Category: The World as We Know It

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elections and such

Glory be and praise Jah — the election is over and I can finally stop thinking about it. In the news biz, we don’t have the luxury of not caring — we have to follow this stuff and write stories about it (fair coverage for all candidates) and so on. I was counting the days til the election was over so I could sit quietly and think about nothing in particular. Glad to know I can finally do so. (. . . ) –>


I must say, I am tickled and delighted about our President-Elect Barack Obama — though he has inherited a boatload of difficult tasks (um, war? economy? deficit?) from the past administration and it won’t be easy to turn the world around. But I’m guessing he’s the guy to do it. We cried and toasted with Champagne and lit fireworks Tuesday night, thrilled that we can turn the page and try something new. The old wasn’t working, and it has pushed us into scary waters. I feel grateful that we live in a nation where we all get to vote and that every vote counts. God bless America! (–>

And the chickens! Don’t forget the chickens. Now veal and pigs and chicken will have more room to grow in their little cages. That is also good news — but we’ve cut way back on meat anyway and are leaning toward making meat a seasoning rather than a slab to be tossed onto every plate at every meal. I have been reading Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food and also just finished the somewhat radical journal called Plenty, in which two Canadians ate only local food for a year — and created the 100-mile diet.

Reading both of these books has energized me to become something of a food warrior. No more sodas in the house. No more chips, junk food and HFCS, no more hydrogenated anything. No more bananas. No more imported peaches in January. (Not that I was doing that anyway…)Today I ordered a small farm box for Friday pickup every week, virtually guaranteeing a 100-mile bunch of produce all winter, from a local purveyor. I won’t do it in summer because we have so many vegetables that it makes no sense to pay for them. And we have lots of produce frozen and canned from our garden which is, hello, like the 20-foot diet rather than 100 miles. I would love to go to the Alameda farmers’ market but it takes place on my busiest workday, Tuesday mornings. Grr.

I’m really excited about it and looking forward to starting a new year of Compacting (not buying new/little to no shopping) and conserving, using solar power for many things (preserving veggies and fruit, making tea, drying laundry), continuing to make our own (“fast food,” lunches and dinners, various breads, beverages, cookies, snack foods, etc.)

And…treading lightly on the earth. We have only one. Better treat it kindly. Payback is a mo-fu. And global warming backlash is just the beginning.

* * *

Last weekend I did not go to any events I had planned to attend: the Matt Nathanson concert with Moni at the Warfield, the last performance of Bat Boy: The Musical at the Altarena Playhouse, the Lincoln Brigade documentary premiere in SF. We had tickets ($$) and everything. But I stayed home, and Mr. Husband stayed with me. General exhaustion and constant drama have sapped my interest in going outside the homestead for much of anything. In my busy world, home keeps me happy and I just don’t have the juice to go out. Especially when you look at my evening schedule (after a full day of work at the newspaper 5 days a week):

Monday – women’s group, Albany or Pinole, 6:15-10:13 p.m.
Tuesday – every other week, school board – 6:30 p.m. til whenever it finishes. Or yoga, if I can make myself go.
Wednesday: Teaching writing or sustainability classes at the Alameda Adult School, 2-3 times a month, 7-9 p.m.
Thursday: Yoga, if I can make myself go; or therapy appointments if I can make myself go (by this day of the week I’m ready to drop).
Friday: evening softball continues, through end of November (since April); plus I have a weekly phone call at 6 p.m. with my leadership team (1 hour).

Add in the pick-ups and drop-offs for kids coming and going, meetings, events, appointments…and also home-cooked meals every night (see above: 100-mile diet and better living through eating actual food, not reheated chemical goo)…Can you see why I am not so keen to dash out to whatever it is on a weekend?

Can I please just stay home and play in the garden?

I like to stay home and do my laundry, and cook different soups on the stove, bake a loaf of bread or muffins for breakfast. I like to pull weeds in the garden and take walks or ride my bike. I like making desserts and casseroles and boiling up beans for the vegetarians to eat during the week. I make cat food in the Crock pot or a batch of tomato sauce from the last tomatoes. Sometimes I get to fix holes in knees or sew on buttons. I usually irons shirts on Sundays and listen to classical music, or Bob Marley and Jimmy Buffett, or nothing. Silence is golden.

If I can read a bit before bedtime, if I can scratch my cat’s belly in the sun, if I can sit in the hammock with one or two of the kids and laugh, if I can snap a green bean off the still-producing vines and eat it in the garden, hallelujah. That’s a moment to celebrate.

And if I get a minute to close my eyes and breathe deeply, that’s a moment to be grateful.

What are you doing to save the earth? What are you grateful for? Leave a comment or e-mail me. I’d like to know.

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blogging the sphere

Or should that be spearing the blog? Blogger tells me it is on a scheduled outage, so no telling when this will post. (!)

I’ve been editing a fascinating book by one of our new authors, about the discovery and passage of the Anza Trail. Her photos are gorgeous — a look at an old historical venture through the photographer’s eye, 21st century. It is good reading but lots of details to watch for (like checking the Spanish translations) so it has taken me longer than I expected. That’s work. The elections are also causing a flurry at the newspaper, because of covering issues before Erection Day and giving fair coverage, etc. I could go on but bleah. I’m sick of all of it already. So much negative noise. The only hope I have re this outcome is that the noise will stop soon after Nov. 4, please G*d…it’s giving Mommy a headache.

Back at the hacienda, our kids are rocking in school; we got the Boy’s school pictures back yesterday and he is adorable! The Grrrrls are having fun in their various endeavors, and though each year is a bigger challenge, they are stepping up to it. Short story: it’s all good. Long story: buy me some decaf organic loose-leaf tea and I’ll tell you more.

Summer hasn’t left us yet, though this warm weather feels like fall. There’s a different blue in the sky, falling leaves, a sweeter light wind, and pumpkins everywhere. Halloween decorations are out, but not at our place just yet. Guess we’re skipping it this year. That’s OK by me. As I said, I’ve been on full-whelm, so another batch of stuff to haul out, set up, then clean up and put away again, for no reason other than “It’s Halloween, and cute skeletons are all the rage,” to me is kind of a waste of my time.

Yeah, I know. Humbug. I’m still feelin’ summer here. Get off my back.

This week has been a merry-go-round of busy, from Jimmy Buffett prep to school meetings to my women’s group to teaching night school this week. (Thanks to another great group of smart writers just waiting to unleash their talent on the world — watch out, Alameda…here they come.) The other surprise of the week was that we *did* go to Jimmy Buffett on the party bus with 20 other Parrotheads on Tuesday, and it was a fabu concert (see set list here). But a lo-o-o-o-ng night for tired me. Nothing like 20,000 margarita-swigging fools to show you what a good time looks like.

Tonight: Iyengar yoga with the Grrrrls. Tomorrow: softball game with Mr. Husband and the Pack. Saturday: detox and juice fast, because it’s time to get a bit healthier. Sunday: cigs, booze and heroin. Nah, just kidding. Maybe church instead. Or a nice bike ride. Or nothing.

Thought for the day: Most citizens/families of the world survive on about $730 per year, if not less. Here in America, if your household makes $93,000, you are in the top 10% of Americans re wealth. I found that shocking, esp in this economy. That, in fact, puts many, if not most of us, in a pretty sweet situation, if you consider that we flush our toilets with perfectly potable water when about half the world is desperately thirsty, and throw away a ghastly amount of edible food and wearable clothing, not even to mention random driving around in our gas-guzzlers just because we can.

Think about it before you waste another gallon of water just to rinse the sink. Just think about it.
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Sunday Times

We had a busy day rearranging our bedrooms with the new sectional pieces of couch in 2 rooms — given to us by friends Carrie and Peter, two pieces for Ana and two pieces for our bedroom. Plus I stripped all the beds and washed blankets, comforters, and throw rugs, etc, hanging them all on the line. That is a *task*.

But our bedroom looks great with the chaise — nice throw cover over it and a trunk that was at the foot of our bed is now the “coffee table” — i.e. footrest for Mr Husband. It’s quite luxurious to have a sofa in the bedroom. I hadn’t realized how big our room was; feels bigger now. Weird — should feel cluttered!

Ana also did a lot of cleaning and rearranging, then we moved the Boy’s bedroom around a bit to change the bed. This afternoon I’ve been Freecycling bags of clothing and stuff from the girls. Lots of stuff. I like when we clear things out

I will admit that I haven’t done well on the No-Spend Challenge (from my Compact group) in the last week. I worked or had meetings every night and we (the family, not necessarily me) ended up ordering dinner several nights, which I try to avoid — but I’m *tired* and with the girls in school and working, there’s not a lot of help around the house. Mr Husband works 12-hr days with a long commute, so even with my best intentions — a full week’s menu planned — we spent anyway.

I also caved in at the fabric store yesterday and bought 100% cotton yarn for holiday gifts — for crocheting washcloths. $10 is not a fortune but I could have survived or tried Freecycle first. But I didn’t, and that’s why I’m going to hell.

But I digress.

We have been terrible about the Waste No Food Challenge, too (another play-along game of the Compact folk). Part of it is my not cooking this week, and part of it is my being hella busy and tired. A lot of the veggies given to us by my organic warehouse friend ended up getting mushy and turning to compost. And I took my lunch 3 times in the past week, only to have lunch delivered at work and eating gross stuff like pizza instead of my veggie burger and then having to toss my original lunch when I realized it had been out of the fridge for too long (whipping self). I threw out a buttload of food in takeout containers because no one is going to eat hard pita bread or crusty quesadillas or wilted salad.

That’s just a different battle to fight — again, more planning, and ordering appropriate amounts or not ordering at all, etc etc (whip whip whip).

So instead, in the spirit of today’s cleaning efforts, I think my challenge is going to be the Rat Piles. That’s what we call those mysterious, slippery, tilting piles of paper, a week’s worth of mail, mixed-up laundry, magazines, to-do lists, random photos, coupons, items to mend, books and school papers, etc. I have them in every room — and at work. I am going to methodically go through the house and get rid of my rat piles. It might take me all month, but that will be my October Challenge.

Who’s with me? Or am I the only one of you who has Rat Piles in her house? Yeah, right. Fess up.

love,
Rat Queen

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In the "Unbelievable" category

Just got invited to be on “Wife Swap” — yes, reality television rears its ugly head. Because of the AP article, which is ALL OVER the world today and yesterday (Eric K’s mom called from Baltimore to say she’d seen it — and it’s all over Canada, etc.), a producer at NBC saw it and thought I’d be good fodder for the show.

Fodder would be the word. Like, something to put through the machine, get chewed up and shat out. Seriously. Can you imagine? With whom would they match me — to be my opposite family? I’m not a super crunchy granola hippy, as I said in the article — but I’m not straight-laced either. I love shopping, and shoes, and dressing up — which is why that Compact is such a challenge for me. That’s the point. If they stuck me with a bunch of people who like to shop, hell, I like to shop, too. But I’m trying not to add to the general piles of crap in my house and on the planet.

Just for a moment — just for one tiny second — think about how much plastic you throw away every day. Every time you shop. Every birthday. Not even thinking about every Christmas.

Seriously. Is that the legacy you want to leave behind? I’ve got news for you. We are a family of 6, with guests — usually 5-7 people per day in this house, and sometimes way more. We almost NEVER fill our small gray garbage can. Maybe half-way most weeks. And that’s still too much. We always overflow the large recycling can, though. We have 2 composts going and compost paper towels, filters, paper plates, greasy wrappers, bones, etc. If it’s really “meaty” we put it into the green can with leaves, etc. Otherwise, we compost it. And STILL we have too much plastic and garbage for my taste.

I would think with Wife Swap they’d put me with a bunch of hicks in middle America, who eat at McDonald’s and don’t recycle anything because the pinko-commie-tree-hugging-hippy-bastards who hate George Bush and want to kill unborn babies are trying to take our guns away in Washington. But guess what? I can throw down with the Bible verses. I can match wits with the Fundies. Not a problem, because luckily, about anything you can argue one way in the Bible, you can also argue the other way. But I fear the stupidity. I’d be stuck with ignorance, and that’s a disease that’s sadly incurable.

And my poor husband would have to play nicely with what kind of “wife”? What’s the opposite of a earth-loving, recycling, do-gooding, workaholic writer for whom money isn’t everything? Who knows what they’d think up as a 180-degree “match.” A consumerist, narcissistic, gum-popping spendthrift in a gas-guzzler? Uh. Sorry, not this time. I think we’d all be happier right where we are.

So — despite the fat chunk of change they’ve offered to pimp out our happy little lives, I’m gonna say no thanks. Although it is rather entertaining to tell people we’re into Wife Swapping. Just for laffs, I mean.

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hell’s kitchen

that’s where we are today — roasting on a spit, being basted with sweat. Ick.

But actually I LOVE the heat. So I’m faux-complaining just to get the ball rolling here. Today was Bike to Work Day and I did so — I think it’s about 5 miles though I actually have to clock it tomorrow to make sure. Each way! In the heat! It was not hard going, since Alameda is so darn flat, but it wasn’t my good bike, since one daughter rode it and got a flat the other day. So I rode her bike, and it is too short, even for me. My booty is sore and my legs a little wobbly, and my face was beet red when I got home. But it was still fun. A pity I couldn’t find any of those free juice and goodies stations.

Luckily our friend Conrad came into the office today with danishes and cut fruit. It was just like a bike-to-work station. Thanks, Conrad. Four out of five Alameda Sun staff rode bikes today. Woo hoo! Watch for the photo in the paper next week. I’ll get it for here, too.

My plants are wilting a bit in the veggie garden but I’m going to wait a bit longer before watering tonight. Still too hot. We just got the news about East Bay water rationing, so I’m working to determine how much water we usually use, and how to see exactly how we can measure our progress. Besides just cutting back. I want to see a goal and a measurable result.

Here’s what we’re doing so far — turning off water for hand-washing and teeth-brushing. Full loads in dish and clothes washer. Short showers — 5 mins only! If it’s yellow, let it mellow. (Except in the guest bathroom.) Use water twice — I mean, while rinsing the coffee pot in the morning, I water the plants with the rinse water. Like that. We’re gonna see if we can use the graywater from our washer to water the yard. We use eco soap and cold water, no rinses or bleach, so it should be possible. It’s just Day 2 of the rationing so we have lots to do.

We also heard on the news today about the state’s Supreme Court backing the constitutional right to gay marriage. Wa hoo! Good for us. We actually do sometimes get it right. Not often. But sometimes. Equal rights for all — life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Amen to that.

I could keep writing but this office is hot, and I want some fresh air and am waiting for dearest Mr. Husband to being home sushi for his lovely bride and daughters. I love sushi, though it’s not good to eat it all the time because it is emptying the ocean. But once a month is OK, I should think. Besides, I need the omega-3.

I have more to tell — but later, when it gets cooler in here. (fanning self). Mmmm. Love the heat.