Happy Earth Day

"The earth laughs in flowers." -- e.e. cummings

I love this quote and I always think of my Grandma Swan when I see it. She loved flowers. And all the little backyard creatures that came to her door. Just like Snow White, she would feed many of them from her hand-squirrels in particular. You know, she had a baby squirrel named, Jethro. At her house on Clark Street she had enormous hydrangea bushes. I think that's where my love affair with hydrangeas began. She always had African violets in the house and lots of potted plants on the porch or patio. This past Sunday would have been her birthday and so I thought it only appropriate to blog about her and her love of flowers and all living things on Earth Day. Boy, do I miss her. I spent alot of time at her house from middle school through college just visiting and hanging out with her. If I spent the night on Saturdays we always watched The Lawrence Welk Show, but she had very ecletic tastes in music from Jim Nabors to Elton John and Leo Sayer (remember him?) to Leonard Skynard. Oh, and Rod Stewart-one of her favorite songs was Maggie May. She was a high spirited lady with many a colorful story, but to me she was my grandma and made each trip to her house special whether it was for the afternoon or several days. Each time I see flowers in bloom or a little creature- especially a bluebird, I like to think she's thinking of me. She'll definitely be one of the first people I'll be looking for in Heaven. I'm sure she'll be puttering in a garden somewhere ready with a glass of iced tea when I get there!

Okay, enough of that. I'm crying as I type!!! Want to encourage you today to do what you can to be a good steward of the Earth. As a family, we have been recycling since we moved to a community that provides this service with weekly trash pickup. Once we got into the habit it is so easy and you wouldn't believe what a HUGE difference it makes in the amount that goes out to the curb to go to the landfill. We can still do more and right now are working towards changing out some of our cleaning products and trying to cut down on the amount of paper towels and water we use. I've stopped buying bottled water for at home and instead invested in a water filter pitcher. Just recently I switched to taking reuseable bags to the grocery store and Target and recycling what plastic ones do come home with me. Overall, just trying to be good stewards of the resources around us. Eventually, we need to make a decision about the lawn service we currently use and switch to organic. (Yes, I know. If you're really environmental you might have just lost faith in me there.) And in general, I need to reduce the amount of stuff that comes into our home. But we're trying to do our part and increase what we do to better the environment as we are able.

There are so many little things each of us can do to make a big difference. Awareness is key. We live on such an amazing planet with such diversity of plant and animal life. What a gift and privilege! I think the Native Americans have a wonderful perspective about Mother Earth.

"Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children."