Heartwings Love Notes 2046: Being Kind to Mother Earth

Posted on July 28, 2024 by pujakins

Heartwings says, “Being sure to take care with resources becomes more vital to the earth all the time.”

If I leave the water running when I brush my teeth, I won’t need to turn the faucet on and off, yet that wastes water. If I take the car somewhere unnecessary, let it idle instead of shutting it off, or speed, I waste fuel. Many of the shortcuts we practice in order to save time end up being bad for the planet.

Many towns are banning the use of throwaway plastic bags. They are easily replaced with reusable cloth or disintegrating paper. I try to remember to take my cloth bags from the car. When did we become accustomed to always drinking from plastic straws? The ocean now is polluted with them! What ever happened to paper ones? I save and reuse any I receive in restaurants.

I was raised in a thrifty household. Clothing was passed on or handed down. My mother had a friend with twins a year older than I was. You guessed it, I got two of everything they outgrew! No food was ever wasted: leftovers from a roast went into a casserole, vegetable scraps were boiled for soup as were chicken bones. Mattresses were turned again and again and discarded clothing became rags.

Today these practices are becoming practically routine as thrift becomes a way to conserve the resources of the planet rather than the individual. The cycle has come around and what was once considered “old fashioned” is the current trend. It’s like fashion: If you wait long enough everything, or almost everything, that has gone out of fashion returns again as a new trend. I must say I hope big shoulder pads never do.

Individuals who take care with the planet’s resources, (of which water is one) can make a difference. Daily acts no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, can accumulate. There is a true story to the effect that when the majority of monkeys isolated on an island began washing their food that the practice spread to other islands, communicated somehow through a sense of consciousness. It is said that when enough people act in certain ways that it can influence the actions of others even without their seeing or hearing of it

It is not difficult to help out. When I used to go for walks, which sadly I have had to curtail due to the disability brought on by Parkinson’s, I would also help by picking up trash. Repurposing what may otherwise be thrown away is another way to be kind to the environment. The internet is a good source for ideas for this together with how to accomplish it. All forms of recycling are helpful to our planet. I would not be surprised if in time to come we don’t mine our landfills for the durable materials once discarded, now to be found and recycled from there.

May you discover good ways to contribute your energy to help Mother Earth,

Blessings and best regards, Tasha Halpert

PS If you have comments, questions, or ideas, do please write and tell me what they may be. I love to hear from readers.

A poet and writer, I publish a free weekly blog, Heartwings Love Notes for a Joyous Life. My Books: Up to my Neck in Lemons, and Heartwings, Love Notes for a Joyous Life are available on Amazon. My latest publication available there is my first chapbook, Poems and Prayers, and I have two more in preparation. You can sign up for my blog at http://tashasperspective.com.

Delicious Nutritious Recycling

Posted on July 26, 2016 by pujakins

I can’t help it. I save too much. Periodically I have to prune away the overage and find a home for it if I can. I get my saving instincts from both sides of my family. My mother didn’t throw out anything that could be reused, recycled or repurposed. Neither did my Yankee ancestors on my father’s side. I find it difficult to discard any containers that seem to have a potential for good storage. I was saddened when my honey lady could no longer use my glass jars.

The elastics that come on vegetables are saved in a special place. I reuse twisty ties until they become too twisted to reuse, and I have several collections of bags of different sizes and shapes, some of which say Merry Christmas, some Happy Birthday and some nothing at all. There is a place where I keep small boxes and another where I keep large ones. In my efficient apartment this can become a problem.

My mother spent her childhood years in war torn Germany with very little food to be had, during and after the First World War. The early years of her marriage to my dad occurred during the rationing of World War II. Furthermore, in those days food transportation was minimal, and the markets did not have the variety or the abundance of fresh vegetables and fruit we have now. She grew and canned many of the vegetables and even some of the fruit we ate in the winter. To her wasting food was tantamount to committing a mortal sin.

I too dislike wasting food. Something that until very recently I found frustrating in the extreme was overripe avocados. It is impossible to know what the inside of one looks like when looking at the outside. Also, mysteriously they seem to ripen at different rates of speed. Thus all too often I would open one only to discover it was too far past its prime to use. However, all that has changed. I recently discovered a wonderful way to recycle even the most unappealingly overripe fruit in a most delicious and nutritious way. I altered this recipe from one I found the Internet, referenced in Spry Living, a magazine put out by the Worcester Telegram and Gazette.

Even if you don’t believe me, please try the recipe anyway. You will be very surprised. It helps to have a food processor, otherwise you could make it in a blender, or even an electric mixer. Use what you have, as many or as few avocados. My recipe is per avocado: peel and scoop out 1 overripe avocado, add 2 Tablespoons maple syrup, 11/2 teaspoons vanilla, a pinch of salt, and 3 tablespoons powdered baking chocolate. Place all in a food processor, blender or mixer and process until smooth. Taste and appreciate! As an optional treat you can add (per avocado) half a ripe banana, 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts or pecans, or 1/4 cup strawberries or raspberries, or experiment for yourself.

Me and My To Do Lists

Posted on January 4, 2016 by pujakins

Poinsetta and water drops036 My friend and I sat over breakfast at a restaurant near where I live. “I find myself getting very forgetful,” she told me. We commiserated a bit. I assured her that if it were not for my lists I would never remember what I had to do. I’ve been making them for as long as I can remember. I know that my grandmother made lots of lists. My mother told me that when she stayed at my grandmother’s home one year, she often found herself almost tripping over them. Nonny, as I called her, used to leave them on the floor so she would be more apt to see them.

I don’t need to write many as she did, nor to drop them on the floor. I get along very nicely with my two main lists. I keep one in the kitchen where I write down whatever food I plan to prepare, the next necessary errands, and the various household tasks it is time to do. I keep the other on my desk. That one reminds me of what I need to do on my compute–whether emails I need to write or assignments I must complete. It tells me when my deadlines are due, and what bills it is time to pay or what cards I need to send and to whom. Actually, these are not my only lists, just the permanent ones. As I cross things off I rewrite them and throw away the old pages.

I also keep grocery lists, health food store lists, and lists of other items i need to purchase. These are vital! When it was time to send out invitations to my birthday party I made a list of the people I wanted to invite. I also now have a list of the Christmas gifts Stephen and I received, and the people who gave them to us. I need that to write my thank you notes. My short term memory is not what it used to be, however it hasn’t been that good for some time. I am told this is nothing to worry about and is part of normal aging.

I also use my lists to practice recycling. Whatever comes my way that is a one sided piece of paper gets folded in three, torn into strips, and clipped together to form a pad to make my lists on. It is only a small gesture, yet every effort to conserve counts, no matter how insignificant. I also believe that any attempt to be mindful of the environment carries an impetus to help increase the totality of what will I hope and trust one day lead to greater participation for all in the conservation of planetary energy and resources.

I admire those who say they do not need lists in order to remember things. I prefer to use what mental energy I have to be observant, to remain in the present moment, and to notice when I need to participate in some way in the ongoing scene. If I have to waste time and energy remembering what I need to buy at the grocery store I may not have the mental focus to notice the hawk circling the highway above me or the interesting shapes of the trees’ bare branches thrusting their patterns against the blue of the winter sky.