Towards a lighter carbon footprint

I am not exagerating (though that is something I'm certainly capable of) when I say that moving to our new home has enormously improved my quality of life. (And I wasn't even aware that it needed improving.)



Just the addition of shade in our lives has made such an impact. Cool breezes, especially in the late afternoon, keep us oh so comfortable. Evening rides around the neighborhood on our bikes (Aaron on his skateboard) are one of my favorite pastimes now. All this is made possible by the cooling influence of the river nearby and lots of big shade trees.




Living close to the Co-op means I now bike to work every day. Even in the heat we've had lately the ride is easy enough, because it's flat here. Perfect for cruising. I can feel that this is the aerobic exercise that I've needed for my health. Riding my bike gets my heart pumping and it feels so good. Plus it's really fun to ride through our new neighborhood and see everyone's gardens and art. Below is a peek at our backyard and some of the many prayer flags going up.





Soon after we moved in our neighbors Katie and Josh came over to meet us and asked if we'd be interested in sharing garbage service. They don't generate enough garbage for a weekly pick-up and neither do we, so that was a good solution. And right away Courtney strung clotheslines in the backyard, so nothing but solar and wind power drying our clothes. For the winter we've got a drying rack to use near the woodstove we just had installed.




This first year we're watching to see where we want to plant things in the future, but in the meanwhile Courtney got these two beds started on the south side of the property. Next to the house he planted romano beans and made a trellis for them to climb. And he put tomato starts in the ground, as well as zucchini and peppers and arugula. From our old house we brought over our hops, black currant bush, lavenders, sages and mints.


One thing nice about having more room is being able to have guests more easily. In mid-June our friend Paola, from Carmel Valley, came to visit while in Oregon to see her family. The second night she was here we had a potluck dinner on our back deck--about 10 from our Friends of Middle East Peace group. It was a beautiful evening--full of good food and lively conversation and good company--and great to have Paola there.





The day that Paola left, the Pastors For Peace Caravan, that goes to Cuba every year with material aid, passed through town. Courtney offered to put one of the caravanistas up and we got Alison overnight, and Thomas and Andrew used our backyard as a place to relax and catch up the next day before they took off heading south.




Courtney is reading Fidel Castro: My Life, a spoken autobiography, which was recommended to him by our friend Juanita, who sometimes goes on the Pastors For Peace caravans and who has relatives in Cuba. He's really enjoying it and reads parts out loud to me.

So you see our lives are good. Despite the big scary tragic world out there, I'm quite grateful for the little piece of paradise we've been given. And there's so much work to been done (around the house and out in the world). Please call or write your congressional reps and urge them to take leadership roles in bringing about impeachment proceedings against Bush and Cheney. This may well be the greatest deterrent to a war on Iran.

On that happy note, happy summer, and thanks for reading our blog,

Valori

Home Is Where The Heart Is

Well, you may wonder what the heck Courtney and I've been doing for the past month. Packing, moving, unpacking, unpacking, unpacking some more, moving it over here, no--over here, hanging it here, no--over here. That's what we've been doing. But I'm happy to say that we both pretty much feel at home now. (The garage will have to wait patiently for our attention. Until then, anything we don't want to deal with gets thrown that way.)

For the most part our furniture perfectly fills the spaces of our new home. Except that I inherited Courtney's computer desk, so we got a new desk for him. And last weekend Courtney found a great computer desk and chair for Aaron at a garage sale in the neighborhood. After that the only thing missing was a comfortable reading chair for the living room.

Yesterday morning Courtney found a chair on Craigslist described as "totally groovy--straight out of the 70's--Sears & Roebuck pleatherette chair--clean and comfortable. You'll love the brass accents." And sure enough we did.





Here it is after we've lovingly stuffed it into the Honda as far as it would go. You've heard of over-stuffed chairs before? Well, this was an over-stuffed Honda. (I'll venture to say that we probably didn't get our average 41mpg on this little trip across town with a honking big chair hanging out the rear end, but that's not how we normally travel, so....)




We brought it home to our happy little prayer-flag-strewn house and, as you can see below, it is the perfect addition to our living room. So we can now stop making purchases and stay home and enjoy our new paradise.




Here's what first attracted me to this house, and what makes me so happy every time I look out our many windows: enormous shade trees in every direction. The whole neighborhood is full of big old trees. At odds with this is Courtney's desire to grow food--which needs sunlight. So we are watching the sun patterns at different times of day to see where plots of garden will work.

First thing this morning we sat under the trees in the backyard and had our coffee--enjoying the sounds of birds, a chainsaw in the distance, people talking as they biked by. Total ecstacy. After that we took a short bike ride to the park and frisbee golf course and around the neighborhood, peeking in gardens and getting ideas.





Yesterday evening we had five friends from my work over for dinner. It was the first warm day we've had in a while. Just in time so we could eat out on the deck. There was just a light breeze, but it was comfortable enough for us to sit out there until it got pitch dark. It's very fun to have space enough to have friends over. We actually have space for many people in our backyard but they would need to ride their bikes over (and 3 out of 5 did ride their bikes here last night) because we have only the driveway to park in. There's no curbs or roadside on this street, so no on-street parking. For really big parties we could offer valet bike parking. (Just kidding, Courtney, don't panic! We won't have any really big parties!)




One very lovely touch to the inside of the house is the color that our bedroom is painted. It's called "Melted Butter" and it changes colors as the light comes and goes. Everything looks beautiful next to it. Lots of fun for decorating.




Below is the view from one of the three windows in Aaron's room. They all look out to trees. Not that I think Aaron has noticed that. But if he someday looks up from his DVD's or ipod or computer, hopefully he'll see them and it will register that there's more on the planet than electronics. I have set myself a challenge to get the boy outside this summer and keep him there. How, I'm not sure. But I bet bribes will play a part. And maybe threats and blackmail. I'll feel free to use all tricks at a mother's disposal.





One very great thing about having all the space we do in our new home is just having a place for the little things I love. Like Buddhas and shells. Candles and postcards. Collages and polished rocks and houseplants and family photos.




AND, last but certainly not least, we have a big old double-wide fridge and you see what that means: room for more photos and magnets. I'm just like a dog that marks his new territory. Except instead of peeing around the perimeter I cover the fridge with pictures of our loved ones.





Well, part of my devious plan for getting Aaron outdoors is to get myself off the computer before he gets here on the weekends, and be available to cruise. He brings his skateboard and we check out new paths around the neighborhood together. It's always fun, but it takes a certain amount of effort on my part to make it happen. One thing that will make all this easier is when he makes his first friend in the 'hood. Wish us luck!

As you can tell, this move has brought enormous blessings for us. I feel quite grateful. Hope you are feeling the same in your life. Thanks for reading this, take good care, enjoy the summer,

Valori