Earth Hour

 What did you do during Earth Hour?

The hub and I crawled up into the big bed and we're watching Dial M for Murder on his laptop! 

Cozy as two bugs in a rug.

Labels:  Earth

Palm Sunday, 2010

It's been a wonderfully lazy Sunday--Palm Sunday--on the river. The hub is back on U.S. soil, amen! He's at home with the kid who seems to be needing a lot of DK time (dad/kid) right about now. Oy. To be a 16 year-old boy. No thank you. Not even a 16 year-old girl, that I somehow remember oh-so-well--even more so. Ooooof. Palm Sunday.

There was a time when I would have spent Palm Sunday, first thing, in Church with all the boys. Hub, teenager and kid. Growing up, I attended a Baptist church through my best friends. While, we, as a family--three boys and girl respectively--were brought up more spiritually, my brothers and I, by my parents. Yes, we believed in God and Jesus, but we weren't expected to attend church to prove it. As a teenager, I knew I would find my perfect partner and convert to his religion--if, in fact, he were religious. Never dwelled on it--just seemed the course. Low and behold, I met the hub. My one-and-only. I began the process of becoming a Catholic. I was baptised in the Church, having never being baptised. Go figure. Amy was my "sponsor," and I still think of her as my Godmother sent to me from Heaven above way before I was baptised. The hub was my "sponsor" when I was Confirmed into the Catholic Church. And, so, we brought the boys up Catholic. Went to church every Sunday with them. Well, almost. Once they were confirmed, it was their decision to go to church or not. Today? Me? I dunno. I still SO believe in God and Jesus, as I was brought up to do. But church? Hmmm. I have seen so much hatred and bad coming from organized religion these days in the United States, I just don't know. . . . . How can people call themselves a child of God and push so much hate? I just don't understand. And it breaks my heart. Today? I seem to be more in being with the river.

K, off my soapbox.

Yesterday, I went into town and was in the mood for finding something "fresh" for the house, Riverside. Coming home, I took the "scenic" route and had to stop off at the park and take a few snaps. It is absolutely breathtaking from the top of the bluffs. The sailboats, in the distance, were mesmerizing. I love the views from here. It is absolutely gorgeous on and off of Mobile Bay.

Everything is popping here. And I have the pollen all over the place to prove it, including the bedroom. I had, mistakenly, left all the windows open for the weekend. Oy. (Painter coming in the morning so all is closed up tight now!)

Beautiful, in spite of having to take extra Zyrtec. Well worth it. Of course.

At home, at 8:30 pm., it was lights' out. Earth hour. I did it. I thought I would forget--after all, I'm on the river and quite riversorry, in truth. But alas, I remembered.

And, what did I do for an hour? lol. Once a photog, always a photog. Or should I say phot-hog? What in the world did I do all those years when I gave it up? Oh yea, raised my boys. Heart heart.

I do so enjoy it--trying to get that snap that relays your feelings at the moment. Notice the word snap. No longer do I spend hours in the darkroom.

Bella, trying to be a tough-ass in the candle-lit room. This, Riverside, is her first and absolute home, btw.

She does love it here; and, thus, another OMMMMM moment by the Bell. Bad girl.

K, moving forward to Sunday, Palm Sunday. Dar called from a couple of houses down and said that she and Linda were painting--NOT the kind of painting going on down here on the river, mind you. Nope, that girl is an artist. She was artistically painting--painting several signs for a local studio in Magnolia River. So talented that woman. Brought my camera. Did I take a photo??? Nope. In the short time I have known her, I already call her a dear friend. And a talented one, to boot!

MmmmmkK (as Jacq would say), here's our inspiration. Actually, Darlene's inspiration. Mine was blue for the back door--and I'm not a blue person. NIXED! We went into her front yard and she picked a few azaleas. This is it! The back-door color! Knowing that I am THE most "fuchsia" person ever, I knew it right then that it was the correct color. Then, as if that weren't good enough, Dar, being the perfect person she is, whips out a paint-color fan? How many people do you know has one of those, easily accessible, Sherwin Williams' fans???? Now, how awesome is that? Darlene rocks the river! Not only is fuchsia my all-time favorite color way back from childhood (60s Crayola land) , but the azalea's in her front yard? These are the SAME old-fashioned color of azaleas from my childhood. Sniffle. The ones from our front yard growing up on Fox Street in Arlington, VA. Sniffle. Sniffle. Sniffle.

I am meant to be here. Right now.

Wow.

Happy Earth Day

Today, I took my own coffee cup to the coffee shop. One less styrofoam cup in a landfill.

Earth Day 2008--One Change at a Time

With Earth Day quickly approaching, like tomorrow, Nashville decided to hold its celebration/awareness day on Saturday. It was a dismal day and I have to say not quite the turnout I had hoped for. Although I despise crowds, I truly hoped there would have been a lot more people running around. Gee whiz, we all need to wise up to this stuff and learn as much as we can on how each one of us individually can make a difference. We've been abusing this planet and our bodies for way too long. It's time to wake up and smell the pesticide-free roses!

Let's all take a moment and make a decision to do one thing, shall we? Can we? We can choose one thing that will change our environment, can't we, easily enough? (Well, if you choose to make more than one change, good for you!) But one thing, c'mon. One change from each of us will truly add up! Last week, as I was pondering Earth day, I made the conscious decision to quit using plastic bags. I have my Whole Foods cloth bags that I keep in my car, I have a little fold out bag that I carry in my purse and I'm trying to get Vallen, of Queenly Things, to begin selling her lovely homemade bags made from old pillow cases. She says they are way too wonky to sell. I say the wonkier the better! (Sorry Val, but I actually think you are on to something!) In any case, you get my drift. These plastic bags are so ingrained in our shopping experience, it's amazing how you (or at least I) have to remind yourself to say "no plastic bag, please," and I either carry it out naked or I whip my little bag out of my purse. If you want to learn about how these bags are impacting our environment, please click here. Of course, there are a lot of other ways you can choose to make a difference. Take a look at the Earth Day Network site. It is chock full of information. Take a look and see what's happening tomorrow in your town. I have to admit to being envious of those in larger cities. I sure wish I were back up in DC. I truly miss the HUGE celebration there. I remember taking the teenager to his first Earth Day in 1990 and Tom Cruise was "the" big name speaker. He was just a baby back then too!

Ok, I'm stepping off of my soapbox and getting back to our little gathering in Nashville. I grabbed a lot of information to go through and signed up for a lot of stuff around town that perhaps I can get involved in. I especially enjoyed speaking to the lady who started "Tennessee Green" in our local newspaper. I told her about my worries about the Nashville area using so much Styrofoam. I'm hoping the more people I tell, the better the chance of our restaurants and coffee houses here switching to something a little more environmentally healthy. I am AMAZED at how much Styrofoam is used here. And, I suppose you have to actually come from somewhere else where it is not used, consciously, to notice it. I was flabbergasted when we first moved here to even see the stuff. Now that I've been her for over seven years, I've become desensitized. Well, not any more. I've written to several larger coffee shops that use it here and have asked that they move to some other type of containers. (Oh gee, I think I'm back on the soapbox, again. Slowly climbing down. Sorry.)

Ok, ok, we arrived at Centennial Park and came upon a birthday party of sorts. It was lovely Rita's birthday party (name changed for protection). There were all kinds of doggies partying it up with lovely Rita. And I have to say, I loved Miss Rita's friend's boots. Too cool.

There was music, of course. Jen Foster was on the stage when we arrived.

We came upon Walden's Puddle's booth which had all kinds of critters that had been rescued, including this sleeping owl and opossum.

The beautiful replica of the Parthenon as a back drop.

And as we were leaving, a reminder of some one's birthday party. I think they left it there for me to photograph, don't you?

I'll leave you with some ideas on how you can make a difference in your daily routines that will help our environment and ourselves. I found No. 5 to be fascinating. Pretty scary stuff. (You can click on the photo to enlarge.)