The Lady, Luc Besson’s recent film about Burmese leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi is incredible. Aung San Suu Kyi’s story is one of courage, persistence and sacrifice. Actress Michelle Yeoh captures her impeccably, having watched hundreds of hours of footage of Suu Kyi and learning Burmese to prepare for her role. Mr. Besson took great care to insure the film’s historical accuracy. He must have done a good job, because one of the Burmese extras who was present at Suu Kyi’s 1988 speech began to sob during the filming of the same speech because it seemed he was re-living that historic moment again. He wasn’t the only one crying – I cried throughout the entire movie (and even now I have tears streaming down my face, just from watching the preview).

Good things are happening in Burma. In 2010, Burma’s oppressive military dictatorship allowed elections which led to a civilian government that has begun making some reforms. Elections are now scheduled for April of 2012 and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will be running for Parliament. Let’s just hope that this time if her party, the National League for Democracy is elected, they are acutally permitted to serve!

Get involved at http://uscampaignforburma.org/

NYC was overwhelming (Occupy was small but inspiring). Connecticut with our friends Maggie and Jonny was epic – incredible Bridgeport loft complete with shuffle board, pumpkin ice cream, Lebanese feasting, farmer Jacqueline, running the trails of Redding and a Bluegrass and Collards party (kale chips with ginger recommended!).

Health-wise, Dan recovered from his foot injury in time to have his pancreatitis flare up again (it was bad enough he spent the night in hospital). His pancreatitis improved, but he’ll have to watch his diet from now on. Meanwhile, the doctors are still trying to sort out exactly what’s wrong with Dan’s insides…thankfully he’s avoided a colonoscopy thus far!

It has been a crazy 7 months… I don’t think either of us ever imagined we’d still be dealing with the repercussions of Dan’s kidney failure 6 months later… But friends and family sustained us. And, now, after a crazy time at work (distributing over 1,500 gifts to low-income kids) we are on holiday!

The cozy cabin, lined with wood and windows that offered views of the entire valley, was the prefect locale to cook up a storm, catch up, relax and plan our next adventures.

D+P and DnA along the C&O Canal

Over the next few days, we explored the cobbled streets of Harpers Ferry, hiked up the steep trail of Maryland Heights to view the great Shenandoah and Potomac rivers from the cliffs that rise above them, and hiked along the Appalatian trail. Dan, whose health seemed to be improving overall, had overdone it running 26+ miles on our holiday in Maine. He now had a stress fracture on his foot and did all our hiking in a cast! Nevertheless, we enjoyed the sprinkling of red and orange that was just begining to dot the leaves of the highest branches in fall color. The weather, though, was more suited to spring than autumn, with sun and temperatures up around 75°F / 24°C.

All too soon, our jaunt in the mountains was over, but we took our time driving back to Reston. We stopped for delicious farm-fresh treats at Stoneybrook Farm, a sampling of local wines at Hillsborough Vineyards, and poke around some old houses in the village of Waterford, and finally a simple yet delectible lunch of butternut squash soup and grilled cheese with apple sandwiches at The Market Table in Lovettesville.

The rest of the week, I had to return to work, but each evening I returned home to a delcious meal and fun outing with Dan, Dee & Pietro. While I was at work, they cycled round Reston, museum-hopped in DC, planted flowers in our garden and met our work collegues.  The weather kept up its brilliance and much time was spent simply enjoying all the paths, lakes and pockets of wilderness our backyard has to offer. The grand finale was a “Stalcup Family Reunion” at my uncles farm where D+P sang a Sicilian song about a donkey in which the audience was required to “hee haw” their contribution.

Thinking back to October, it seems so warm, so sunny and so green. Wheras now brown is the dominant color and we run in the dark with our headlamps. Still, the Winter Solitice is now behind us and the days are getting longer. Plus… we both bought full-spectrum lights which have done a lot to hlep us fight the winter blues (especially when you work in a windowless basement office!) And, best of all, we’re on holiday w/D+P once more…. this time, we’ve hoped across the pond to them in England!

 on Flickr.

In October my beautiful jet-setting friend Sara got married to her man Travis. The wedding was fun, gorgeous and a perfect expression of such a hip couple. The venue was a great gallery on 14th St NW in DC with an amazing roof top deck. Plus they had the most delicious ALL VEGETARIAN food. It was great not having to interrogate the waiters about ingredients!

Sara Window Portrait, a photo by Giarc80HC on Flickr.

The beautiful bride!

Especially pondering Bob Lupton’s thoughts about Toxic Charity. I’d like to read his new book “Toxic Charity: How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help (And How to Reverse it). Very convicting because I work in “Emergency Services” but often our clients are facing more chronic problems, not true emergencies… lots of food for thought.

And 45 minutes into the show, bravo to host Maureen Fiedler. Her response to Rev. Lillian Daniel’s commentary “Spiritual But Not Religious? Please Stop Boring Me” that originally apperaed in The Huffington Post is well-constructed and resounded with me.  Thoughts?

I love finding good new podcasts. Dan & I both regularly listen to This American Life, The Moth, Radiolab and The Splendid Table.  Any others we should check out?

I walked in to a gas station a little peckish. i found a snack just for me.

In Sept we jet-set it to small town Iowa for our thru-hiking friends Tim & Nina’s wedding. We’d first met Nina as Silverfox on the PCT in ’09. Then we’d gotten to know her properly as Kombucha when she hiked the CDT with her boyfriend Tim (Hawkeye). We hiked with Tim & Nina on and off during the entire CDT. And afterwords, they continued vagabonding it – they bought a VW Van an toured all over the US before ending up back in Tim’s hometown of Decorah.

photo by Nina

And Decorah – wow, what a surprise! The town itself is charming, with a great main street that includes a local food co-op, yoga studio, outdoor store and some great bars & cafes. The hills in the distance were already blazing with autumn color and there’s acres of wild prairie, trails winding through the woods and a meandering river.

It was a shame we weren’t able to have a true CDT reunion (we are now spread far and wide – Heaps in Australia, Lost in Alaska, Yas in Japan, Found in Cali, Joker in Washington state) but Mike with a Y & Naomi were able to come. It was hard to believe it had been almost a year since we’d seen Tim & Nina and Mike & Naomi. As soon as we were together again, it seemed like we’d only been apart a few days. It was great catching up and also reminiscing about times on the trail.

the beautiful bride

Tim & Nina’s wedding captured their spirit in every detail. The ceremony was held in the dappled sunshine besides a bubbling spring.  Since they met in Hawaii (and Tim is half Hawaiian) they exchanged gorgeous leis (and hi-fives) at the beginning of the ceremony. Their beloved dog Rio also donned a lei and severed as flower-dog. The vows they’d written were funny, sincere and lovely.  Afterwords we enjoyed dinner and dancing at the historic hotel downtown. Instead of wedding cake, we munched on peanut M&Ms (which was Tim’s sole source of “nourishment” for a 100 mile stretch on CDT) and scotch-a-roos (an amazing chocolatey peanut buttery rice krispy treat that Tim’s mom makes and sent us along the trail).

The only disappointment was that our time in Decorah was much much too short. Reuniting with such kindred spirits was nourishing. We need to find a thru-hiking community in the DC area!  And  witnessing the union of two beautiful free spirits was such a joy.

Labor Day weekend we planned a great escape – to a remote island floating in the Penobscot Bay off the coast of Main. Our flight took us via Detroit (ridiculous, yes, but a lot less money!) and we got stuck there because our plane was overbooked. We got the total runaround – we were told we’d get a check to compensate us, instead we got a coupon. We were told we’d be staying at the Westin hotel in the airport, instead we were bused to the Best Western (which looked like the film set for a 80s mafia movie). The next day we were forced to fly to a differnt city and rent a car. But in the end we made the last ferry (within minutes!) and let salty air blow away all our stresses as we headed to Vinalhaven Island.

Our friend Clifton had invited us here to the house her great-great grandfather  had built at the turn of the century. The house is amazing – all exposed wood, a claw foot tub and cozy window seats in the kitchen. It has running water but no electricity or cell reception, so it was the perfect place to get away! But we didn’t spend much time indoors. The house is perched on a private cove, with views of North Haven in the distance and larger mountains beyond.  Soothing blends of blues, grays and greens greeting us on all sides. The deep, moist woods revealed lush glowing moss. Polished sea glass and pumpkin-colored starfish popped out from the seashore’s pebbles.  And the gentle lapping of the ocean lulled us to sleep.

Johnny baking bread

We were joined by Clifton’s boyfriend, Johnny, a brilliant baker and farmer, and friend, Jacqueline, who’s working at an organic farm. So needless to said we ate phenomenal food. A small sampling of our fare:  a happy chicken Johnny raised and Jacqueline plucked and grilled; the most amazing pulled pork sandwiches (and this from someone who a)rarely eats meat and b) has never been crazy for BBQ sauce); roasted eggplant salad with feta and pickled red onion; gorgeous heirloom tomatoes dusted with salt; sautéed kale with garlic; double butter buiscuts; and loaf after loaf of fresh bread – Dan alone consumed about 2 loaves a day. And I can’t forget the lobster, which we literally bought right off the boat and had with fresh corn on the cobb (dipping both in buckets of butter).  For dessert we had the gooesty, richest chocolatey brownies (secret recipe here!), Nigella’s chocolate raspberry pavlova and a lemon curd and wild berry tart, all with lovely wine and champagne. Are you salivating yet?

Johnny, Clifton, Anna & Ted

So, as you can see, we spent a large portion of our time cooking, backing and eating, but we also found time to kayak, sunbathe, run, swim, play cards, read, relax, star gaze, sweat in the sauna and shiver in the sea!  Plus, Clifton’s bro Ted and his friends joined us for the last few days, bringing our numbers up to a dozen!

Far too soon, it was time to go. It was hard to leave. Hard to say goodbye to the serenity, the friends, the sea and the summer.