EARTH DAY

Today is Earth Day, a day many people get involved in Earth activities or it gets swept under the carpet. I have always loved the day. It's a day to celebrate annually, though we should be caring for Mother Earth daily It's a day to highlight environmental protection and promote sustainability. The day can feature many things to get involved with, or we can just change our ways to protect and serve, like neighborhood tree plantings, creating a bird or bee habitat, liter pickups, or just unplugging things not in use frequently or turning off lights and things when not in a room, using grocery reuseable bags or a market basket INSTEAD of those dreaded damn plastic bags! I never go to the farmers market without my trusty basket to put everything in. Or it could be as simple as donating to so many various animal and environmental charities and agencies. I got a small group of us at work to go today to a park in Mechanicsburg to do a litter pick up, and once home, it's a day to make an extra contribution to several of the charities I belong to. Since I was in Philly for the weekend, another great way to have a fun day and do something to make a difference is look into your local parks!!!

I'm amazed at the parks in Philadelphia, which has almost over 63 park spaces in and around the city...Fairmount Park being one of the largest urban landscaped park systems in the US. So, this year I decided my new charity to give to this year is Friends of Rittenhouse Square, since I can't be there in person. I saw a booth this weekend and signed up. Rittenhouse Square, which is the fourth oldest park in the US, is like many other parks in the county. They need care and help, maintaining and improving to keep them around for our respite. Friends of Rittenhouse work tirelessly to help transform the Square into a place of peace and inspiration like litter removal, cleaning graffiti, planting flowers, weeding, and tending to gardens, clearing leaves, mowing lawns...or just donating or volunteering time, to a fund or group if they have one, and some parks even have benches you can buy and have placed in memory of someone. Our parks are more important than ever, what with urban crawl and development, or funds being cut off completely to maintain them. All these photos are fine example of parks in Philly I have taken over the years.

So many ways to give, or donate money or time too this Earth Day. Time to protect the environments and our animal and insect world before it's too late. Here are my primary groups I usually give too on Earth Day.

 

The Sheldrick Trust

The Nature Conservancy

National Audubon Society

World Wildlife Fund

And if interested in parks, check out your Parks and Recreations section of your local or city's website to see if they have a donations section or have a volunteer program.

And Happy Earth Day!

🌳🌼🌳🌼🌳🌼🌳

MOOD BOARD

Here we are on Monday!!!! Happy Earth Day!!!!! When I was little I was always brought up by my parents and aunt and uncle to respect the Earth and nature and was always encouraged to do things outdoors and give back when I can. And it can be done with huge effort or even smaller things you wouldn't even think of. We can all pledge to avoid using those damn, noisy and weak plastic bags from the grocery stores. I now have upwards of 20 reusable bags! It took me a few weeks when I started using them, because I'd forget to take them when I might have an impromptu stop at the grocery or market. So now, I keep a stash in my car trunk at all times, or if you don't have many, get in the habit of taking them back out to your car once unpacked. We can avoid using plastic in the home, Go on nature walks, make lifestyle changes that reduce your carbon footprint, like turning off lights or tv if you're not in the room. We can educate friends and family on ways to save the environment. We can also initiate ways to get waster better recycled where we work. I'm proud of the job my company does with waste. Everything get separated in the back by cardboard, Styrofoam and regular paper waste and is then send back on our own trucks to recycle centers. When I worked with the Dame at the flowers shop. I got him to talk to his floral wholesalers to take back the ample number of boxes he'd get at the shop, and they did...and it saved them money from getting more boxes made. He told me they now make all the florist they serve do it. So you never know where a little gesture might take you and the good it will do. Today I and some others from our sister stores, are taking a half day to collect litter on roads and byways. Another small thing we can do is loosen the soil and sprinkle and sow some wildflowers seeds. They make a great habitat for bees and butterflies. Supply a water bath for birds and you'll find the bees use it too. But we have to remember reducing, reuse and recycle.

🌳Happy Earth Day🌳

CELEBRATING ELEPHANTS

I have always had a love of elephants since a young child. Even rode a few and once at the Philly zoo when little a zookeeper actually took me into the pen to see one up close. It was amazing how big it was and yet so graceful. I was smitten then. World Elephant Day is an international awareness campaign dedicated to the conservation and protection of our planet's biggest animal. The day aims to raise awareness of the threats facing elephants, including its biggest issue-habitat loss, in addition to poaching and human-elephant conflict, and to promote efforts to ensure the survival of African, Indian and Asian elephants' species. World Elephant Day was first launched in 2012 by filmmakers Patrica Sims and Michael Clark in conjunction with the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation. The day provide a platform for organizations, government and individuals to come to together, share knowledge and participate in initiative aimed at protecting elephants and their habitats.

I have been a long member of the Sheldrick Trust, world -renowned for its work rescuing and rehabilitating orphaned baby elephants, and others that have had injuries, conflicts and sickness. It was founded in 1977 by Dame Daphne Sheldrick to honor her late husband, David Sheldrick. Since 2001 it has been run by their daughter Angela, who put together a monthly newsletter to feature it's elephants and the months accomplishments and pictures of the elephants. Her mother was the only person to ever make the perfect milk formula and combination for baby elephants, one that imitated the mother's milk perfectly. To date they have saved and reintroduced over 600 elephants back into existing herds in the wild. And many might not know just how social elephants are...and the feelings they have. Many develop close bonds to their human mid wives and husbands...many, once back in the wild, return years later, and still remember the sanctuary and their handlers. They return to say hi and sometimes to introduce them to their own little babies and their next generation. The Sheldrick Trust has raised multi generations now and it's exciting to see. Their emails are always a welcome site, sometimes smile and laugh and sometimes tears. The Trust also has a variety of other animals in addition to elephants. They are a swell foundation, and I shutter to even think where the population of elephants would be without them. Today, when I make my donation, it will be in Dame Daphne's memory.

Happy World Elephant Day!

 

To celebrate, if anyone is inclined to make a donation you can head here to show your support and love of these extraordinary creatures. Or just peruse their site...it's amazing.

EARTH DAY

 

Earth Day was yesterday...and it was a good day to! The weather here for the most part was beautiful till we had some much-needed thundershowers in late afternoon, just in time to water all the new plants in the garden I was planting. The stunning magnolia is actually our neighbors and sits betwixt our priorities. Every year Earth Day is a welcome reminder to give our planet some much needed TLC to ensure a better, healthier future, and get us outside more. That means we should all carve out time to reassess our own carbon footprint or do a little something to add to the environment. I myself have committed to planting more annuals and perennials in the garden to attract natural pollinators. Last week we had two huge bushes of some sort removed, and I planted a whole new garden, and was surprised at how quickly bees were already finding them...they weren't even in the garden yet, but still in the little buckets you buy them in. How can one not get behind a day like this or do something for Mother Earth when we get such lovely results...like a spectacular spring. Some snaps from the day...

Our Eastern Redbud

Last of our tulips of the season

The columbine came out full force, and while out yesterday I was very surprised to see the bleeding heart I though was dead and gone...is still there and is coming back.

Our Lilac with visitor. The first butterfly of the season!!!! It smells heavenly.

This one is a miniature lilac. And loaded with buds just waiting to open...and right next to my bedroom windows, even closer than the other. That will make for some wonderful scent upon getting up in the morning.

The yellow finch males are well, back to yellow again! Nice to see them. I also added in another birdbath yesterday for the feathered ones...now three boyd baths!

This grounds vine thingy. It is great...but can get extremely invasive and has to be kept in check.

One of the new sage saliva planted with a bee already making an appearance if you look closely enough.

The "Westwell" anemones

Some of the new salvia and delphiniums that were added in yesterday. I even got one tomato plant just to see how it does. I'm also toying with a small herb or potted herb garden.

I suspect he was supervising.

And since it's spring...how about some Miss Hope Springs!