Give to the Earth


My birthday is coming up and Facebook is again urging me to have a fundraiser and beg all my friends to donate to it. What is it about Facebook and these fundraisers? What is in it for them. Or what is the advantage of me begging my friends to give money to my choice? Facebook does not match funds. Wouldn't that be nice.

Two years ago I asked my friends to donate to Stray Hearts Animal Rescue in Taos and they did. I really am not sure that Stray Hearts got the money. No thank you note from them. Did Facebook receive that thank you? If they did they didn't thank me for making it possible. In that year I donated to a lot of my friends' causes. I gave to save the elephants in Africa, and the giraffes in zoos, and promote the cause of stopping climate change, as if that was possible.

Then Corona virus hit and my studio was closed down. All the events which I used as a way to sell my wares were cancelled. My studio went to the dogs, literally. Art was deemed non-essential but animal care was not. So I put my efforts behind Dog Gone Park because dogs and their owners were having a tough time being together 24/7. And the dogs brought me joy. 

I asked my friends last year as we were all locked down and scared to death to give to themselves on June 3rd. Pick something they would enjoy in their days of isolation. And many did. Some even called or messaged me what they had chosen as a gift for themselves. Art supplies figured high on the list. So did extra special plush pajamas, the dress du jour of that year.

This year Facebook us providing me with their suggestions of organizations I should give to. Evidently they didn't like my choice from last year. Well, I urge them to give generously to the ACLU, the USA needs them. I am a monthly donor already. It is the one charity I allow myself on my limited budget. I save my spare change to give to PBS yearly. They were not on Facebook's choices for me to hold a fundraiser for on MY birthday.

They won't like my choice for this year. I am going to ask all my friends to plant something. Give back to the earth just one small token for all we have taken from her and the atmosphere that surrounds us. Plant a tree. Or a shrub. I have planted four shrubs already. And lots of perennials this year. Usually it is just annuals to make my summer deck more attractive. But this year I wanted plants which have a chance to come back again after next winter. I chose plants native to the area. And especially those attractive to pollinators. I am giving to the birds and bees this year.

So plant something even if it is just a container garden for your patio or porch or balcony. Celebrate that we survived this horrible last year and have hope for the future.




Comments

Post a Comment

I write for me but I care what my readers think. Please be polite and no scamming.

Popular posts from this blog

Polyethylene Packaging - a Dark Times Journal entry

Image
I was in the fourth grade when our family moved from El Paso, Texas to Albuquerque, New Mexico. We moved because I could not breathe the air there. I want to say they cracked petroleum there. But what did I know beyond the sky was sometimes yellow and I could not breathe. Mom was pregnant with Debbie, and Gary and I rode in the backseat separated by a round tank full of Dad's tropical fish. Dad had a job with Sealright, Inc which made paper milk cartons. Sealright was a polyethylene packing subsidiary of Phillips 66. The petroleum company. I was rather proud of myself for learning to say that, and to not laugh when adults would stare at me not knowing what to ask about that. Albuquerque smelled better. Then. Before all the freeways were built and the shape of the valley trapped the exhaust down near the ground in the winter months. We lived in the foothills. I could breathe. I learned that if I could see the air I could not. Still it was better than El Paso though I missed our trip...
Read more

Swimming

Image
For much of my college career my fitness workout was swimming on the B squad of the swim team. I remember it as the days before heated pools and women coaches. I also remember being so exhausted and cold I could only lean against the shower wall and throw up. Not exactly warm fuzzy images but I was in awesome shape. Needless to say it did not leave me with a overpowering desire to swim laps. Point of fact for years my swimming became really informal: Swimming to shore after the canoe tipped over, challenging my sister once a summer to across the lake and back, seeing how long I could back float without moving a muscle, and a scuba course. I also played around with other ways of staying fit: aerobics, bicycling, jogging, skiing and dance classes. All of which seem to be bad for the knees, back or feet. After my ski accident my physical therapist steered me back to the pool. Damn if I was going to swim laps! However, aqua fit was just getting rather seriously taken so I took it. It r...
Read more

The Pruning the Crown of Thorns

Image
Crown of Thorns Before I am a lover of Euphorbias . They are from the deserts of Southern Africa and Madagascar. They have evolved physical characteristics and forms similar to cacti of North and South America and are often incorrectly referred to as cacti. My big Crown of Thorns was one of my first of a growing collection of these succulents from the spurge family of Euphorbiaceae. I picked it up as a 6 inch plant in a New Iberia nursery when my sister and I were touring the northern gulf coast. I believe that was 15 years ago. I made an attempt at limiting its height a few years back to allow it to devote more energy to the new branches and make it a denser plant. That failed. And the height of the plant continued to challenge the window space and soon the long branches were leaning over and leaning against the window. I googled and found the proper way to prune this treasured plant. Still it was very difficult to cut off the four longer branches. Even with a plan. The f...
Read more