“Food on the Hill” by Sue York

This week’s recipe…

Pizza

Photo by Sue York/ladailypost.com

Things that are a MUST have for this recipe:

You must have a pizza stone (also called a baking stone) for the inside of the oven. The only way you are going to get a crispy crust and the right pizza taste is if you can put a lot of heat to the crust in a fast way (pizza stone.)

The other thing you must have is parchment paper. I have tried for years to be able to get the pizza in to the oven in one piece in one clean jerk and the best way I have found to form the crust and to get it into the oven is parchment Read More

Column by Elena Yang

We can use Appreciative Inquiry principles for personal encounters.

A group leader’s administrative assistant is a young and competent woman.

But between her various personal needs, grandparents’ and parents’ illnesses, young children’s school delays and days-home, husband’s inability to support, and the organization’s constant demands of this training and that new requirement, she was not reliably at her desk answering phone calls, which made frustrated others trying to collaborate with the group. 

Should the group leader reprimand her? Lecture her? Tell Read More

PEEC Amateur Naturalist

Many of us have seen the impact of two forest fires on the Jemez Mountains.

The mountains west of Los Alamos form the rim of the Valles Caldera. 

These mountains have had two forest fires, the Cerro Grande and Las Conchas, pass through them in the past 12 years. 

The general impression given by many news organizations is that total and permanent destruction has occurred.

Indeed, half of the grassland of the Valle Grande was burnt and blackened last year. However, there is little mention that the grasses have grown again in spite of drought Read More

Column by Allen Weh

There should never be a time, but particularly now, that Americans should be forced to “Suffer Fools” when it comes to the people who are being paid to serve us.

Yet that is exactly what’s taking place with some currently unidentified staff members in the Obama White House, and their apparently deliberate leaking of classified information for political purposes.

Gratefully, the outcry in Congress has been largely bipartisan … Chairman of the House Select Committee on Intelligence Mike Rogers stated “somebody committed a crime against their country,” and Sen. Dianne Read More

Column by Elena Yang

The critical first step of Appreciative Inquire (AI) lies in framing the initial question/inquiry.  Framing provides the foundation; it sets the tone; it signals the direction. 

Today, I will illustrate a couple of examples at the organizational level; next week, I will lay out two examples at the individual level.

The first organizational example is given in the book, “Appreciative Intelligence: Seeing the mighty oak in the acorn,” by Tojo Thatchenkery & Carol Metzker. 

Delaware Valley Friends School (DVFS) was established in 1986, designed Read More

Column by Ann Shafer

Those of you who have retired recently or those who anticipate a retirement are faced with the same question — how will you spend the rest of your life? 

When you retire, you will probably find yourself even busier than you were at work. But there is one major question — is all that activity you now have actually meaningful to you?

If not, perhaps you need to do some serious thinking about what the activities are that mean a lot to you, or what are your passions.  

To find your passions, first think about what really motivates you. 

If your life were a book, Read More