Newsletter — Autumn 2021

Dear Friends,

Summer’s smoke is dissipating as skies begin to clear. Nature is making her peace, though her humans are not yet at ease. With sighs of relief, we listen to the white noise of rainwater washing the dust of hot, dry summer days away–softening, muddying and greening the ground. Gingerly, we reach out to one another once again. An arc of colors forms as the sun strikes the clouds, a refraction and dispersion of the light–a rainbow day.

For further comfort while entering a new season, Open Spaces is pleased to offer a favorite recipe that many of us have enjoyed for years: a cioppino, both delicious AND healthy from the kitchen of Sonja Connor. About the work that produced this and many other recipes to both enjoy and improve our health, Sonja writes:

Bill, the physician, and Sonja, the dietitian, worked together for 40 years – first at the University of Iowa and then at Oregon Health & Science University. Their research first involved doing feeding studies related to heart disease. Shortly after moving to Oregon in 1975 they did a community study in 233 families in Portland, who worked for five years to evolve to a healthier eating style – The Family Heart Study. On completion of the study, they had considerable information about how to make changes in eating style and 350 recipes they had made over and over and over again. The New American Diet book was born and includes this cioppino recipe. They also were involved in omega-3 fatty acid (the fat in fish) research for 30 years, first related to heart disease and then to the developing brain and retina. There were studies that helped lead to the addition of DHA to infant formula. It was a great run! 

Photographer Harry Kingston once again perfectly captures those poignant and thought provoking images that lead us to reflect upon changes passing over scenes familiar to us.

A poem entitled “Yardwork” sparks memories and brings us through the fall.

The past year has not been an easy one. Worry for ourselves, those close to us and those most in need, has consumed many days. Longing for a return to the familiar, a recovery from malevolent infections of body, mind and heart, we reach out to those who would be in charge and ask as those in the future surely will: “Where were you when—?” 

In the meantime, we look with hope for the clearing shower.

The folks at Open Spaces: Views from the Northwest