The Glory Days of Autumn

Well, there has been another long gap between blogs - seems like it is hard to keep up.  Autumn here was glorious this year.  We had lovely weather  and the leaves were beautiful.  We really enjoyed this season.  Now that the days are colder and shorter and the holidays are approaching we have been reflecting on the changing seasons, and how each has its own beauty and its own treasures.

The leaves on the hillsides were very colorful and sometimes stunning.  Unfortunately, most of the time the colors were quite muted because the air was hazy, but once in a while the brilliance came through.  Uijeongbu is sort of in a bowl, so there are mountains or hills all around and they were all lovely. 

The urban streets had charm as well.  These trees are in front of our  apartment.  They looked like cones of fire in the sunlight.

Sarah was quite intrigued with the play of mist and light and color which she tried to capture in this watercolor.  This is part of the mountain that we can see from our office window.  She enjoys watching it during different times of day and in different weather.

The garden (L) we can see from our apartment was slowly harvested through late October and even into early November. The weather was unusually mild and so the frost was late in coming which made for a bumper crop of fall cabbages. There were also big pumpkins and squash. On the right is a rice paddy across the street, which also got harvested in October.

We learned that drying rice is a lot like drying chilis - wherever there is space there could be rice!  This rice is spread out on the roadway and parking lot near the stadium.  There is a very narrow margin to drive past the rice, which is carefully raked several times a day.  It is important to drive with caution because if you drive over the rice (or the peppers or whatever) you have to pay the owner for any damage or loss.  Just one more thing to add to the adventures of driving in Korea!

The weather cooled down quite a bit, but it was not cool enough to stop these neighborhood kids from playing the streetside video games.

Eventually it got to be Thanksgiving, and it was time to try and fit the turkey into our itty bitty Korean oven.  It was quite a feat to get this 14 lb. turkey in to our 16 1/2"wide x 11" high oven.  It filled the space front to back and almost side to side.  But it did cook beautifully, if a bit slowly, and we had a most bountiful feast.  We really missed our family (and Marnie Peck's homemade rolls) but we shared the day with new and already dear friends.  We realized that we have been blessed with the opportunity to know some wonderful people all around the globe.  We are grateful for this aspect of military life, and grateful that we have family worth missing.

And now the Christmas season is upon us.  Here at Camp Red Cloud, as on military posts all over the world, the holiday season is ushered in with a tree-lighting ceremony. Chaplain Acuff, our garrison Chaplain, presided over the event this year.  We are looking forward to our first Christmas in Korea!