Early this morning I rose, showered, dressed and headed promptly into Mendocino’s central small town as I’d spied a Pumpkin Festival going on, and wanted to get there ahead of the inevitable crowds of people from all over the county who come annually to enjoy the festivities. I especially wanted access to an unencumbered look at the giant pumpkins folks around the county grow each year to see who can grow the Biggest Pumpkin! I’d spotted a few of them literally being forklifted earlier in the week into a central park for early daytime viewing! Children had immediately gravitated to them and were permitted to climb up on them and use them as a vantage point in viewing the setting up of the festival.

However what I was not aware of was the addition this year of a Scarecrow City, sporting contributions from children from various Mendocino classrooms. And that was a special treat, I must say! Here were a few of the creations that greeted me!

A modern Greenman?

la mama

Hip girl scarecrow

And here is my absolute favorite! Note the pampas grass mane! Isn’t he wonderful??

Walking beyond the Scarecrow City I arrived at the park where the Biggest Pumpkins had been put on display. Words fail me [moi!] in contemplating these behemoths. Let’s just have a zen moment here.

Three

Two–OK, Three

One

Can you even begin to imagine the time and energy and commitment it would require to get a single seed to these proportions? Mon Dieu!

I adore this time of year. I do. In preparation for all of the upcoming holidays yesterday I pulled out a recipe from my distant (meaning she’s been found through genealogy studies) cousin Julie for, fittingly, Pumpkin Apple Soup, which she boldly touted as the Best Pumpkin Soup in the World. So what better weekend than this one to try? I whipped it up–and, must confess, tweaked. You can try either version.

Cousin Julie’s Pumpkin Apple Soup

Melt an entire stick of butter in a good thick soup pan. Add one large red onion, which I threw into the Cuisinart first. Add 6-8 tart apples, peeled and cubed. [Again, I threw in the Cuisinart. Also, I used the apples from my tree, which are pre-hybridized delicious.] Add 4 cups of pumpkin puree.
Saute. Now. If you’ve used the Cuisinart, you’re ready for the next step. If not, you need to mash up what’s in the pan before proceeding to next step. Then, add a quart of chicken broth and “a good swig of half & half” which she goes on to define as “a pint or more.” Yeah, that’s a good swig, all right! Add a goodly teaspoon of tarragon. Salt and pepper to taste. Now here is where I tweaked. I could not get myself as excited as I wanted to be without adding a nice fat tablespoon of curry. I love curry and pumpkin. I just do. So the curry was just the thing that made it perfect for me. You can choose.

I found this to be a very rich and delicious soup. It’s an exquisite pale yellow color (richer if you add curry) in which those little tarragon leaves are floating. Gorgeous. I think it would be the perfect soup to prepare the day before Thanksgiving or Christmas, then serve as a simple cup of soup, as a first course. Or you could serve a full bowl pre-holiday on a chilly day with perhaps homemade croustini. Let me know, will you? Enjoy!

Love and seasonal blessings,
Kathryn xoxo
Footnote: The first recorded mention of scarecrows is in Europe in the 1500’s! Will you be making one? If so, send me a jpeg and I will post!

Posted on October 19th, 2008 by Kathryn
Filed under: People at Play | 28 Comments »

I must confess I have been going to the post office lately in heightened anticipation of that first yellow slip announcing the arrival of the first handmade scarves, and this week the first box came! From Judith. In Florida. I have very little idea who she is, or how she heard about the Scarf Initiative, which has had a life of its own, and generated ripples in hearts throughout America, the UK and Canada, and beyond. I only know Judith is a very kind person and sent not one, but two beautiful scarves, here framed by my own two contributions, above. Don’t they look amazing?? Judith thoughtfully included a little blue hat with the blue scarf, and, of course, I cried. It is not hard to imagine how much some little girls in Pakistan are going to appreciate our scarves.

“Young girl in Skardu” Photo courtesy of Saqib Zulfiqar

Much has transpired since I posted the idea to knit scarves for Pakistani schoolgirls. Hurdles to jump. Bridges to cross. You know. First unexpected event was finding out that the Central Asia Institute is only equipped to handle financial gifts, as in money. (Gulp.)

“It’s better to ride the horse in the direction he’s going.”–Werner Erhard

Undaunted I used my resources and reached out to a world-renowned award-winning Pakistani trekker, the President of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, and an extraordinary humanitarian, who was a leader in assisting victims of the Pakistani earthquake in ’05, Nazir Sabir. He holds the distinguished honor of being the first Pakistani trekker to reach the summit of Mount Everest. His background gives him the best credentials to run Nazir Sabir Expeditions. And his kind warm heart and breadth of experience give him the best credentials to be our current Pakistani Angel. When I wrote to Nazir Sabir humbly asking if he might assist us with a small endeavor, here was part of his immediate response:

Dear Kathryn Hall,

It is indeed a pleasure to learn that you have been inspired to help girl students of Pakistan where your generous contribution of any kind could help…I have my own operational office in Skardu and I have trustworthy contacts in the entire Baltistan. It would be our pleasure to assist you with distributing your items among school children in Skardu or in any other remote part of Baltistan so your donation should reach the right individuals/persons…it would be better to give them either to the most deserving in terms of need or to those who are at studies at a school.

With best regards,
Nazir Sabir

More tears. Deep gratitude. A flurry of emails has followed, and we agreed that the scarves will be delivered to one of the most remote villages in the Northern Areas of Pakistan–Askole village. And in an extraordinary gesture of kindness, Nazir Sabir offered to send us back photos of the children with their new scarves when they receive them! You can bet I will be posting those! Askole is literally the last stop of civilization prior to stepping out onto the Baltoro glacier that each trekker must travel in order to ultimately reach K2, the second tallest mountain in the world. Many of the men who live in Askole serve as porters on these treks. Repeatedly I have read stories on trekker blogs of these porters who work wearing plastic sneakers, asking, “How do they do it?” Warmth is a luxury not afforded many. Here is a map showing where our scarves are going:

Now, ready? Here is a section of the road that must be traversed to arrive in Askole. This was not a good day for these particular trekkers, but from what I’ve read, these “delays” happen.

At the end of this journey we find the typical home in Askole village. It would not be hard or unrealistic to imagine this very home might well contain one of our offerings.

Here is a photo sent to us by Nazir Sabir of Askole in the summer:

And here is their backyard:

You must be wondering by now how many scarves we have commitments for. I am thrilled to announce that we have 78!! (It keeps changing!) Here are the names of people who have contacted me with the number of scarves they intend to send in:

Many thanks go to Barbara (1), Bee (1), Ceecee (1), Christy (1), Claire (2), Cynthia, Jenny and friends (5), CurtissAnn (1), Cynthia T. (1), Dee (1), Debbie and her mom (7!), Dorothy (1), Elly (1), Helen (1), Jayne (2), Jo Ann (5), Judith (2, plus a hat), cousin Julie & Susan (4), Karen and Betsy (3), Linda (1), Mary (1), Mashala (2), Marjorie (1), Mita (1), Nancy (1), Nancy (1), Nancy’s mom (2), cousin Nancy S. (1), Pat (1), Patricia (1), Philip (1), Purmina (1), Radiance (2), cousin Susan (2), Tahera & Kusum (13!), cousin Tricia (1), VP (1), Barbara (1), Kathy (1). Oh, yeah, self (2). Wow. Overwhelming generosity. And people continue to contact me nearly every day. Check this one out, on its way now from the UK:
http://tinyurl.com/53eqyk

OK, this brings up two things.

First, there is probably someone practical out there who by now is asking, “How will you get the scarves from California to Islamabad?” Right? Yes, I thought so. I’m a trusting soul. I’ve explored a variety of avenues so far and the overarching threads are simplicity and security. To me that spells FED EX. I internally have more or less decided that how I will feel most at ease is to write a cheque and be done with it. This week my next door neighbors (some of you will recall the American Gothic photo of Dave) returned from an RV trip and I was delighted to update them on the status of the Scarf Initiative and to show them the above scarves. I returned home, feeling glad in my heart. Five minutes later the phone rang. It was Jean, Dave’s wife who said, “Kathryn, Dave and I have talked this over and we are donating one hundred dollars to help you get your scarves to Islamabad.” Wow. Stunned silence, my heart opening and more tears quietly tracing a little river down my cheeks.

It’s magical, my darlings. Thank you for joining me in this adventure of the heart and spirit. We are tapping into goodness here.

I want to say in closing this post for any lingering little cobwebby thoughts on the edges of your minds (I had the same little nagging wonderings), Askole village and the Northern Areas of Pakistan are blessedly too remote to be affected by the travails we are hearing about on our television screens lately. Please join me in praying for the well being of our Pakistani Angel, Nazir Sabir, and his countrymen and women, and particularly the children whom we are committed to helping.

Warm and gentle blessings, in gratitude to all participating,
Kathryn xoxo
Postscript: Note that as scarves arrive by mail, I will be posting a photo in this space to show progress for those of you interested! Please just return to this post to peek in on how the project is growing! Here are beautiful scarves from Marjorie in CA, Helen in the UK, and Jo Ann (a very generous weaver in Ashland, OR!). Thank you, all! I wish each of you could share the joy of opening these incredible packages as they are arriving! I promise to keep this photo section updated so you can participate in the joy of the beauty. 🙂


Scarves from Karen and Betsy in CT

Scarves from VP in the UK and cousin Nancy in CT

Scarves from Pat in MT and Mita in MD

Scarves of cousins Susan and daughter Tricia in UT

Scarves from cousins Julie and daughter Susan in OH

Scarves from Radiance in CA and CurtissAnn in OK (center scarf)

11/5-Note: new update with more photos pending!

Part Two: Ship the Scarves Initiative!: My Fed. Ex. office weighed our four scarves and projected the final bill for 63 scarves: $514.00. [10/23–Note: as scarves have continued to come in–now 78, not 63, this “final bill” will obviously increase. More funds will need to be raised. KH] My cousins Susan and Nancy each immediately chipped in $50. We have my neighbor’s contribution of $100. CurtissAnn has sent another $25! Kusum and Tahera have sent $50! Note! As of 10/11/08 we HAVE COVERED costs of the Fed Ex bill!! Special thanks to Brenda for sending in the last $42! Many thanks to Veronica, Barry, Karen & Betsy, Pamela, Luther, Justine, Conny, Patty, Dick, Pat, Philip, David, Radiance, Kathy and Marilyn for their generous support! I personally am prepared to cover whatever duties are imposed upon the shipment. Also, I have purchased a dozen pairs of socks to sweeten the package. To all who contributed, thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Posted on October 4th, 2008 by Kathryn
Filed under: The Scarf Initiative | 33 Comments »