Bee Here Now

Sunday morning's First Unity service included an anecdote from Reverend Temple Hayes recent trip to Mexico in which she told us of her walks on the beach, where she was reminded that she'd travelled over a thousand miles to do what we can do here in the Tampa Bay area every day, should we so desire.

"But that's another story," she said.

She continued to explain her encounter with a bee trapped in mud at the water's edge. She'd carefully scooped up the bee, and watched in wonder as it washed the mud off its thorax and face with tiny forelegs.

"Twice a day, searching for stranded bees became my calling," she said. "I carried an entire arsenal of bee saving tools, pieces of wood, feathers, and such, to fish bees out of the surf."

I chuckled internally because her story reminded of a time long ago, (well… to be precise, eleven years ago) when I'd had my own encounter with a bee. My husband of beloved memory and I had built a bathhouse out on the far end of our patio. Of course the initial plan had been to erect a tiki bar with a palm frond roof and telephone pole uprights, but those plans had exploded into an 18" deep hurricane proof foundation laid by a Russian immigrant, atop which perched a bathhouse with a full bar and a porch that ran the entire length of the building. Most of the construction work was done by our cranky and highly opinionated contractor. We opted to do the finish work ourselves, to get him gone that much sooner.

My job was to paint. Now, picture if you will, this building, with the front porch approximately three feet away from the deep end of the pool. Picture a middle aged woman on a ladder perilously close to said deep end, painting the trim, and now envision a bee buzzing around the head of aforementioned woman.

That was my bee; or that which came to be thought of as "my" bee.

My bee was, I presume, attracted to the smell of the paint. S/he was flying around my head, buzzing, as bees are wont to do. Now, I like bees just fine. I've adopted a 'live and let live' approach to most creatures, as long as we are not talking about when they make the mistake of moving into my house; just ask the rats and mice what might happen…. Well, you can't do that, now can you. I didn't, however, relish the idea of getting stung by a bee and falling from a seven foot ladder into the -not deep enough for a diving board- swimming pool.

In a moment of very un-Zenlike judgment and lack of consideration for Dharma , I swung the paintbrush through the air, creating an air current that knocked my bee into the drink. Immediately I regretted my actions. I got down from the ladder, rushed to the swim-out and, using a clean paint stirrer, fished my bee out; gently rolling him/her onto the pool deck. Like Reverend Hayes, I watched with rapt attention and fascination as my bee's tiny sides heaved with the effort of swimming. I began to think I'd set up some really good Karma.

It struck me that the chlorinated water might be bad for my bee. I worried while I waited for my bee to dry and fly away. It was at that moment, when I was feeling all good about how I'd saved a life; that the lizard rushed out of the bushes, and ate my bee.

    

Green Paper Towels

I’m gearing up to have a heart to heart five minute chat with about a hundred and fifty or so individuals in the hopes of convincing them to give Shirts of Bamboo’s 100% bamboo compressed towelettes a try. These handy little gems start out the size of a poker chip and pack an environmental wallop the size of Canada’s Boreal Forest, which consists of ¼ of the world’s remaining ancient forests. At least today, it contains one quarter of the remaining old growth trees, but if Kimberly Clark, the parent company of Kleenex and paper towels has its way, the clear cutting will decimate that forest in a few years.

What I’ve discovered about toilet paper and paper towels has me scared. According to the Green Report of March 2004:

· 40% of trash in US landfills consist of paper products

· 30% of timber consumed in the US is used to make paper products

· Paper use is expected to increase by approximately 46% by the year 2040

One more way for me to be a bit greener – paper towels. Currently, I use Shirts of Bamboo’s compressed 100% bamboo towelettes whenever plausible, that is to say, most of the time. I simply open the package, add water, unroll, and get real busy. Busy doing what, you ask?

• Polishing crystal
• Dusting
• Cleaning glass
• Drying up spills
• Wiping fingerprint smudges off my laptop
• Polishing furniture
• Washing dishes
• Keeping sweat out of my eyes while mowing the lawn
• Wrapping a wet towelette around my neck while mowing the lawn to lower my core temperature about 30 degrees in ten seconds
• Keeping the roots of soon to be transplanted plants moist while I find the potting soil and a suitable pot.
• Using in lieu of paper tissue

When the rinsed and dried towelettes resemble the stuff from the lint trap in my dryer, I compost them, or use them in the bottom of potted plants to cover that opening where the potting soil tends to fall out.

I use Seventh Generation paper towels on those rare occasions when I have to wipe out something greasy that I don’t want to go down the drain. I thought I’d take a look around at the paper towel industry as a whole to see if there were more I could do, more I could learn, more I could pass on to others who want to be a tiny bit greener every day.

While researching for my upcoming talk, I found the Green Report and its article about toilet paper and paper towels. I scanned the list of recommended paper towels. There, to my surprise, I found Kimberly Clark’s Scott products were 100% recycled and 70% bleach free. Another Kimberly Clark Scott paper towel was labeled 70% postconsumer, 30% elemental chlorine free.

The chlorine used in bleaching all paper products is a huge concern, since chlorine bleaching releases dioxins and other toxins into the environment, harming every level of the food chain.

I was so pleased to see Kimberly Clark doing their part! That bubble was soon popped when I discovered an article in the Vanguard, a student run newspaper since 1946. Greenpeace alleges that Kimberly Clark is clearcutting Canada’s Boreal Forest to make Kleenex and other KC products. So, it would seem, once again, my theory that it all boils down to money holds true. Kimberly Clark wants people like me to fall for their “environmentally responsible” posture by selling me what I demand, 100% postconsumer waste – bleach free paper towels. But behind the smoke and mirrors, they continue to decimate forests, habitat, and contribute mightily to climate change so that selfish, thoughtless, and careless individuals can blow their delicate, plastic surgery enhanced noses into lily white Kleenex.

Stop the Insanity- Sign the Petition Joining in the Millions Against Monsanto

My lifelong disdain for Monsanto developed in the early eighties when I read about farmers in India committing suicide because they’d used their daughters’ dowry to repay Monsanto “loans” when the crops failed. This hasn’t changed much, indeed, it seems it has worsened over the years. See End of a Wedding Dream for details.

I despised Monsanto for creating Agents Orange, Purple, Pink, White, and Blue (though lesser known, the rest of the 'rainbow' contributed to veterans’ illnesses,) not to mention the long lasting horrific effects on the people of Viet Nam. Monsanto compensated each soldier $1200 in the form of a one time lump sum payment. $1200 – now that’s what Monsanto thinks of exposing soldiers drafted to fight a war no one wanted to Dioxins and other toxic chemicals. Monsanto continues to this day to refuse to compensate Veterans and their families further for exposure to the toxic chemicals, including Dioxin.

Monsanto has its dirty paws in Genetically Modified (GM) cotton and foods. Monsanto's bt cotton in India has proven to be an abyssmal failure. The BT cotton, corn and soybeans may very well be killing livestock like the 1600 sheep which died after grazing on BT cotton, along with killing bees. When the bees die, so will we.

Farmers in India and Africa have rejected bt cotton but it may very well prove to be too late. Here in the United States, and Canada, we have GM corn, soybeans, and canola growing by the thousands of acres.

As if that were not enough, Monsanto produces Posilac, otherwise known as rBGH, (Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone.) Also called BGH, rBGH, BST and rBST., Monsanto sells the genetically engineered copy of a naturally occurring hormone produced by cows to dairy farmers. However, unlike the naturally occurring hormone, the rBGH increases milk production by 10% to 15%. The FDA approved rBGH in 1993 and it has been in use since 1994. Monsanto and the FDA claim milk from cows injected with rBGH cannot spread Mad Cow (Bovine spongiform encephalopathy) , but scientists disagree.

Monsanto and the FDA continue to lie about how Mad Cow disease is spread to humans. Of course they do. They want the labels we read on our milk cartons to neglect to mention whether the cows were injected with rBGH. They don’t want us to know that the milk production from a cow with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy might have been increased by 10 to 15%, potentially infecting 10 to 15% more people with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

This should come as little surprise when one looks at the resume`s of many of the FDA’s top executives. Take, por exemplo, the case of Margaret Miller, one of Monsanto’s top researchers. Ms. Miller submitted a scientific report about whether Monsanto’s growth hormones were safe or not. Then, she left Monsanto, and was hired by the FDA. One of her first FDA responsibilities – determining whether or not to approve the report she had written.

She had help from Susan Sechen, another former Monsanto researcher. Oh, and the guy who decides whether the FDA should require rBGH milk to be labeled as such or not fell under the jurisdiction of Michael Taylor. Attorney Taylor’s previous employer- you guessed it if you guessed Monsanto.

Not much has changed with regard to Monsanto’s complete disregard for the people and the planet, instead continuing to focus on the only “P” in its corporate mind that matters, that is Profit.

So I’ve joined forces with Millions Against Monsanto and I am asking you to do the same. Please sign the petition and join me in forcing Monsanto to:

· Stop intimidating small family farmers.

· Stop force-feeding untested and unlabeled genetically engineered foods on consumers.

· Stop using billions of dollars of US taypayers' money to subsidize genetically engineered crops - cotton, soybeans, corn, and canola.

The Green Week in Review – 1^st Week of June, 2007

You can’t call yourself an environmentalist if you eat meat. Since I call myself exactly that, I’ve returned to my vegetarian (bordering on vegan) roots . Veg for Life and PETA point out that by consuming only fruits and vegetables, one person saves the lives of over 100 animals annually. So, by my action of adopting a vegetarian lifestyle, I saved at least one animal this week. If it was a cow, that means I reduced greenhouse gasses, specifically methane. .

According to The Marian Koshland Science Museum Livestock lead rice-growing, gas-flaring, and mining in global emissions of this highly potent greenhouse gas. Options for reducing methane emissions go beyond reducing beef and dairy consumption. These mitigation strategies also include reducing methane emissions from mines, gas production facilities, and landfills.

So this week, I took on the beef. I also have seriously dented the quantity of trash I’m contributing to landfill by utilizing the three R’s – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

I’ll look to my hero, and captain of my heart Albert Gore Jr. to take on the project of reducing methane emissions from the mines. You can help the 2008 Draft Al Gore Grassroots Campaign by signing the petition begging him to run.

And now, it’s time for me to head off to work, where, with any luck at all, I’ll solve a few customer challenges facilitating their transition to clothing made from sustainable resources.

Green Hurricane Puppy Preparations

June 1st marked the opening of hurricane season in Florida. Hurricane Season Will Be "Very Active," Forecasters Say, and for the first time in my life (I’ve lived in Florida for over forty years) I am very very afraid; very afraid.

John Roach
for National Geographic News

April 3, 2007

Batten down the hatches: A "very active" Atlantic hurricane season is brewing, and at least one major storm is likely to strike the U.S. coastline, experts said today.

The hurricane forecast team at Colorado State University in Fort Collins anticipates 17 named storms to form in the Atlantic between June 1 and November 30.

Nine of the named storms will become hurricanes, five of them major hurricanes with sustained winds greater than 111 miles (178 kilometers) an hour.

And there's a 74 percent chance that at least one major hurricane will make landfall on the U.S. coastline. The long-term average is 52 percent.

That said, and that says too much for me, I’m trying to figure out how to be greener with hurricane preparations. I don’t want to be caught unaware, but want as little negative impact on the environment as possible.

Beginning with the dogs, I’ve learned that the following should be ready:

• Vaccination papers
  (Be sure your vet includes vaccinations for Kennel Cough, Parvo, and Distemper) I’m going to make a copy and laminate it, placing the copy inside the crates.
• Leash
• Collar with Pet's Identification Tag – again, I’m going to make tags with emergency contact info even though my dogs are microchipped.
• Pet food and water (Socking away an extra case of can for hurricane season. I’m also saving empty gallon containers for filling with dog water, and kibble.
• Food and Water Bowl
• Medications
• Name and contact information of you're pet's veterinarian
• Recent Picture of Pet (check)
• "Airline Approved" Pet Carrier
  (Carriers should be large enough for the animal to stand up, sit, and turn around) – Got that covered.
• Muzzle for Chuck & Colin ( I suppose terrified dogs might bite, so I was going to see about either finding used muzzles or making muzzles from an old backpack or leather jacket. Until I read what this person (http://leerburg.com/muzzleselection.htm) had to say, that is: that when stressed, or in a hot environment; as in Florida with no power during a hurricane, a cloth muzzle may prevent a dog from panting, and that could lead to death. So no, no muzzles.

The Green Week in Review

In the news – A pair (hopefully a breeding pair) of Giant Pandas are given to the people of Hong Kong to mark the anniversary of the return of Hong Kong to China.

In the LOCAL (as in right here, in my home…) news, I got the oil in the car changed to some super duper turbo gas saving stuff, and had the tires inflated to the proper PSI. I’ve learned that I am not as smart as a second grader. Nine year old Savannah Walters studied the Arctic ice caps and figured out that by having tires inflated to the proper pressure, Americans could save lots of fossil fuel. Pump 'em UP! Says With properly inflated tires...

1. Americans could save 4 million gallons of gas each day.
2. Americans could save hundreds of dollars each year on gas and extend the life of their tires by 25%.
3. Americans could all breathe cleaner air because we’d be burning less gas.
4. Americans would be able to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge forever!

And that’s just for starters, kids. How simple is that? Get the pressure checked on your tires, and make a contribution to the environment. Who knew being greener was so easy.

The power bill arrived, and I giggled like Jerry "The King" Lawler . It appears that I’ve managed to reduce my carbon footprint by another 10 KWH per day from last year. So, I offset my impact on the environment by contributing to carbonfund.org and I feel better. The gas bill also reflected savings, both personally and environmentally. I attribute the reduction to my lowering the thermostat (again) on the water heater, not using the dryer at all, and baking in the solar oven.

Also in this week’s mail, my http://www.shaklee.com/ Shaklee Get Clean Deluxe kit arrived. The Oprah special cost me $55.00. The same amount of “cleaning” supplies (read – caustic chemicals that suck the life out of everything they ever touched and will continue to touch for a half life of about a billion years) is valued at about $2000.00. As an added incentive I read this-

When you buy the Get Clean Starter Kit instead of the stuff you probably buy:

• You keep 108 pounds of packaging waste out of landfills
• You eliminate 248 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions

Get Clean products offer cleaning choices that are Green, and here's why:

• Sustainably sourced natural ingredients
• Biodegradable surfactants
• Recyclable packaging
• Recyclable wipes
• Recyclable dryer sheets
• No chlorine bleach
• No volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
• No phosphates
• No nitrates
• No borates
• No animal testing

I spent a good deal of Saturday cleaning house and I have to shout out how clean it smells. I can’t vouch for the dryer sheets yet, although I applaud that they are recyclable. Instead, I continue to use the hybrid dryer. See Project Laundry for details on creating your own work of art, sustainable hybrid clothes dryer. No load too large, no risk of fire, no dryer sheets to buy.

And with that, I leave you to attend the Green Thumb Festival. I’ll report back later.

Ciao Greenbaby

Solar Brownies and Bike Rides

Car mileage- ZERO

Bike mileage – Downtown to the Saturday Morning Market for organic veggies, a very cool ride indeed with the bike lanes on 1^st North and South making me feel rather safe, then to Sweetbay on 22^nd and 34^th later in the day. The concept of crossing 22^nd Avenue North is daunting, so I took to the sidewalk to get to the front of the grocery.

Between trips I experimented with solar baking by putting together (with the help of my assistant, 11 ¾ year old Tara from Fall River) No Pudge Fat Free Brownies and the warmth of the sun. I’d found instructions to make a solar oven from a pizza box, which looks mighty interesting, but we didn’t have a pizza box and I wasn’t going to ride across town to get one.

I trotted around like a mad scientist looking for the necessary components whileTara mixed the batter. We needed: dark pans, a container with some sort of glass cover, and something to reflect the sun’s rays onto the surface of the pans.

We filled the order for the pans by putting the mix in one eight inch cake pan, and flipping its’ partner over as a lid. We placed the pan inside a wok, covered the wok with a large glass inverted bowl, and placed both on a heatproof pad that anchored my kayak’s emergency blanket – a sheet of shiny silver plastic. The upper corners of the blanket were clothespinned to the ‘hybrid’ dryer…. AKA the clothesline.

Several hours later, we could smell the minty chocolatey gooey brownies. Alas, the day was so windy we hypothesized the temperature wouldn’t get high enough to finish them by sundown, so we resorted to finishing them off in the Advantium speed cooker, which combines microwaves and halogen lighting to cook up to 4 times faster than conventional ovens.

It was enough to redline my eco-meter, to have a young person concerned about the environment, and interested in thinking about what we might do to reduce our impact upon it. Tara told me of a recent science project she’d done, turning empty water bottles into water containers for small mammals, like hamsters and gerbils.

As we worked together on the solar oven, Tara and I were contemplating the possibilities for converting the gas grill to a solar grill, the possibilities of using a great big magnifying lens, and how to make a solar slow cooker.

The brownies were fantastic. The fun even better.

As we close in on Earth Day 2007

As April 22^nd, Earth Day 2007 approaches, I’m giving some thought to what changes I’ve made and things I’m thinking about changing to reduce my footprint on the landscape. I'm also giving some thought to what I'd like for my birthday. I'd like to win that nifty Reware solar power juice bag from Ideal Bite. Alternatively, someone could just buy me one.

Selling Books

Once I’ve read them, off they go to half.com. The reasons are numerous.

1. The books get recycled.
2. It opens up space in my shelves and mind for new ideas.
3. I ride my bike to the post office to ship them off.
4. It generates income which will be used to offset the purchase of a more energy efficient refrigerator.

Green Authors

Regarding books, authors, and ecorazzi’s Authors can be green too column of April 19, 2007, another author to add to the list – Sara Gruen , author of Water for Elephants, Riding Lessons, and Flying Changes lives with her husband, three children, four cats, two goats, and a horse in an environmental community north of Chicago.

Those of us who realize the fastest way to make our voices heard, the strongest vote is how we spend our money will soon be considering making choices about what books to read, what movies to watch based on the environmental stand of the artists involved. We’ll be doing business with the stores who give credits for those of us who bring our own bags, reading books written by green authors, getting our hair done by stylists who ride their bikes to work.

Speaking of hair….. any idea how much those boxes of hair color contribute to landfills? I’ve not colored my hair in over two years now. Just for the sake of round numbers, let’s call it 24 months.

I formerly colored my hair every 6 weeks. In 24 months, that’s SIXTEEN glossy boxes, each containing two plastic bottles of synthetic, oxidative and petroleum based dyes (containing lead acetate) and hydrogen peroxide, a sheet of plasticized paper with plastic gloves bonded on the back.

Do I miss having each hair the same color as its’ neighbors? Not so much. In fact, I appreciate that I can swim in chlorinated pools without fearing that my hair will be a different kind of green, and not the good kind.

Lawn Solutions – my front lawn could be mailed with a .39 cent stamp, my thighs; not going to say, at least not in writing. Solution, an old fashioned push mower

Makes me look like a convict, but a green convict.

Transportation

Yesterday’s car miles – zero. Bike miles; about 12.5 with a funky derailleur , on a ride that included trip to post office to drop off books, CD’s, and DVDS, then to Mazzaro’s for picnic fare, followed by a trip back home to drop off said groceries, followed by a trip to the best bike service in the universe, ABC Bicycles to get said funky derailleur out of its’ funk. Rick fixed it up in about three seconds and gave me some tips to prevent reoccurrence. It’s likely the cable got knocked from its’ moorings when I was loading or off-loading Carol’s bike and my bike for our recent ride of Fort DeSoto.

Electricity

Another SIX light bulbs retired to storage by replacing them with CFL’s. Only the lights in the kitchen and dining room remain…. Rarely used, but still there, a grim reminder from the department of ‘WHAT WAS I THINKING!!!!’

Natural GAS It’s meter reading day! I anticipate a huge reduction in the gas bill, since I’ve turned down the thermostat on the heater, and washed in strictly cold water.

I’m doing all I can. Really.

Back To M.A.C.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love makeup? Have I mentioned my career pack M.A.C. eye shadow obsession? Any clue how much I love StudioFix? Did I reveal that Zoom Lash is my all time fav mascara?

Here’s yet another couple of reasons to love M.A.C.

1. The Back To M.A.C. program where I bring back six empties for recycling and get a free lippie (every color BUT Viva Glam, because that is reason number two….

2. The M.A.C. AIDS Fund gets the total profits from all sales of Viva Glam I through IV.

Virtually Green Baby Showers and Life Partner/Bridal Showers

Imagine the benefits of hosting a virtual green baby shower. Those who are environmentally motivated would receive gifts they actually wanted, and the givers of the wonderful gifts would have an opportunity to learn something about products that had reduced negative impact on the environment. By hosting a virtual shower, you can include friends and family all over the globe.

Here’s how it works:

1. Have prospective adoptive – birth- foster parents, about to become life partners, or the bride and groom register online at websites that provide wishlists, like Shirts of Bamboo..
2. Send email invitations to the guests with the links to the wishlists. Let them know the time and date of the shower, and set up a room for instant messaging so they can participate in the activities.
3. Have one of the local guests bring a video camera to the actual event and put the video on the Internet for those who cannot attend. Alternatively, a camera attached to a computer could bring those from far away to the party itself.

For adoptive parents and those anticipating the arrival of babies, Shirts of Bamboo offers an adorable Onesie, baby blankets, hooded towels, socks, and beanies to keep little one's head warm.

For couples, towels, soaps, matching robes would make wonderful gifts to start a new life together.

For everyone, the benefit of reduced plastic shopping bags, wrapping paper, wasted gas to return duplicates or unwanted items.

Get Green, Get Your Money Back

In national news, Larry Hagman, of Dallas fame, has launched a fantastic campaign to support such green causes as Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF). RefundsForGood will show you how to get money back from the IRS and donate it to do some real good for the environment.

In local news Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio drives a hybrid Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, please consider moving across the bay and running for office. Mayor Iorio has signed the Conference of Mayors For Climate Protection agreement. St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker has not.

St. Petersburg’s Mayor Rick Baker’s approach to development, and his lack of enthusiasm toward any efforts for recycling are often criticized, and rightfully so. In fact, our esteemed Mayor, Rick Baker was instrumental in getting the Val Pak Coupon Printing Plant to be built in St. Petersburg. Expectations are that the plant will be able to produce 54-million coupons per year, up from 24-million. Imagine, billions of packages of unsolicited coupons dumped into mailboxes and then trash cans all over the country will come from my very own back yard. Way to go Mayor Baker!

Greener every day

Here’s the skinny, the lowdown, the continuing saga of me trying to get off the grid. Currently, the only juiced things operating are the refrigerator, the pool pump, and the computers.

• I looked at the coffee maker recently, then at the stove, and then the microwave. All three have digital clocks. All three clocks are within a three foot square space. How many clocks do I need to reassure me that I’m already late? I unplugged the coffee maker.
• All light bulbs frequently used have been changed to CFL’s.
• I got out the gas grill, cleaned it, used it, loved it all over again. Propane is cleaner than charcoal, and is less harmful to the environment than using the microwave. Also, since its outdoors, I don’t heat up the kitchen, so I don’t need to turn on the fan. I intend to become one with the grill this summer. Picture it, a girl and her grill, turning out dozens of meals of grilled organic veggies.
• I turned off the power to the bar bath water heater and the bar refrigerator.
• The dryer has been broken for two weeks, giving me the opportunity to relearn the fine art of solar drying. I fell in love with sun dried sheets all over again. We are experiencing a second honeymoon.
• Speaking of laundry, I’ve gone cold. I’m using cold water only.
• The average KWH per day this time last year was close to 40. I’ve been watching the meter and have cut that amount in half. Most days I top out at around 20 KWH. Some days, less. One day I am proud to report I managed to use only 14 KWH.
• I had a radiant heat barrier installed in the attic – www.energyhomeshield.com in 2006 and have seen the KWH average go down significantly.
• Pella windows replacing leaky old windows on the west side of the house have made a dramatic difference. More windows will be replaced as finances allow.
• I’m working on energy conserving Roman shades for the big honkin’ bay window in the dining room. They’ll soon be sporting Warm Window Insulated Shade System, www.warmcompany.com shades. The packaging has a customer quote that claims her electric bill is 30% less than her neighbors since installing the Warm Window system.

On other fronts –

• I’m buying organic when I can, to reduce the pesticide usage as much as possible.
• I’m turning 2 liter soda bottles into candle holders for distribution to my peace rallying pals. The bottom of the bottle gets cut off, the neck of the bottle is fitted with a candle, forming a nice wind shield to prevent candles from blowing out.
• Speaking of candles, I’ve put all family and friends on notice that if they give me candles as gifts, to be sure they are soy or vegetable. No more petroleum based wax candles for me, thank you very much.
• I’m using up all the bits and pieces of fabric left from other projects in a “trash quilt.”
• I’ve been busy sending emails to everyone who sends me unsolicited mail requesting they remove me from the mailing list.
• I rinse and reuse plastic bags, like Baggies. Also, those bags they provide for veggies in the grocery. I rinse them out and hang them up to dry.
• I bring my own canvas grocery bags with me, and smile at anyone who asks why, before I tell them.

And tomorrow will be even greener.

Another Widow

St. Pete Times Story

It began with the sound of sirens, many sirens, followed by my dogs announcing people in the streets, an uncommon sight at eleven PM. I asked the neighbors what was going on and they pointed toward the Interstate.

“A big fire,” Claudia said. “It’s huge.”

I walked out to join the group. At the end of our street, where the I-375 forms a comma off I-275, a blaze lit up the night sky. Explosions rat-a-tat-tatted in a staccato rhythm not unlike the machine gun sounds I’d heard in movies.

“A truck is up there. That’s what’s burning. The sounds you hear, they’re from the fire hitting stuff in the City’s Maintenance lot.” Richard said.

I began walking, joining the throng of people at the far side of the field. Traffic was being redirected away from the area. The people in the cars asked us what was happening. Jay shouted that there’d been an accident, that the fire was hitting the spot where the city stored equipment.

A man on a motor scooter tried to bypass the police barricade. They yelled at him, he pretended he’d never intended to go in the opposite direction they’d demanded. Another guy on foot tried to cross the street into the open field. The officers yelled for him to get back on the side of the street where he belonged. I was astounded that these people were making the job of the police tougher.

I stood quietly. I watched. I realized the magnitude of what I was experiencing. Someone had died up there. Someone’s wife had just become a widow. Someone other than me, this time.

“They probably store all kinds of stuff there that’ll go up. Paint, diesel fuel, all kinds of stuff.” Another neighbor, Jay, offered while we all stared skyward at the billowing clouds of black smoke roiling through the night.

More rat-a-tat-tatting.

“Did the truck fall over into the lot?” I asked.

“We don’t know yet. I think it was a semi.”

“Somewhere, someone is going to find out they’ve lost a son, a brother, a husband, a father.” I said, to no one in particular. “I wonder, how many. I wonder, was there someone sleeping in the cab? Was there more than one vehicle?”

“We don’t know.”

I said a prayer. I went home, and turned on the news. It was a tanker, they said. The odors of burning rubber and diesel fuel wafted through the windows as the wind shifted. I sat on the couch until well after two, unable to get the horror out of my mind. I realized I’d witnessed some other woman becoming a widow.

Elected Official or Bully?

Equality Florida’s email newsletter brought to my attention the actions of Representative D. Alan Hays, R. Umatilla , which prompted me to send this letter:

Honorable Representative Hays,

I have learned that three students, including Jessica Osborn attempted to speak with you regarding the anti-bullying bill, "Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up For All Students Act." The bill is named for Cape Coral teenager who killed himself in 2005 after being bullied for years. Those taunts often included anti-gay insults and accusations. If passed, the law would define "bullying" and direct schools to set up clear rules for how to handle threatening behavior and provide training for teachers.

According to Jess Osborn: "After telling him my story he proceeded to say he was repulsed by homosexuals and we needed extensive psychological treatment."

Your actions, your verbal attack on students poignantly illustrates exactly why specific prohibitions of anti-gay harassment are needed. Your response is appalling, sir.

In 1986, the diagnosis of homosexuality was removed entirely from the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., Revised) commonly referred to as the DSM. The only vestige of ego dystonic homosexuality in the revised DSM-III occurred under Sexual Disorders Not Otherwise Specified, which included persistent and marked distress about one's sexual orientation.

Your assertion that Jess Osborn needed “extensive psychological treatment” is both inaccurate, and bigoted. Inaccurate because there is no illness, and bigoted because you are apparently extremely narrow minded and unkind. Perhaps you might benefit from speaking with a mental health care provider about your persistent and marked distress about others’ sexual orientation.

I would hope you would publicly apologize to Jessica Osborn and the other students for your unkind and inaccurate remarks. No citizen should be subjected to such blatant cruelty from any adult, never mind an elected official such as yourself.

Sincerely,

SelahWrites

Recent News

Yesterday, Claudia and I joined The KayakGirlz of Tampa Bay for a paddle around Weedon Island Preserve , a four mile canoe/kayak trail among mangrove islands in Tampa Bay.

The KayakGirlz were a warm and welcoming group who seemed like the kind of people who would have a good time no matter what the weather.

The canoe trail is magical. It transforms me, transfixes me, energizes and pacifies me. Try doing the trail in reverse, going from the 38^th marker backwards to marker number one. You won’t be disappointed. Do the trail at high tide, and be certain your paddle comes apart. There are places so canopied, so narrow and dense, that getting the full length of the paddle into the air is difficult. I would regret breaking off any of the branches, so I took my paddle apart and used it to skootch through the shallow tight spots.

There is a place, I believe around the seventh marker, where there is a fork in the road. Go to the right, and you’ll circle around and be about thirty yards from where you entered the mangroves. Go to the left and be rewarded with the vision that I have come to think of as “The Cathedral.” You’ll find yourself in a natural place of worship. The trail, here is completely surrounded by a Chantilly lace, leafy canopy reflected in the mirror smooth waters spreading out before you, interrupted only by the slice of your paddle, the flight of startled birds, the sharp intake of breath as you become aware of the majesty nature has provided for your pleasure. Stop. Savor it. Listen to your soul breathe.

What’s on the iPod

Mercy, by Alanis Morissette Read the lyrics here - Mercy lyrics Why Alannis? Read the lyrics. We are all energy. We are all in this together. We can create the world we want to see, the world we want to experience.

Where is this heading?

Tomorrow, I will be joining Move On.org for a Iraq War Anniversary Vigil. I hope you’ll find a vigil to participate in. I pray for an end to these horrors.

What am I writing?

Not writing so much as revising. Revisions have to be the toughest part. I find myself giving away too many choices. Someone else, someone who may or may not be right suggests I change this, that, the other thing, I give them too much power. It is my manuscript, after all, my vision, my heart on the page. The hardest part is taking a short story, and sifting through the suggestions to see which ones really mesh with my intentions. But that’s the hard part, the necessary part, the most unfunnest thing ever.

Marketing Monday strategy

On tomorrow’s slate for the revision knife:

* No Happy Endings. I like this story. I like Willie Lee and her grandson, Booker. I like the plot. Tomorrow – I swear – Tomorrow No Happy Endings will get treated to the spa treatment revision process.

* Two chapters of Tallulah and Posomotor, The Familiar, The Curse of CREGA

* Tallulah cover letter and synopsis. LCW says I can have someone do this, if I’m willing to pay big bucks…. If it gets me in TOR’s door, it might be worth it. I’ll send the cover and synopsis to LCW and see what she thinks. Hers is one of those opinions I count on the heaviest. She’s been published about 7 million times, (no, I do not exaggerate) and she doesn’t pull any punches with my work.

What I’m grateful for:

I’ve been thinking about a bunch of individuals whom I used to allow to make me angry. It used to be that I’d have said “that person made me angry”, but the truth is, I was the one who gave them the power to make me angry, upset, etc. They were not meeting my expectations, they were not playing nice, they were not thinking about how what they were saying was impacting ME! I’ve begun to get it, that I am giving away my power when I worry about whatever, who thinks what about me, etc. Whatever! The thing is, the barometer to determine whether I really have forgiven someone is to be able to thank them for the lesson learned. So, today I am thankful for those who showed me how much of my life I was frittering away worrying about what they were thinking, writing, and talking about me. It got me moving in new directions. It showed me I should be more trusting of my own instincts as a writer. So, I’m grateful to them all.

In other news:

National Geographic has revealed that Gorillas gave pubic lice to humans This news fascinated me; I’m not certain why – on any number of levels.

Thank You For the Lessons I've Learned

Part of the process of ‘letting go’ is to get to the point of thanking those who I’ve perceived as causing me harm. To that end, I’ve been thinking of the value of lessons such as: when you try to skirt laws designed to protect both parties, such subterranean ‘contracts’ frequently come back with a rabid bite. I got to learn this lesson not by doing, but by observing. I also learned that judging others should be left to those with lofty moral principles, a bit higher in the heavens, than, say, your average individual who assists in sketchy business dealings with one hand, and wags a judgmental finger with the other. I’m learning that my expectations for others, produces little other than pain and suffering when they don’t meet them. They are, after all, my expectations. I need to remember to be a southern girl and keep my hair high, my expectations low, and I won’t be disappointed.

The Zen garden looks particularly splendid this morning. Perhaps I shall rake up another 10 bags full of leaves.

Let’s Go Shopping

I was thinking about the weekend, how my daughter tried to pass off her desires as those of the children, how I was reluctant to call her out on it, and the eggshells I seem to have permanently attached to the bottoms of my Birkenstocks where she is concerned – and making coffee, feeding the dogs, wondering if I were codependent, wiping up the counters, when I picked up a flyer from Stein Mart http://www.steinmart.com/ announcing an additional 20% off for “preferred customers.[1]” That’s me, preferred customer. You too can be a “preferred customer” merely by making purchases. The more frequent, the more you will be “preferred.”

Recently, I’ve been focused on decluttering my home. I’ve become interested in Feng Shui, mostly when I read Clear Your Clutter With Feng Shui, by Karen Kingston http://www.spaceclearing.com/ As a result, I’ve cleared out a great deal of clutter, in the attic(s) – yes, I have TWO attics! I’ve cleared out my closets (again, two!) Linen closets, cabinets, and am currently working on the storage sheds, of which I have, not one, but, you guessed, two.

I tossed the Stein Mart preferred customer card in the trash. There is nothing I need that they carry. They sell clutter. I’m not buying any more.

I harkened back to my first foray into the land of Stein Mart in 1990, right after the release of Julia Roberts’ Pretty Woman.

I reported a conversation I’d had with a clerk in the home décor department to my sister and mother, a conversation similar to one Vivian had with the woman in the dress shop. The store manager overheard, asked me about the clerk, and asked me to stop by the guest services department prior to leaving the store. When I was prepared to leave, he’d seen to it that there was an onyx egg in a wooden stand gift wrapped for me. For years, I kept that hideous egg on my desk to remind me of what bad customer service looked like.

So, this morning, I was thinking about Stein Mart, shopping in general, and why it was so utterly important. I realized that shopping was what we did because my mother and my sister used it to fill the hours that we were together. Instead of sitting face to face, and really talking, we deluded ourselves into believing we were spending “time” together. What we were really doing was wasting time and spending money. There were a million things we could have been doing, physical activities, but no, we couldn’t do anything physical because we all had to stop and smoke countless cigarettes. Moreover, doing anything physical would get us all winded, and remind us of how out of shape we were. So we shopped.

I quit smoking in 1997. I quit shopping ten years later, in 2007

---

[1]Does this qualify as a run on sentence, or what?

Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?

Selected early stories by Joyce Carol Oates – is one of the current books I’m reading. It contains the short story of the same title, one of my all time favorites.

Today is: Purim. That Esther, eh? So later, I’ll have to share some of my latest chili conflagration, (I used a bit of Ajwain from Pakistan for the “digestive benefits”)with Lt. McCann, of Snakehead fame.

I’m listening to: Hotel Tara – The Intimate Side of Buddha Lounge www.sequoiarecords.com and very much like it. Five stars, no, six stars for this one.

I’m Reading:

F. Scott Fitzgerald, A Life In Letters – edited and annotated by Matthew J. Bruccoli

Sacred Space by Denise Linn

Voices of Savannah – Selections from the Oral History Collection of the Savannah Jewish Archives – Valerie Frey, Kaye Kole and Luciana Spraecher

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

Passing In Light by Sharon Ewell Foster – whose first line dragged me right into the book.

I finished The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, and had the bittersweet pleasure of closing the covers for the last time. It was one of those reading experiences that will stick with me for a while.

Some things I dug about The Kite Runner – the description of Hassan, I could see him in my mind so clearly! A China doll, his moon face, eyes like bamboo leaves, his hairlip. The symbolism of the kites, the pomegranate tree, the watch given to him by Baba, and his subsequent dismissal of that watch followed by the reaction of the two little boys, whose actions were misinterpreted by Amir that they wanted his watch, and not what was in his bowl, the gorgeous descriptions of actions which revealed rich detail, a Bukhara carpet of characters.

What I’m Writing

I’ve been thinking a lot about my next writing project, and as usual, my mind travels in directions that are apparently written in Farsi or Cantonese About Bukhara carpets http://www.bukhara-carpets.com

A young tribal girl who has been taught the art of carpet weaving from a young age would probably have the following carpets and weavings in her dowry:
One Main Carpet (ghali) 9ft.10in. x 7ft.
Two small rugs (dip ghali) 6ft. x 3ft.
One engsi
One decoration for over the engsi (kapunuk)
12 small personal belonging bags 2ft.x1.5ft. and 4ft.x 1.5 ft. (mafrash & torba)
two large bedding bags (chuval or Juwal) always made in pairs
three decorated tent-bands (aq yup) 50 ft long and 2 inch to 1 ft wide

Understand, a six foot rug takes well over six months to make. Say she begins to weave shearings from her family’s sheep when she’s seven or eight – how much of her life is spent creating items necessary to appeal to a husband? He shows up sporting wood, she gets to spend years of her life weaving, shearing sheep, combing and sorting wool.

This is her dowry, her ‘hope chest.’

Dowry: Huge word, huge concept.

More later

What’s On My Mind

Ecology, the environment, global warming, that Al Gore (my personal hero) won an Oscar for An Inconvenient Truth, employment discrimination in Largo, adoption and foster child inequities in Florida, Mel Martinez’ amazing ability to send out non-hunting dogs, Savannah, book clubs, friends, and revising my novel - Tallulah and Posomotor, The Familiar, The Curse of CREGA.

I’m also concerned with the pressure on little girls to be all sexy way too soon. I watched my daughter putting fake fingernails on my ten year old the other day, and I am unconvinced this could be a good thing. Within minutes of the final nail application, the girl is complaining that she is relatively helpless. I see this in the same category as high heels, shoes that make me rely on a steadying arm on occasion. Then I read an article in the Washington Post www.washingtonpost.com titled

Goodbye to Girlhood

As Pop Culture Targets Ever Younger Girls, Psychologists Worry About a Premature Focus on Sex and Appearance

By Stacy Weiner

Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, February 20, 2007; Page

Since I live in Florida, specifically on the gulf coast, I am in the epicenter of the hurricane scare tactic selling methodology of everything from storm shutters to generators. The thing is, according to a recent study, hurricanes and typhoons have become much stronger in the last thirty years due to global warming. By my reckoning, had everyone in the path of Hurricane Katrina purchased hurricane storm shutters, there’d be a boatload of hurricane storm shutters on those drowned homes instead of plywood. Sort of like using paper plates on the Titanic so no china would break, don’t you think?

Currently reading: The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Regarding, The Secret – DVD, book, website, et al, the naysayers and skeptics have got to have their audiences, after all. Here’s my take on it. It works for me. When I am in a place of feeling good, a positive energy attracts other positive people. I get more smiles, more hugs, more of what I want, than when I am walking around bitching about my lot in life. Yes, I’ve had some Cat 5 hurricanes in my life, who hasn’t? The difference, is when instead of saying, ‘why me?’ I say, ‘why NOT me?’

I’ve personally experienced what can happen using Creative Visualization ( Shakti Gawain’s book that I’ve had since about 1912 or so…. ) when I created a page about a relationship I wanted. Within six weeks of making the “visualization board” I met my beloved husband of blessed memory.

So, to all the critics and naysayers, I say have at it. Don’t believe, if you don’t want to. I, like millions of others realize that The Secret works – IF and only IF I do the work. No one is denying that action must follow the desire. They are simply pointing out the obvious, that in order to get what you want, you have to first determine what you want, and then send out the vibes, wishes, whatever you want to call it, and the universe will conspire to give you the tools to make it happen. And that, my friend, is all for now.

Whole New Me

I mean that in both senses of the word, the whole part as defined by Merriam Webster Unabridged as: 1 a (1) : free of wound or injury : unhurt thousands ... who have been killed or wounded ... might still be alive and whole -- Patrick McMahon(2) : recovered from a wound or injury : Restored (3) : HEALED here, with one balm for many fevers found, whole of an ancient evil, I sleep sound -- A.E.Housman b : free of defect, damage, or impairment : INTACT, UNBROKEN, UNMARRED anxious lest they were broken and thus make an evil omen, but they were whole -- Pearl Buck c : physically sound and healthy : free of disease or deformity they that are whole need not a physician -- Lk 5:31 (Authorized Version) (The rest of the definition deleted for brevity.)

Hence, since finding The Secret, there is a whole new me; heavy on the new.

I’m having a ball being happy after years of feeling that only certain people were happy, deserved to be happy, knew HOW to be happy. Sure, I was happy on occasion, watching my puppy win in the show ring, seeing a dolphin while kayaking, but I had no idea how to hang on to those fleeting moments after they were gone.

Then I got sick, requiring hospitalization, with a huge blood clot in my arm. A clot that required I figure out a way to give myself injections in the belly, no less. Understand, I have avoided any and all medical treatment for my entire life due to a phobic reaction to injections. Gratefully, I found a workbook (online) from a study that was designed to help those with MS self inject. Little did I know, I was learning The Secret as I searched for some help with this phobia.

Within a few hours of beginning my search, where I had put out to the Universe that I needed help with this enormous problem, it was given to me – free of charge, no less, and I was able to work through changing my thoughts enough to self-inject by six pm.

Subsequently, I was exposed to The Secret by a dear friend, and I scoffed. I closed my mind as tight as my high school jeans. I poo-poo’ed, ridiculed, and snickered. I told her that I prefer my conspiracy theories to have some allusion to Nazi involvement if not at least a grassy knoll.

And then there came Oprah’s show. Now, I think Oprah would make a mighty fine president. I think there is not a whole lot of room for Oprah improvement. She is simply fantastic. My thoughts that day were that if The Secret were good enough for Oprah, then The Secret was good enough for me. I watched - fascinated. Many of the concepts were familiar to me. I’d been making something similar to Lisa’s board of affirmations for many years. I’d forgotten that it worked. I’d stopped practicing The Secret. It showed in every area of my life.

I reread my last blog entry – dated October something or other, and thought, no wonder you had so many bad things going on! You put your order in for bad things to come in threes and the Universe complied!

That was then, this is now. Wait until I fill you in on my theory of Feng Shui and why it works.