Lowering my impact

One thing that I long ago learned about myself is that if activities are built in to my natural pattern, they are much easier to establish and maintain, rather than activities that I have to go out of my way to do. The most simple, obvious one, is carrying reusable shopping bags. How many of you have trouble with your conscience, because you KNOW that this is a VERY SIMPLE STEP towards lowering your environmental impact? First, you have to acquire the bags. Then you have to store them somewhere in the house. Then you have to get them to your traveling vehicle, be it car, bike, or bus. Then, you have to remember to USE them. 20+ years ago, I really didn’t want to use the plastic bags at all, even to re-use them as shopping bags. For the ‘acquisition” phase, I slowly bought string bags, from the local food coop. I would always be pleased when a new batch came in, as I could then choose a color that I didn’t already have. Occasionally, I would buy a more expensive canvas bag. Fine. MANY bags piling up on the counters, and in the crevices at home. But NO BAG WITH ME IN THE STORE. Rumble, growl. So, next is to install a hook near the door, where they could be hung once emptied. And a hook near the door, means that as I run for the car, “Oh, there are my bags, I’ll take them with me!” Tossed somewhere loose, buried under the other masses of stuff I would be carrying. (daughter, food for three people for the day, 3 dogs, water bucket for the dogs, container to KEEP THE DOGS OUT OF OUR FOOD, 3 leashes, additional layers/changes of clothes, pruning shears and shovel to kidnap plants, YOU know the drill. Or have your own.) Then, time after time, I reach the checkout counter, and have bags….. in the car. Slump. Next, designate the space RIGHT BEHIND the drivers seat, on the floor, as the bag location. That helps! They are where I can see them when I get out of car, and am locking the door. (ALWAYS USE YOUR KEYS TO LOCK THE DOOR, THEN YOU NEVER LOCK YOUR KEYS IN THE CAR!) But still, the scruffle to choose what bags I need, out of a heap on the floor, and shake the dog fur out of them, means that they MAY not always get used. Ah ha! Designate one bag as the “bag of bags”, to hold the other bags. Nowdays, that is one of the large, but rather flimsy ones, that we are ALL getting for free. Advertisers, pink for breast cancer research, green to “go green”, everyone is on the bandwagon with reuseable bags, frequently “closed loop” bags, made from recycled material. Tip-keep one particular bag (canvas), for things that might leak, so that you know which bag to put in the laundry frequently. All this, JUST TO HAVE A REUSABLE BAG AT THE STORE. But once solved, aahhh. Relief. (One thing that I have an extreme aversion to, is having to solve the same problem AGAIN, but that is a different topic, for another day.)

Sugar

I have a sugar addiction. Well, we are all hard-wired to like sugar, but its rarity in the natural world, has meant that, in the past, we had to put much effort into acquiring it. Like climbing trees, and argueing with the bees about who got the honey. Now, sweeteners are easy to aquire, don’t  take much money, and that is a problem. For me, particularly, as ANY sugars mess with my thinking. I have the most trouble with cheap candy. Good candy is made with sugar, probably from sugar cane. The cheap candy is based on corn syrup, and counteracts my prescription anti-depressant. But how to NOT EAT THEM? “Just say no” may work to PREVENT an addiction, but it just adds guilt when dealing with an existing addiction.

Loosing people

I drove a fair distance this weekend, to say goodbye to friends who have to move, that I may never get to see again. It seems incredible, in this time, when people fly hither, and drive thither, to think of never seeing somebody again. We were able to meet at a park, and spent much time talking, absorbing sunshine, taking fake pictures of the younger ones, and watching them all take turns hiding the eggs for each other to find. And then hiding them somewhere else for another member of the party to find. And then, all of them trying to figure out WHERE they had hidden them.

Lots of grief, as we will be unable to stay in contact, most likely, which seems so weird, in this connected age.

Time of many petals

My plum tree

I do not celebrate religious holidays (not choosing to be identified and limited by a particular belief pattern). I also find the gregorian calendar uncomfortable. It is too much of a “one size fits all”. And, as with clothing, that is NEVER true. THIS January is not the same as LAST January. So I tend to identify the time of year (at least in my own head), based on what the living world is doing. There is the “alder catkins are lengthening” season. Others are the “daffodils are sticking their green tips above ground”, the “native hazel is blooming”, then the “frogs singing!”. There is “Daffodil Season”, during which the pens where I work wear daffodil headdresses. They wear these disguises ONLY while the daffodils on MY driveway are blooming.

Along my driveway

As I have many different daffodils on my driveway, all planted since I moved in fifteen years ago, “Daffodil Season” is fairly long.

Pheasants eye type daffodil

Jet Fire

Many of these seasons overlap. Tonight, I am in the middle of Daffodil Season, as well as “frogs singing!” season. We are also in the midst of “time of many petals” which is when the pink and white cherry blossoms start dropping their petals.

I love it when there are drifts of pink in all the gutters, swirls of dancing petals curly-cuing across the sidewalks and asphalt parking lots. This leads into the shocking season of  “RHODODENDRONS” which is very strong. Up until then, the colors are gentle to our winter-dulled eyes. White and yellow and pink, with small splashes of purples.

Red-flowering Currant

Later, the Rhododendrons will burst upon us, in enormous masses of off-shaded pinks and purples and reds. All of which have some hint of the other colors in them. They are, after all, mostly varieties developed from crossing Rhododendron yakushimanum with other varieties. So their general structure, and color groups, are similar. Big masses of clustered blooms. Go up to the Rhododendron Species Foundation at Weyerhouser, and visit Rhodies that look entirely different! Ones that look more honeysuckle, with looonnngg tubular flowers, that only trumpet out a little bit at the end.