On the way up we visited my grandmother, who lives in Chappaqua, NY. She sold a lot of her land to the Audobon Society, so her yard connects with a nice amount of woods that will never be developed. While we were visiting, we sat in her dining room which has a large picture window on the back yard. Lindsay had fun putting out peanuts and birdseed, and we had fun watching the chipmunks, blue jays, titmouses (titmice??), red bellied woodpeckers, and chickadees diving in to eat. The highlight of the nature parade was a coyote sauntering across her backyard.
On Earth Day we went for a bike ride to Mill River, which is the next small town from Hartsville. We noticed people on the side of the road picking up litter and we decided that it was a great idea for celebrating Earth Day. After Lindsay's nap we went out onto Neil's parent's road with their little wagon. I was shocked at the amount of garbage we picked up. In less than 2/10ths of a mile we picked up over a case-worth of beer cans and bottles.
We also bought some compact fluorescent lights for our closets. Naomi Dagen Bloom of A Little Red Hen was the catalyst for my finally buying them. So what with the litter collection, the bike riding and the cfls, I felt pretty good about celebrating the planet.
The next day we went for a hike up Monument Mountain. This is a hike that Neil's family has done for years. It's a nice moderately steep hike with a lovely view at the top. They laugh because Canyon Ranch takes their clientele up there now. So the Beckermans get a nice spa treatment for free every time they do that hike. Lindsay did well on the trail and fancies herself a mountain climber now. She insisted on carrying my backpack on some of the stretches.
4 comments:
Your grandmother's pretty brave to keep her stash right next to the woods, lol! It's hard to make a big leap to leave as small a footprint as possible in our energy usage, but every little bit counts. I've chosen Con Ed's green energy thanks to you, and those compact fluorescents are great now that the flicker is minimal or gone. They even come dimmable now.
How funny. I didn't even realize I wrote yarn instead of yard! Shows you where my mind is. I can just see a chipmunk grabbing a skein to make a nice warm nest.
I didn't know they made dimmable cfls! We just started with the bulbs in low-impact areas. Mostly closets and laundry room. The funny thing about them is that they interfere with remote controls and cordless phones. Not sure what that is about! I am pleasantly surprised with how unoffensive the light is. No flicker and not an ugly colored light.
wait a minute! You get the credit for influencing me to get off my duff and do something, so i bought the CFLs. next the complex where i live is working on a way to get better prices. i'm standing in line--thanks to you.
Robb read this over my shoulder and commented that the teenagers in the Berkshires have *no* taste in beer!
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