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