Great Questions

A friend sent this link and questions the other day. I have seen them before ~ and as they came in the same download as the Earth Hour information, I thought they were worth passing along as well - and again. The website is www.care2.com/greenliving/get-on-board-the-non-consumption-train.html.

1. Is this purchase something I need?

2. Do I already own something that will serve the same purpose.

3. Can I borrow one instead of buying new?

4. Can I make something that will serve the same purpose?

5. Can I buy a used one?

6. Can I buy or commission one made locally?

7. Can I buy one made with environmentally responsible materials?

8. Can I buy one that serves more than one purpose.

9. Can I get something human powered instead of gas or electric?

10. Can I compost or recycle it when I am done with it?

11. What is the impact of the environment of the full life cycle of it?

12. Does the manufacture or disposal of it damage the environment? 

Good questions to be asking before we buy. The website suggests printing the list out on used card stock and putting it in your wallet so it is always there. Sounds like it would also slow down the impulse buying. Well thought out ~ with blessings

Earth Hour 2009

On March 28, 2009 at 8:30 pm in your time zone people all over the world will be turning off all non-essential lighting for one hour. Earth Hour is sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund and you can find information on their website and on www.earthhour.org. 

This is so easy to do. Just turn off your lights. Maybe your television and your computers too. Participating is easy, fun and absolutely free. And it saves a Lot of electricity!! Why not give it a try -- March 28th at 8:30 pm, switch off. ~ blessings

Spring in the Mountains

Spring in the mountains can be a little frustrating. As the sun comes out and the snow begins to melt and the days get warmer, the skiers wish for a longer season. When the snow returns and the days are cold again, folks like me want the warmth to return. And so we sigh and are grateful for the changes that make for interest and fascination. ~ blessings

Natasha Richardson

The world lost an amazing talent when Natasha Richardson died this week. For all the movies, the plays, the awards, the enjoyment brought into the lives of theatre lovers, Thank You! Your talent will be missed. ~ blessings

Tea and Toast

There is something about tea and toast. 

I read old fashioned British mysteries and someone is always having tea and toast. Even in my reality tea and toast was always supposed to be good for your stomach if you were feeling a little off. In my present reality, tea and toast is just plain delightful and delicious. 

This morning I was not too hungry and so I had tea and toast. Rich English breakfast tea with cream ~ actually the oxymoronic No Fat 1/2 & 1/2. And Toast: sourdough bread with green tea powder from Trader Joe's. All I know about this bread is that it is Good. Of course regardless of the bread used, the toast of tea and toast needs butter - nothing oxymoronic about that. Real butter. You don't have to use a lot ~ just a slither so you can taste the richness. Same is true of jam. Just a wisp across the toast. Tea and toast needs to taste like - well, tea and toast. Yum. Easy luxury especially if you sit down to eat and don't just grab it all on the way out the door. Hmmm - I'm not even sure you Can eat tea and toast on the run. That's even better. Tea, toast and a few minutes of calm ~ with blessings

Morning Dark

The dark of night slips in gently. The light changes. Sometimes a sunset lights the sky with fire announcing dark with a blare of red orange trumpets. Life slows down and yawns begin to rock the body into slumber. Bed is warm and cozy and dark wraps itself around you like a blanket, a shawl, a gentle lover's arm.

Morning dark is harsh and cold. There must be light to pierce the dark and yet that very light is an intrusion. Morning dark does not want to be pushed away. The fire warms and illuminates a small space around the hearth. Computers, up and running for blogs or journals or the first news of the day, shed a glow upon the face of the user tucked in his corner of the couch or her chair by the fire. The morning dark resists these pitiful attempts to waken to the day. Take one step away and dark once again surrounds. 

Slowly of course the windows shed their dark and trees begin to form an outline distinct from the lightening sky. Still it will be a while before inside objects take on dimension without the help of artificial light. The dark of morning is an obstacle to be overcome, a tightly wound blanket to be fought while awakening from your own sleep, urging the light, the energy of the day to finally penetrate the cold harsh reality of morning's dark before the dawn. ~ blessings this day

A Different Perspective

D has just returned from Germany. Here are three of his insights uncovered by any of our media here:

1) Europeans do Not care what we call the detainees at Gitmo which is hardly on their radar at all anyway.

2) The European press is not as enamored with President Obama as the US press.

3) Europe is heading toward nuclear power and if they are removed from the need for mid-east oil before we are, they are going to be hard pressed to go to war to defend something that doesn't effect them. 

Thoughts to ponder ~ blessings

Practical Prayes

In Psalm 139 the Psalmist gives thanks that God knows our sitting down and our rising up. I like that. I like practical prayers. Gratitude for ordinary, usual things and events. Like hot water. 

Oh, my, I am grateful for hot water!! And never so much as this last week when due to a series of flukes and glitches, I have been without hot water except in my tea pot and off the top of my stove. Showers have been taken by pouring hot water from bowls and pitchers over my body. I managed to wash my hair only twice, thanks to a strategically placed haircut in the middle of the week. We won't discuss leg shaving. 

Finally today even as we speak, Mike the plumber -- we Love Mike -- and Ted are in the crawl space under the house installing the new water heater. He is so far along that he has had me turn on the hot water in the bathtub and let it come gushing forth after a few spits and spurts. *Huge Grins* 

Thanks be for hot water, for modern technology that brings it straight into the house, for Sears who sells hot water heaters, for folks like Mike who install them, and for the Joy of standing in a shower! ~ blessings

Time and the Internet

I instant message with my friend in Wales ~ in mid-afternoon for me with dinner still to come and very late at night when she is finished with her day and ready for bed. The 8 hour difference is interesting and it allows us to chat. 

So early Wednesday afternoon D emails me from Germany that he is heading for bed because they have to get up at 3 am to make the plane. At 7:30 Wednesday he emails me again that he has slept and is heading for the airport on Thursday morning. He will be back home at 4:40 Thursday afternoon our time. His Thursday will last for 21 hours. That's a long day. We will both be glad to have him home. ~ blessings

Day light savings

I don't like daylight savings. Time being a human construct, why can't we just set it the way we want it and leave it that way? I remember best having two little children and it took us Forever to get used to the springing forward. Phew. Falling back was fine with the extra hour of sleep that one night. 

I was just getting used to having early daylight and now it is dark at 6 again -- although that will change soon. I like it staying light later. It is just the changing around that bothers me. Tonight I should feel like it is an hour earlier than it is ~ instead (because of two really full days of grandchildren) I feel like it is later than it is. 

Time ~ it is what it is whether we save it or not.       ~ blessings

March winter

What an absolutely Gorgeous morning ~ looks like winter, feels like spring, Marvelous!

~ blessings

White out

It is snowing. It has been snowing since late yesterday afternoon. The wind is blowing. That combination creates a white out. It is still bright out there, I just can't see beyond the window pane. Then it "clears" and I can see across the road to the trees on the other side. Still the snow comes. Sometimes straight down. Sometimes horizontal if the wind picks up. Life goes on ~ and mine goes on in the house. There is no where we Have to be today and so D and I are home and grateful we don't have to be out there. ~ blessings

Monday thoughts

~ Where Did that key go? One of the mysteries of life I guess. D put in the new battery, found another key, turned it and voila! we now have two working keys again ~ but Where Did that key go?

~ Spring in the mountains: first it rains, then it snows, then it mixes it up causing great Plops of snow to fall from the trees onto the roof sounding like a Lab sized squirrel is thumping across the roof.

~ Tea with friends is lovely. We sat at the table, drank lovely tea, chatted and then they went home and in a delightful mood, I snuggled down in front of the fire to read. 

~ Instant message is Wonderful! I get to chat with my friend in Wales almost every day. We get to share life in short sentences sometimes as it happens. 

~ There is always something for which to be grateful ~ blessings

Just one of those days

We went shopping. Had a Wonderful time!! D bought some very nice things - the trip really was for him. Izod had women's coats for $10 ~ so I bought two: a reversible all-weather coat and a black wool jacket. We went to Sears and bought a new vacuum cleaner. Walked to the car, loaded it up, and D couldn't find his keys. He had his keys. We drove there. He had been back and forth to the car a couple of times to load bags and packages. We think - although we couldn't remember for Sure - that he had had to unlock the car to load in the vacuum. So where did the keys go? 

Five of us (we two and three amazing folks from Sears) searched the car - over and over again. We searched Sears. We searched Izod. We searched the parking lot. The keys had simply disappeared in a puff of pale blue powder. I even searched the pockets of my new jackets just in case the keys had fallen in the package and slipped into the pocket of a new coat.

The reserve set in the car didn't work, and by then the old battery had died. OnStar got us a tow truck and we came home ~ and we still need to get a new key from the dealership. What a day! We came exhausted and hungry as we had eaten a small breakfast and were heading for lunch when we couldn't find the keys. 

Tessie was with us and was not happy about the ride home in the tow truck. We Love Randy who rescued us and allowed Tessie in the cab with us for the ride home. And in all of this there is gratitude for an unseasonably warm day with no rain or snow falling. Thanks be for fine weather! There is always something for which to be grateful ~ blessings