A whole year and a month has passed since writing.  Time does fly in these hectic times.  During this year the world has changed.  Change always comes.  Nothing  remains the same.  We change too.  My coffee shop campaign hasn't progressed.  The expansion of the deck on our house did progress and finally was finished.  Luckily in June and we were able to enjoy sitting outside, buy a BBQ and finish staining it before the winter rains came. 

Paris go attacked by suicide bombers.  The world shifted.  Muslims and Syrian refugees are in the news.  Here in North America so many are saying "no in my country" and wishing to turn the refugees away.  We are living with fear and fear makes people nasty.  I've been shocked to see incredibly cruel statements made on Facebook about the situation. In a world that wishes to see itself as nonjudgmental we are a judging lot.  We resort to skin colour and differences rather than finding the common thread.  We are homo sapiens, there is no skin colour, we are the same species. 

With such world problems it makes one own problems seem so small in comparison.  These past few days I've been thinking of my parents a lot.  I miss them.  For some reason I miss them more so suddenly and I'm not sure why. The strange part is, twice I've seen or read about the energy of people who has passed.  Mostly via an article on a medium who was here in Victoria.  When things like this stand out for me, there is a message.  Wondering if I am to see a medium or if my parents are trying to connect.  Maybe all due to feeling lonely these days.  I've not heard from either sister.  Have texted without a response.  I've always been sad that I didn't come from a family that was close.  I've discovered some families just aren't and mine is not exclusive in that regard. 

I've made a new friend at work, actually two.  Something I didn't try to do.  It is nice to have someone close to my own age to talk to.  I haven't connected with Angela as much this year.  I'm hoping that will resolve itself and we do start to connect more.  Office friendships can be fragile.  I just hope this one isn't and will last a long time. 

I am trying to figure out how to express my feelings.  I'm tired of not saying what it inside.  I'm at a point in my life where I need to say my truth.  I've bitten my tongue so often it has hurt.  I hold onto things I should let go or wish I'd said something.  Maybe it is time to find the words and let go.

Then there are the surprises.  Such as being told I am interesting, I am cool, I am a lovely person.  The biggest surprise was being told I was the prettiest woman in my exercise class.  That was a lovely surprise.  I graciously said thank you. 

Finally there is my relationship with John.  First I need to start with my relationship with Wayne.  I often think it was the best love of my life.  In many cases it was, I loved him with all my heart.  Plus he is entangled in so many of my memories being there since I was 19.  Most often we remember the good times over the bad.  I can confirm that, my memories of my time with Wayne are loving ones and I forget how I found it hard to please his family.  Being myself didn't seem good enough.  Now here I am in a relationship where being myself is accepted.  John accepts all of me.  We frustrate each other, but there is this wonderful acceptance.  I'm trying not to put my expectations onto John but it is so hard, finances especially.  It is the one thing couples do argue about.  I've gone from a man who counted almost every penny to one who hardly counts them at all.  I find it hard to live with debt, even a bit.  I need to let it go too.  I need to know that it will be ok.  I suppose I'm worried about the future and retirement.  It seems so much closer now when not too long ago it seemed far into the future.  I have panic that I'm not going to have enough. That I will have to work and never truly retire.  Or rather I should say we will not have enough.  I should realize John is in this with me and that is a comfort.  I am not alone.  For all the investing it doesn't seem to be as big a nest egg as I thought.  I'm hoping that changes and I see some major returns on my investments.  Or win the lottery, but then I've always said, I don't want to win the lottery, just enough to pay off the mortgage and have some to renovate the kitchen, bathroom and paint.  Plus some to go to Tofino once or twice. 

I am writing this in the early hours of the morning.  I couldn't sleep.  I was hungry and my mind was spinning.  Instead of waking John to talk, I have come to this blog post to quiet the swirling of my mind.  I think I've quieted some sections and some I still need to ponder.

I also wrote this silliness...

Sitting in the desert
By my camp fire
Munching on my crunchy
Doritoooos

I can hear the coyotes talking to each other
yippee yip yip yip
Howling at the mooooon (howl here)

I don't have any hotdogs
or marshmallows
Just a bag of
Doritoooos

I can hear the coyotes talking to each other
yippee yip yip yip
Howling at the mooooon (howl here)

My hands have turned orange
Orange is a word without a rhyme
I'm having a delicious time
Eating my Doritoos

I can hear the coyotes talking to each other
yippee yip yip yip
Howling at the mooooon (howl here)

From all those chips
My lips are numb
I've got no more words
So I'll just hum
(hum here)
Eating my Doritoos

My Coffee Shop Campaign

I would like to start a coffee shop campaign regarding the options offered for alternative milk.  Most coffee shops offer soy.  Well let's start with soy then.  Women who have or who have had breast or ovarian cancer shouldn't drink soy.  Plus soy is a GMO crop and many people today wish to avoid GMO crops.  Some people are allergic soy as well.  It isn't the best alternative milk option and I really wish coffee shops would stop using it.

The other option is Almond milk.  Ok, not bad.  However what about people who are allergic to nuts??   Other milk options like hemp or rice cost the same as soy or almond milk.  Why not offer rice milk?  It foams up better than any other milk for lattes.  Most people I know can drink rice milk.  I haven't heard of any people being allergic to rice. 

Want to help?  Then start telling coffee shops to provide another alternative.  Maybe start a petition??

Oh dear me, it has been awhile since I posted!  It has just been such a busy last three years.  Some personal things happened with my family and I had to attend to those matters.

One thing that I pondered these past two years was green burial.  Ok not the nicest topic, but with both my parents passing and cremating them it did bring up the question of how to have a greener burial. Plus it is something we all face one day. People do have "green" weddings so what about "green" funerals.

I learnt that Royal Oak Burial Park opened in 2008 and is the first urban green burial interment site in Canada. The first Green Burial Park was in Britain in 1993 in response to the high cremation rate and the emissions released in to the atmosphere.  Cremation does have an impact on the environment. 

In a Green Burial the human body is returned to the earth to decompose in a natural state.  This means there is no embalming, although basic sanitary care is done such as washing, bathing and topical disinfection.  The body is dressed in organic clothing and either placed in a biodegradable casket or wrapped in a shroud. The body is then placed directly into the earth and over time with decompose and contribute to new life.

At the Royal Oak Burial Park there are no headstones.  Plants natural to the Victoria area, selected by the family, are planted on top of the grave. The name of the deceased is then inscribed onto a community  boulder in close vicinity to the grave. 

I'm not sure of the cost.  I've tried to find more information.  Considering the costs of a funeral, and cremation, going a greener route may cost less.  It doesn't prevent a celebration of life either, as that can still take place. In keeping with the green burial, think about keeping the celebration of life as green as possible too. 

Gillian Deacon's New Book

Gillian Deacon's new book There's Lead in Your Lipstick has been getting rave reviews.  I first saw it at Rocky Mountain Soap Company's Spring Open House.  The employees at Rocky Mountain Soap Company mentioned they had tried many of the recipes and were now incorporating them into their daily routines. I'm a big fan of avoiding toxins in my personal care products.

I haven't bought this book yet.  It is on my wish list.  I own Gillian Deacon's Green for Life and refer to it often. I'm looking forward to adding this one to my book shelf.

30 Days to a Greener You | Chatelaine.com

Here's a challenge to make some changes to be greener. It take more than 30 days to make any changes in one's lifestyle into habits, be it eating healthier, eating local or being green. 30 days is a start, you just need 36 more days to make the 66 required days to make a habit stick. So start with the 30 days here, then start at the beginning and do all 30 again and add 6 more that you find online. That's the challenge. 30 Days to a Greener You Chatelaine.com

Learn how to make a soft and silky eco-friendly scarf - Knitting - Canadian Living

In keeping with being a site for "green" tips, here is a scarf pattern using bamboo yarn. Just in time for Christmas gift giving.


Learn how to make a soft and silky eco-friendly scarf - Knitting - Canadian Living

The Story of Cosmetics - NaturalNews.tv

The Story of Cosmetics - NaturalNews.tv

Seed Starting Tips: Start Your Sustainable Garden Today

A great article on how to start your garden indoors before planting outside. It isn't necessary to have a home with land to garden. If you have a balcony or window box you can garden, if you have a sunny apartment, you can garden. Herbs do very well in apartment windows and lettuce can be grown in a container on a shady balcony. I grew my own lettuce last summer and it was delicious. Plus it was fun getting up in the morning to pick it, the best time to pick lettuce, and I had a nice bunch of organic greens to put into my sandwich. I have a home with a garden although this year will be a time to replenish the soil and plot out what to do with what we have inherited. My green thumb is going to be itching to garden and I hope to container garden some lettuce.

We are a bit past the point of being able to do starter plants now, but start thinking about next year. During January start looking at the seed web sites, Salt Spring Seeds is a favourite of mine http://www.saltspringseeds.com/ and visit Victoria's Seedy Saturday event http://www.bcseeds.org/

Seed Starting Tips: Start Your Sustainable Garden Today

Pesticide free BC

Viewing of this important film is coming this week. Unfortunately I cannot attend due to a prior committment. I hope BC does become pesticide free. We need to take action to protect ourselves and our children. I believe that our use of pesticides and all the other crap in our food is causing many conditions we are seeing on the rise. Besides our American lifestyle.

VICTORIA
Jan. 21 — 7 p.m.
(doors open at 6:30)
David Lam Auditorium
University of Victoria
Admission by donation
Book signing to follow
For more information, contact:
Nancy Falconer
nfalconer@bc.cancer.ca
or 250-380-2358

Fake vs Real Tree Debate

As Christmas time rolls around again the debate between a real tree and a fake tree starts all over again. This year will be the first year I've had a tree in a long long time. Normally I use a table top tree purchased on sale and probably after off-gassing in the store. After a bit of a debate my partner and I purchased our first tree, and yes it is a fake one. If I could have gone a more eco-friendly route I would have. Maybe I should have done more research? Today, Sweetspot newletter delivered to my email inbox a lovely note on a PVC free tree. Yeah, great idea! My favourite quote in the article is "And while they're a touch on the expensive side, they're guaranteed to last for years" Yes, they are a touch on the expensive side, check out http://www.sears.ca/ (search Christmas trees). Considering the tree I got was $150 and will last for years too, I think these are priced out of most people's range. Why do I have the feeling eco-friendly products have become so expensive? It is because it is now chic to be eco?? Hopefully not!!

Although with the proposed rise in the cost of a monthly bus pass by BC Transit I have to question the sanity of penalizing green initiatives.

Toothpaste, Shampoo and Body Wash - Are They Worth Harming Your Health

Toothpaste, Shampoo and Body Wash - Are They Worth Harming Your Health

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Going Green with lunches

I don't mean green food, although that wouldn't be a bad idea, having more salads and vegetables.

This month school started and I hope parents as well as brown baggers are thinking about bringing their own cutlery, lunch boxes, storage bins and reducing that handy plastic wrap.

Great finds are easy to come by in Canadian prices:

http://www.fenigo.com
http://www.lavishandlime.com/ (Vancouver location)
http://www.goneshopping.ca

I've got my lunch bag, spork and stainless steel containers. Now all I need is to make some interesting lunches.

EWG Healthy Home Tips

Today my EWG (Enviromental Working Group) newsletter arrived in my mailbox. EWG is our watchdog in the United States, pushing to ban harmful plastics and working towards safe cosmetics. Although working in the United States, EWG has an impact on Canadians, their neighbours to the North, as a lot of cosmetics arrive on our doorstep from the U.S. I believe that the toxins in our products, the harmful plastics and our love affair with oil have contributed to the situation we are now facing, our own demise. For now, all I can do as one person is to pass the word...

Next time you head to buy your personal care products, read the labels. Besides avoiding parabens, other preservatives should be avoided to:

•DMDM hydantoin
•Imidsazolidinyl urea
•Methylchloroisothiazolinone
•Methylisothiazolinone
•Triclosan
•Triclocarban
•Triethanolamine (or “TEA”)

Also look for words with "PEG" or “-eth” in them such as: sodium laureth sulfate. Fragrance, FD&C, or D&C are also not friendly to our human systems.

EWG has a wallet sized list to carry when you go shopping at: http://www.ewg.org/files/EWG_cosmeticsguide.pdf

The next step is to sign petitions and keep pushing for safer products for ourselves and our children.

Pure Radiant Energy - BC products

A few years ago now I mentioned in this blog Pure Radiant Energy a Vancouver based skin care, hair and body line of products. I had tried some myself and was impressed as the products were SLS free. I didn't reorder due to the debate on parabens at the time which PRE was using although in small amounts. Caroline and Maury the owners of PRE had been working at the time on trying to find an alternative to parabens and have recently announced they are PARABEN FREE!

http://www.pureradiantenergy.com/

If in Vancouver visit the store.

Make my day...

I woke up early this morning...obviously sleeping in on vacation is not working and I suppose 7:30 is two hours later than my usual 5:30. I turned on the computer to find Yahoo News (I know not CBC) has on the front page an article that one product in food was making us fat. Hmmmmm...another one than the one I already know is the culprit? Nope, just an article finally published and for the general public to see...high fructose CORN syrup is making us fat. No kidding! Hard to avoid and not only causing us to be fat, but some of us are allergic to corn.

If you need to cut this out of your diet and really want to lose weight go here:

http://www.accidentalhedonist.com/index.php/2005/06/09/foods_and_products_containing_high_fruct

The article on Yahoo was written by Shelagh McNally, the editor of Green Living Online

I still think we the people need to start putting our foot down and demand better food. We have a huge food industry that is making us sick, we then take drugs from companies who do not have our best interests at heart and would like us to remain sick because it is profitable. All I can say is for now, read labels, cut these foods out of your diet, support your local organic farmers and do all you can to obtain better food and better health.

Not a Green Christmas

Not having a Green Christmas does not refer to my being eco-friendly. It refers to the fact that Vancouver Island is covered in snow. It will be the first time since 1971 that Canada, in every province and territory, will experience a white Christmas.

On the other hand I tried to have a green Christmas. I confess I have a fake mini tree which I've had for many years. My cat is 10 years old and I haven't had a real tree since she was a kitten.

I do recycle my wrapping paper. Last year I was handed all the paper my mother has recycled and now have a supply of paper, gift bags, bows, ribbon and gift tags to which I do not need to add to for many years.

I did shop. Some gifts I got at fair trade places, some at eco-friendly places and a lot on sale. Each year I try to be a more responsible consumer and do my part to cut down in some way and spend less or make a list of green gifts.

If anyone is still shopping, Juliet's Room offers lovely body butters, skin care, hand creams which are organic.

One thing I have noticed. In bringing my own bags all the time I now find I do not have bags for garbage. Unfortunately the apartment building does not compost and I still have garbage no matter how much I reduce. I've been searching for a garbage bag that will decompose quickly when it goes off to the landfill without it falling apart by the time I take it out. My paper bag solution did not work very well and I ended up with a soggy mess in the garbage can. Any ideas?

toxic toxins

Thank you to Food That Matters for directing me to this YouTube clip. I know there are a lot of issues out there, but we really need to stand up and demand better food, better health!!!

The Story of Stuff

There is a great site with information on how we consumer called the story of stuff and can be found at http://storyofstuff.org/index.html

King Corn get 3 1/2 kernals

Although not entirely sure, and thinking I will be tested for allergies and intolerances, I am almost postitive I have an intolerance to corn. I stopped eating beef due to not feeling well whenever I ate it and I know cattle are corn fed. I know taco chips also don't digest very well, as does popcorn or corn-on-the-cob. When I heard a documentary had been made about corn I decided I needed to investigate. On a Saturday night I sat with John and my friends Cat and Jon to watch King Corn. King Corn is about two friends who grow one acre of corn, the subsidized corp that drives the American fast food nation. Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis take us on a venture that raises some very disturbing questions about what we eat and how we farm.

If you're into Fast Food Nation, Super Size Me and ask the question "what are we eating" then you need to see King Corn.

A good reason to drink tap water

Canadians wanting to do something about the environment can start by drinking tap water, environmentalist David Suzuki says.

I have purchased 3 stainless steel canteens to use for my water--filtered TAP water. One is for kayaking, one is for work and one is for using at the gym. I've given up spending money on bottled water not just because of the price of paying for what may be filtered tap water, but for the following reasons:
Bottled water generates up to 600 times more CO2 than tap water

Most plastic bottled water bottles are not recycled but end up in landfill Drinking a bottle of water has the same impact on the enviroment as driving a car for a kilometer

A Swedish study calculated that the environmental impact of bottled water was 90 to 1,00 times greater than tap water and could be higher

Britons use 275,000 tons of platic bottles (includes drinks other than water) each year. 15 million a day in the UK, 3 billion litres of bottled water every year. The plastic bottles left over would fill the new Wembley Stadium three times over. Imagine how much Canadians produce in plastic bottle waste.

Bottled water costs more than gasoline per litre.

And just because I like this Canadian study statistic (and I have some university but certainly am not earning a ridiculously high salary plus I live in an apartment) University-educated households were less likely to drink bottled water than households with a lower level of formal education. The lower rate of bottled water drinking among university-educated households, set against the higher rates seen in high income households, shows that behaviours associated with income are not necessarily also associated with level of education. (full article at: http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/16-002-XIE/2008002/article/10620-en.htm)