I'm still here! Here's what I've been thinking...

Wow, I somehow can't believe I've neglected this blog for so long. I was just talking to Ben yesterday about the importance of having discipline regarding traditions, and I realized that I suck at this. And, communicating with friends/loved ones is a sort of tradition in itself, so let me try to make up for lost time with a few updates:

1) As most of you know, we have another baby on the way. I've had premonitions that it's a boy, so we'll see how intuitive I am about these things.

2) We are settling into fall here in Virginia-- even though it's the end of october, the leaves are just starting to change. For me, this has meant prodigious reading, making huge amounts of soup, and trying to spend as much time as possible outside.

3) I've been especially loving time spent with Ben these last few weeks, and there are lots of things we've been talking about-- the election, the economy, the Catholic Church. Ben is attending RCIA classes, and I feel like those provide lots of food for thought for both of us, both pulling us into the Catholic tradition and at times forcefully repelling us away from it.

I'll spend the afternoon trying to sift through all of these topics and pull together a coherent reflection, but in the meantime, here are a few artifacts of my fall.

Our Neighbor Annie's Chicken Curry

1 can coconut milk
1 can garbanzo beans
4-6 boneless skinless chicken thighs
2T curry paste
2T tomato paste
1 t ground coriander
1t ground cumin
1 t grated ginger
1 yellow onion chopped
2-3 smashed cloves garlic
1/2 eggplant chopped
1 sweet potato chopped
1 bell pepper
salt to taste

Add all ingredients in crockpot and cook until done! Serve with sticky brown rice.

I've been reading:

This book is, quite simply, one of the best I have ever read. Thanks Maura, for leading me to it, and I do still have your copy in a box somewhere, so don't think I've forgotten! I absolutely loved the family that this book follows through multiple generations. It is filled with magical, powerful women, corruption and the quest for power, and stories of political revolution. But, more than anything, I felt at the end of the novel that I had a deeper insight into myself, my relationship to others in the world, and my own power as an individual.