A Public Service Announcement

Dear K and the folks at CS. If it would make your lives a bit easier, I could just e-mail you the blog entries as I update them and save you the trouble of logging on every time I update. E-mail address is on the left.

Have a great night.

Save the planet- quit washing your hands...

"I am the Lorax I speak for the trees for trees have no tongues." Theodore Geisel-"The Lorax"

I am a crummy environmentalist. Really late to the recycling party- JUST found out what fair trade is and why organic is better for more than just MY health. But I'm trying. I like the little things you can do. I save my container from the salad bar I eat at waa-ay too often downstairs- I carry it with me and use 1 box a week instead of five- no one there seems to notice and I save 4 of them a week or about 200 a year. Little stuff- it's what I can do, every day. And I carry a bag with me- almost as much as I hate all the plastic bags that come home with me- I hate the vision I get of polar bears trapped on ice floes because they are melting too fast. I am not sure they can swim- and the water looks cold.



Best of all, lately, is a chance to be bad while doing good. I LOVE this. I came across a blog called- These come from trees. You can buy the stickers pictured above in bunches and stick-em up wherever you go- your next trip to the Taco Bell (Dove) or the Starbuck's (Kiwi) or the McDonald's ('Neff) can impact the environment positively when you stick one of these on a napkin dispenser or paper towel dispenser. Plus- it's a sticker- some of you may have guessed that I sort of like stickers. Here is some info from "These Come from Trees"
www.thesecomefromrees.blogspot.com

Some AMAZING facts from the These Come From Trees Blog

Testing shows a "These Come From Trees" sticker on a paper towel dispenser reduces paper towel consumption by ~15%
A typical fast food restaurant with two bathrooms can use up to 2000 pounds of paper towels a year
The average coffee shop uses 1000 pounds of paper towels a year
A single tree produces around 100 pounds of paper
A single "These Come From Trees" sticker can save around a tree's worth of paper, every year
Roughly 50,000 fast food restaurants in the US
200,00 gas stations in the US
14,000 McDonalds' in the US
There are 10,000 Starbucks in the US

And finally- Martian, 'cause I knew this would touch you:

UNLESS someone like you
cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better.
It's not. The Lorax

Oh- and I do not recommend not washing your hands- just dry 'em off on your tush- you get to give yourself a little squeeze and strike a blow for the environment!

:) X

Rhymes with Duck

Prince and Thompson 11:32 am 5/30/07

"There's a million eyes tonight, This is no hometown to me. It takes patience to walk this proud when you feel so lost in this cold grey sea. I'd trade off all my past for one room with a view. I'd give everything in my jeans tonight just to walk down the street with you. I don't care which end of town or what part of the country. It's such a relief that your eyes see the same things that I do. I don't care where we are - where we end up by morning. It's such a relief just to walk down the street with you." Cliff Eberhardt-" (Just to) Walk Down the Street With You"

I live in a Crazy World

The title of this entry comes from the diary of Anne Frank. If Sei Shonagon is a current influence, Anne Frank got me started. I could not have been more than nine or ten when I read her diary and began writing on my own. There was an awful lot going on through my childhood and adolescence- in truth I don't know anyone who would describe their past as "uneventful"- even if it were true- who would cop to that? But growing up, knowing that my crazy world was not so different than Anne's- and in most ways incredibly better, made it bearable. And her writing of her pain, her fears and her hopes- inspired me to express my thoughts- to find words for feelings and when my own words were not enough- to learn new ones and to develop a way of expressing myself that to this day is a gift. I hadn't written anything beyond business documents or letters to friends in over twenty years- this blog reintroduced me to that challenge- and that joy. To find ways to share my world with others, to say things I might otherwise have been silent about- to express, love and joy and sorrow and excitement and commune with loved ones near and far, even ones I have not yet met.

Up until recently the "notebook" has been visited by my friends and family and the occasional websurfer. All have been lovely, friendly and supportive- BOB and I even get fan mail. In the past day or so there has been reason to wonder if such a public forum is wise- so much can be twisted. I looked inside myself and the feeling I have is if you spend your time digging for dirt- you ultimately wind up covered in it. But if the sensation of such paranoid scrutiny was unpleasant- once again the voice of Anne Frank reassured me

"...finally I twist my heart round again, so that the bad is on the outside and the good is on the inside, and keep on trying to find a way of becoming what I would so like to be, and could be...

The absolute torrent of good feeling bonhomie and sharing that writing this blog daily brings trumps any minimal discomfort by many miles. In the end it's all about love- for my world and the people, things and events of which it is comprised. It's still crazy but it's mine. In the end I feel parented by a 15 year old girl..

"all children must look after their own upbringing. Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands. Anne Frank


Thanks Anne- I, my words, my friends- are in good hands.
I'll keep writing- you keep visting- and hopefully all who come here will become what they would so like to be- and could be.

:) X

B-Day...Storming the Backyard

"M" is for Melanie Photos, Food and so much more, by Gabriela. Vielen Danke Zucherkopf.

In an effort to document every last second of party day... I lost the morning's pics. Those of you who would have liked to see me with a cat on my head, well, check the blog more often hmmmmm? Gaby sent me an earlier version...TY again Z- for clarity, for directness, for being my very favorite ...pain :)

Verne and I put together the barbeque with instructions created by non-English speaking sadistic space aliens

With only 7 left over screws...it holds together!

This strange structure manifested itself during the course of the event begging the question (over and over AND over) What the HECK is a henge? A monument defined by the presence of an enclosure, usually made by a circular ditch and bank system, up to 500 m in diameter literally, "hanging rock," this term is often applied to the Neolithic stone monoliths found in Britian. But without a single Druid in attendance a second question presents itself- what nut-job found time to do this?

Meanwhile inside we start the day off with a "Zucherkopf"
One part (BIG part) Tanqueray, 1 part diet cranberry ginger ale and lots of lime and ice. Breakfast is recommended before consuming this...

I didn't have breakfast. The effect of a Zucherkopf on an empty stomach is similar to the effect of being hit in the head with a lemon slice, which had been wrapped around a brick.

The Zucherkopf has an effect on Gaby as well- she has her OWN gap!

Lunch is served...

Fred and Chris

Annelise

Chris and Betty

Yuki

A big squeeze from the evil twin (Me pretty, You evil- deal with it)

Rosaline

Verne

Myles

Miriam

'Neff

Neil

Charlotte

MyDove

Keiko

Jeff

Kiwi and Skye

Margo and Cobbler

Me and Cobbler- slightly different...

Rich

Carola

Donna Charlotte and Annelise

Skye and I Play Imaginary Twister

Skye Wins

In the grape arbor

It's not a party without a few boo-boos. Upside: got me out of doing the dishes...

Loot!

I did, Annelise.

:) X

Some photos from Dove... This is beginning to take on the proportions of one of those home movies from my childhood- in a not-so-good kind of way...