), ferment it for a few weeks, and then you drink it.

The fermentation process uses a living disc, called a SCOBY (Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast), which feed on the sugar and make a baby SCOBY. I discovered on Wednesday that my SCOBY had had a baby and decided to start 2 new gallons and enjoy my first batch of Kombucha. It’s pretty awesome, slightly carbonated with a hint of vinegar.

In a month or so, I may well have more SCOBYs than I can handle, so if you want one, let me know and I’m sure we can work something out. Kombucha in the store costs $3.19 for 16oz. (if you’re lucky!), these gallon jugs cost about $4.50. You do the math,

Kamut makes the best whole grain dough. And if you didn’t know that (most people don’t), you should give it a try. Unfortunately, nobody in southern Maine sells Kamut. Fortunately the Whole Foods in Hadley MA has a legitimate bulk section (unlike any other Whole Foods, I should add), and so while I was out there, I picked up a massive bag full of Kamut berries.

Today, I milled some of them into about 4 cups of flour, added maple syrup (organic grade B from bulk, of course), some yeast, salt and olive oil to make a pizza crust. I let it rise 3 times (45 min, 20 min, 10 min, respectively) to make up for the whole grain and coarseness.

I added some fresh made pesto (basil, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil), and baked that onto the crust for 10 min at 350°

I then added some thinly sliced onions, crimini mushrooms, and spinach soaked in tomato paste and sauce, upped the temp to about 450° and let it bake for about 15 more minutes on the stone.

It is really tasty, though pretty heavy, and while I suspect it meets most of the definition of a pizza, it has a very unique flavor, maybe from all the baked in pesto in the dough..?

So now I lapse into a food coma…

At the risk of going into too much detail about why my bike needed first aid of the Shimano flavor and, in the process, making myself sound pretty klutzy, I’ll just leave it at, I went into town to pick up my bike at the shop. It was a glorious day, and I strapped on the camelbak, cranked the tunes, and went for a walk. The bridge into Portland had a big branch in the middle of it, and just up the road, somebody had lost their license plate. How a branch got to the middle of a bridge surrounded by ocean, I’m not certain, but I went out and tried to save it.

The scene was not safe, so I had to move it then check for life threats.
There appeared to be no airway, breathing or pulse, though there was a considerable amount of pine pitch coming out of it.
I should have worn gloves. Well, lesson learned.
The conclusion was that the branch had sustained an injury incompatible with life and therefore CPR was not indicated.

But I tried, dammit.