Shiny, Happy Worms!

Whew! Worm crisis averted! A month or so ago I noticed that my little worm commune wasn't doing so well. Their home looked "funky" for want of a better word. They looked puny and they weren't producing worm water (worm pee for those of you uneducated on worm composting).

Well, they look all shiny and happy and slippery and satisfied now. I pulled off their old cardboard covering, took out the old egg shells they hadn't finished and recirculated their bedding. Then I searched through my refrigerator for delicious worm treats. They got strawberries, apples, green beans, zucchini and other delectable foods. Then covered them with nice strips of Stillwater Newspress. I checked a week later and they seemed to be no worse, just not a lot better. Each week however, they got bigger, stronger and FASTER! Now, I will pit my speedy worms against anybody's worms.

It's amazing how attached I have become to the little guys.

Political Green-ness

I tease because I care, really.

When I was young, I was known to have quite a funky shoe collection. I was the first person in Bixby, Oklahoma with checkerboard Vans (made popular by Spiccoli in Fast Times At Ridgemont High) and wore gray, suede, fringed Pixie boots nearly every day of my senior year of high school (ala Stevie Ray Vaughan).
So when RJ shows up to work wearing some goofy-looking, flat-as-a-pancake shoe, I have to call her out. But now she has outdone herself...



And she claims that the shoemaker, Tom's, donates a pair of shoes to a needy child for every pair purchased. Okay, I can get behind that! Just click on the blog title to go to their website.

I have a vision of little Ethiopian kids running through their village wearing Republican/Democrat shoes and wondering what a "vote" is...

Size Matters!

Ha! I thought that title would catch your eye! Now that I have your attention...

Yesterday I was catching up on my Tivo'd tv (since when is "Tivo'd an adverb?) programs and caught one of my favorite new authors, Sara Gilbert on Oprah. Ms. Gilbert wrote the incredibly eye-opening book "Eat, Pray, Love". She was talking about her life, now after the book's release. The video of her walking down a tree line dirt road and her words "I just want a bigger-smaller life" really resonated with me. What she meant was that she wanted a bigger life as in bigger spiritually, bigger in family closeness, bigger in lasting friendships, bigger in awareness of the world around her while maintaining a smaller material life as in materialism.

Wow!

I had to rerun this a couple of times to let it sink in. She spoke the words that have been running around in my head for a while now. I just haven't been able to articulate them. I have been striving, needing, coasting towards something but until now, I just assumed it was a mid-life crisis.

I'm going to take the next few days to really contemplate what I have and what I want, spiritually, socially, intellectually and materially. I must admit, through circumstance, I had become less materialistic but there are a few things that I hang on to. Once, long ago, I lived in a large home, with a new luxury car, money in the bank, a closet full of clothes, a well-paying job that I traveled for and all the trappings of a happy life. In reality I was miserable - with my self, my home, my possessions, my lack of friends and my husband. Fast forward to today - I have a lovely tiny cottage that I own and can do anything I want with. I have a much more grounded sense of who I am and what I can accomplish. No outside force causing me doubt or shame (husband). I have a few, strong friendships that I value immensely and treasure and finally, I have cleaned out that closet of useless clothes and possessions that bring me no happiness. There is still work to be done but as I look back on what was, living simply suits me.

Some time ago I was having a conversation with someone about what she wanted in her life. I could see myself 15 years ago in her wishes. She said she wanted "beautiful things" and to go to "nice places" and to basically have more. I tried to explain to her that those things may make you happy in the short term, but have no lasting power. For example, I have this little red, hobnailed lamp with a funky cone shaped shade. The light from it is awful and bulbs for it are impossible to find (forget energy efficient bulbs) but this little thrift store find that cost me only $4 makes me smile every time I see it on my bookshelf. I don't know why, maybe that mental decline is setting in early but what matters is how it makes me feel. I think it's pretty. It makes me feel lucky to have found it hidden in the store and the reddish glow it gives off makes my small living room so comfy. All that for $4! What a bargain.

I challenge you to strain through your life - possessions, goals, ideals and beliefs to determine what makes your home comfy.

It really are the small, quiet things in life that last.

And always remember these lyrics from Pink Floyd "All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be".

This is brilliant!

I saw this in the Los Angeles Times today. Enjoy!

Sometimes it's just impossible to find someone who's willing to clean up dirty lots on steep slopes. Perhaps it's the hot sun or a lack of interest in a weed whacker. What's a redevelopment agency to do? Send in the goats, of course. The Times' Bob Pool has more:

The hills were alive with the sound of munching.

In fact, the only things that seemed missing Monday when a herd of goats climbed up a weed-choked lot in the Bunker Hill high-rise district were Julie Andrews and the Von Trapp family singers.

Leaders of the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency hired 100 goats to nibble away thick weeds on a steep slope at the corner of 4th and Hill streets, next to the Angels Flight funicular.

Agency officials said the goats were cheaper and more environmentally friendly than two-legged brush-clearers armed with gasoline-powered weed-whackers.

And they are much more fun to watch, downtown office workers and other passersby quickly decided, as the animals fanned out over the 45-degree slope and chowed down.
Commuters emerging from the Red Line subway who came face-to-face with the goats reached for their cellphones and snapped pictures.

"My friends won't believe this unless they see it," said Vicky Bravo, a student who lives south of downtown.

Photo: Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times

Burnt to a Crisp or "How I celebrated a Green Labor day...

I finally got a big crew of friends together to celebrate the last days of summer. Everyone is so busy that it's hard to get everyone together but I accomplished it by nagging, slinging guilt and whining - things I'm REALLY good at.

We met over a Heyburn Lake State Park. It's just past Kellyville on SH66. Nice little lake, pretty smooth, clean and centrally located. I reserved the covered pavillion and rather than firing up the grill (carcinogens, you know) we decided to bring picnic lunches - Green of course!

I opted for some gorgeous, giant seedless green grapes and jumbo strawberries. Then I made this pretty awesome chopped salad and finally some luscious truffle brownies. The green part was that I took no paper or plastic that needed to be disposed of. Everything that became trash at the end of the day was sorted in "real trash" and "recycleable". Finally, we left the beach and picnic area cleaner than we found it.

We had a great time playing in the water, getting sunburned (only me) and just visiting with no sense of urgency or negativity. Good friends, kids, dogs, good food and the lake - what a nice way to end the summer!