Think Green Thursday

Each week, Michelle is coordinating things for us so that we can share our thoughts on our beautiful planet, and share our ideas to help keep it green.

In order to keep things "green" we also have to consider how to keep our oceans clean and healthy, so "blue" is also very important. Pollution of our waters has become a serious problem.

I have spoken before about California's Monterey Bay Aquarium, and its wonderful blog, Sea Notes. A post this week concerns overfishing. This post is on a much cheerier note than some in the past. With the great effort put into this subject recently, it seems we are starting on a path of "regrowth, regeneration, and recovery"! We have a long way to go, particularly in light of the fact that many countries still refuse to even discuss the matter. But in many areas of the world, it does look promising. Where preventive measures are in place, and Marine Protected Areas (MPA's) exist, stocks of marine animals are rebuilding. If we continue in this way, modifying commercial fishing gear, and public attention to opting for sustainable choices in seafood, there is real hope.

For the Fish Lovers Out There -

In choosing our seafood, we have a great deal of help in the form of Seafood Watch Pocket Guides. they can be found on Face Book and Twitter. They are also available to download on line from Monterey Bay Aquarium. Go to the Aquarium site, and you will find a guide for your region of the country: Hawaii, West Coast, Southwest, Southeast, Northeast, and Central U.S.. There is also a National Guide, as well as a Sushi Guide. Tuck one into your pocket or pocketbook for shopping or for eating in a restaurant.

These guides list your Best Choices, Good Alternatives, and What to Avoid.



We can bring our oceans and their inhabitants back to health!




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Please do yourself a favor and read Michelle's Think Green Thursday post this week. It's an important one. She has actually done three posts - on tea, on chocolate, and on coffee (last week). The one on chocolate is a real eye opener!

Fear of Storms

After a long, dry period, we are now getting a lot of rain. This was taken from my front door about three minutes after a hard rain began. Even in that short a period, you can see the street began to flood a bit. Unfortunately, all the rain hasn't seemed to do much about the high heat and humidity, which is making me kind of miserable.

The other day Lisa and I were talking about the series of brief but violent thunder storms we have been having. She told me about how terrified her cat is when he hears thunder. I told her it's sometimes worse when humans are so afraid of a storm. My mother was one of them.

There were two incidents in my mother's life which I suppose were responsible for her fear. The first followed a serious illness, when the doctor told her mother to take her up to the Poconos, where he said the good, fresh mountain air would help her recover. They stayed in a beautiful old hotel there. One day, while taking a horse and buggy ride through the forest, there was a sudden storm. Lightning struck a tree along the path. It fell in front of the horse, he bolted and raced through the woods. The wild ride frightened my mother badly.

The second happened a few years later. During a storm, the family all gathered in their kitchen. It was a long room, with a linoleum floor covering. Lightning struck the house and a fire ball actually rolled the length of the room, burning a path along the linoleum. I can imagine that would be pretty frightening to watch.

When I was a small child my father was concerned that Mother's behavior and obvious fear during a storm would frighten me. He would take me outside, onto the large covered front porch, and show me how beautiful the lightning was. I loved it! (Not that he didn't have his own weird reaction. After the storm he would go through the house to every closet, and sniff, just in case there was a fire smoldering somewhere.)

Many years later, when Mother was living alone here in North Cape May, she really carried it to the extreme. She was completely deaf, and I'm sure she slept through many a storm. But when one came up during the day, she would immediately find her coat and her pocketbook. She would sit on the living room sofa, wearing the coat and holding her pocketbook on her lap, and wait it out, ready to run out of the house if lightning struck.

Thank God, I never had any fear of storms. I find them exciting and beautiful. I rather look forward to them. My still unrealized ambition is to photograph a lightning bolt in the sky. The first year after we moved to this area, we had a terrific storm which actually knocked out my television. During that storm a photographer set up her tripod near the Cape May Lighthouse and shot a couple of rolls of film. She managed to capture a really great shot when lightning struck and went right through the lighthouse. It appeared in our local paper, The Cape May Star and Wave. I contacted her and bought a copy, which hangs in my living room today. I would love to reproduce it here, but I have no way of being in touch with her now, and wouldn't want to print it without her knowledge. But it inspires me. I keep trying. Maybe one of these days......

Happy Anniversary Kitty and Mike

In honor of their anniversary tomorrow, my daughter, Kathryn posted on her blog today. It's very brief, and I think very cute. Take a look.

Mellow Yellow Monday #30

Our thanks go to our friend, Drowsey Monkey, for hosting Mellow Yellow Monday each week.

I have reached back into the archives for my photo this week. We had been on a lighthouse cruise on the Delaware Bay, and were returning home at sunset. this is the beautiful sight that we saw on the horizon.

Finally

I had about given up on them. I planted a lot of morning glory seeds, but nothing seemed to happen. But I finally have one - Count Them! - one - blooming.












(Yes, those are carrots growing below them.)

Shadow Shot Sunday #63

On her blog, Hey Harriet, Tracy is again hosting Shadow Shot Sunday, and we are all looking for wonderful shadows to photograph.

I didn't have to look far for these pictures. They were right outside my door where the hummingbird feeder is hanging. This is the view of it from below, with the sun shining through it.


This was the shadow I saw on the steps.


And a little later it moved up to the railing.



A few days later, when I put up fresh nectar, I used another feeder.




and of course, it had a different shadow.


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