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| Good morning |
April 22nd already! And yesterday was sunny and glorious, with an entire week without rain projected ahead. I went out yesterday and began to figure out what I will plant in my garden once the winter's weeds and grasses have been removed. One good thing from all this rain, the ground is soft and pulling them up is relatively easy. I made a start on it yesterday, but then it began to rain! Big fat drops fell out of a rogue raincloud and sent me back inside. Today, though, we have zero chance of precipitation.
Last Friday my friend Lily, who had the day off from work, joined me in visiting the Tulip Festival in Mt. Vernon, a half-hour's drive from Bellingham. People come from all over the world to view these incredible tulip fields and gardens during the month of April. RoozenGaarde Gardens are my favorite place to go. It was partly sunny, but with so much moisture in the air, once the warm sun begins to warm the ground, clouds form quickly. I think that was what created yesterday's shower. Anyway, we had perfect weather to enjoy the tulips. Since it was Lily's first visit, she snapped hundreds of pictures on her phone, while I walked around and took a few pictures, but not that many. It really marks the beginning of the season for me.
Earth Day. It's been around for 48 years, can you believe it? Every year the Earth Day Network (EDN) focuses on one aspect of pollution that we can help to eradicate. This year it's plastic pollution. I've seen pictures of that awful place in the Pacific called the Great Pacific garbage patch, and it's now twice the size of Texas! I live in a city that bans one-use plastic bags in grocery stores, but everywhere I see people drinking bottled water out of store-bought plastic bottles and think about the enormous volume of plastic that must be generated worldwide every day from their use. We've got to do something about this. As the Earth Day Network tells us,
From poisoning and injuring marine life to disrupting human hormones, from littering our beaches and landscapes to clogging our waste streams and landfills, the exponential growth of plastics is now threatening the survival of our planet.You can learn from the EDN what you might be able to do to make a difference in the world today. Take a look here at all the different campaigns EDN has launched. Earth Day contributed to the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency and many others. One thing I did is take the test on line to find out about my own personal plastic use and how I might reduce it.
Okay, I've done my small part to raise awareness about plastic pollution and how we might make even the tiniest difference in the consumption of plastics, and now it's time to move to something more pleasant at the very beginning of this lovely day. I'm looking forward to spending some more time in the garden in full sunshine today, and just thinking about it raises my spirits.
However, I'm nursing a sore ankle from a fall yesterday while on my usual Saturday walk with the ladies. It feels better today, but I notice that it's beginning to turn colors, meaning that I twisted it hard enough to bruise the tissues inside. I'll continue to be careful with it, but there's no way I can stop using it. I thought about wrapping it with an Ace bandage, but I don't think it would have made a difference; it's just going to take time. I notice that I turn my ankle and take a fall more often these days. I think perhaps I'm going to have to start wearing a brace on my right one, which seems to be the culprit more often than the other.
I know that while my aging body would probably find benefit in having me take it easier, my mind and spirit haven't learned that lesson yet. It will come, but I keep thinking it's not now, not today, but somewhere in the distant future that I'll have to pay closer attention to all these aches and pains and what they're telling me. In the meantime, I'll continue to run around and play in the sunshine until I simply cannot continue doing it any longer, whenever that is. Tomorrow. Maybe.
Your body actually reminds you about your age and your injuries - the body has a stronger memory than your mind. --Mikhail BaryshnikovWell, if anybody should know about injuries and aging, it would be Misha. He was wonderful to watch when he was young. He's 70 now, into my decade, and has continued to change and grow into new phases of his life. It's a good thing for all of us to do, look at others around us and see how they cope with the aging process.
And now it's time for me to stop dithering with the keyboard and make my way into the rest of this beautiful day. I've got the usual suspects around me: sleeping partner, an empty teacup, and the pull to the coffee shop coming on strong. I do hope that you will think about your own loved ones and not forget to be grateful for the life we share today. You are always in my thoughts, dear reader. Be well until we meet again next week.
16 comments:
Happy Earth Day! Aloha from Hawaii. I hope your ankle heals quickly. Maybe you need crutches, a cane or a walker so you can put less pressure on it.
Ah yes. Earth Day. I am definitely in love with the Earth at this time of the year. With new greens everywhere and color from fields of flowers, even dandelions, set against an occasional bright blue sky. What a glorious place we live in on such a miraculous planet. Our big blue marble, so in need of our care and protection.
As to aging, just yesterday I said to Tom, as I was hobbling around due to stiffness from working in gardens and walking and exercising, "I am being too hard on my body. It wants me to quit, but then what would I do? I am too young to stop doing what I love to do." So maybe slow down a little, take longer breaks, but certainly not quit!
Have fun in your garden. We have a 1:00 Sounders match at the stadium. We are looking forward to going in early on the light rail and joining the young people at the march to the match, eating stadium food on the third level with a view out over Eliot Bay, in sunshine! Watching our boys and hopefully cheering goals scored, and celebrating our Earth!
Be well and happy.
Money, actually profit is stopping plastic change. Big compamies can go back to glass bottles for all things and we can recycle glass or reuse it more easily. As for plastic bags it seems no one is stopping their manufacturing so they will remain. We each can try our part but the big corps really hold the trump card for change. Now we even have issues with old clothing and how to repurpose that. Each time we buy a new item we are asked to get rid of one not used. We are a generation of shoppers who have been filling our places to a point that we now have hoaders. We are bred consumerism. And we all contribute to dumps now. We created a system that is next to impossible to reverse without serious economic challenges. Seems the job rate is dependent on consumerism. Look at all the cell phones created in the last 20 years and what happens each time we upgtade? We need a genius to redesign our whole way of making goods and wages and lifestyles. But first we must collapse the one we are using and my guess is that is not coming soon enough. Is any company working to clear that ocean mess? Bill Gates or other top wealthy folks maybe?
Enjoe your garden. Hope the ankle is better soon.
Hi DJan, A good Sunday morning to you. Thanks for all the info on Earth Day. Earlier this week I thought about dedicating today’s edition of John’s Island to something special about Earth Day. Then, on Friday morning I spotted one of the sailboats racing around the world and arriving in Seattle. That led me to research Clippers Around the World. Some of the boats have themes that support taking care of the Earth, so in a way, it all worked out. I especially appreciated your mentioning the plastic problem in our oceans. I do think you saw my post on the plastic I found on the Oregon beach a few weeks ago. https://john-s-island.blogspot.com/2018/03/spring-again.html I think focusing on this, like you did today, is a good thing and hopefully we can bring the issue to the forefront where it can get more attention. Thanks for sharing, as always. Hope you have a fine week ahead. John
Good Morning DJan! And Happy Earth Day! I will check out that site for personal plastic use as soon as I finish here. I use plastic water bottles too... gallon and personal sizes... but would be glad to go back to glass. Prefer glass to plastic anyday.
Sorry to hear about your ankle. Take care... being able to walk and get around is so important to our independence and freedom.
My son and his family are in your part of the world today... enjoying Seattle and sending me pics. He is there for work, the others went along for the ride. All seem to be enjoying it.
I’ve been thinking about plastics more recently. I want to eliminate our use of single use plastic bags. Sounds easy but has been tough. Improved though. Governments may have to legislate before industry changes its habits.
Have a fun week gardening Jan, but take it easy on that ankle.
My city banned single use plastic bags quite some time ago. A step in the right direction.
If only EVERY day was recognised as Earth Day.
I hope your poor bruised ankle heals quickly.
An ace bandage may help to stabilize things while it heals...wrap it for part of the day when you are most active! We use our own grocery bags most of the time and if I forget I ask for paper and use those to collect paper recycles...every little bit helps! :)
We age but we can do many things to keep a good quality of life. It takes discipline and effort to eat properly and stay active. Now the falling. I have to be more conscious of where I am and what I'm doing. Yes, my head doesn't get it that I have a higher risk of falling.
Just saw something on Facebook about an alternative to plastic bags made from plant based materials that biodegrade quickly. The company is in Indonesia where plastic is also a huge problem.
I didn't realize plastic would degrade in 200 years and I believe its petroleum based. This needs to happen quick..a change that is. I don't think the current EPA guy will be much help, let alone this administration.
The main thing I feel in aging is less energy and i tire more quickly...but I enjoy a lot of the freedoms that come with aging.
Has it really been 48 years? You would think we would have made more progress than we have. That plastic swamp in the Pacific horrifies me.
So sorry about your ankle. Maybe some specific exercises could strengthen it? Not talking about 8 miles up and down a mountain:)) I know how important your mobility is to you. Hope you see a doc. Take care.
Dear DJan, thank you for the links to the plastic use and to what I might do to be a better steward of the earth. Hope your ankle gets better, and, yes, our bodies do let us know when it's time to do much more cherishing of them. Peace.
Yes, the chilly wet winter that won't end in the Pacific Northwest. But sunny and warm now! My friend in Montana just sent me a photo of his front yard newly covered with snow. He said it's like living in Game of Thrones and winter is coming, or won't end.
I once read a book about garbology and realized conserving energy and recycling is only a sliver of the problem. Americans have too much trash according to this book I read, and it just gets carried away, often being buried or tossed in the ocean. It made me think, maybe those big fancy packaging that are only half full of food "because of settling (but no one really believes it)" could maybe be smaller or even better non-existent.
I do wish I could plant more trees...and too, we have switched to metal bottles. That makes me feel better.
Just love your musing on how your body is --perhaps -- telling you to slow down but you'll keep "continue to run around and play in the sunshine" while you can. My 70 year old running body says just the same thing. And I ignore myself as much as possible. :-)
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