Friday Five: Storms of Life

Hurricane Alley

Martha brings today's Friday Five for RevGalBlogPals:

1) What's the most common kind of storm in your neck of the woods?
Hurricane Season goes from May 1 to October 1 around the Gulf Coast of Texas, so that is the most common FEAR. (This is also the time period that we pay attention to the storms growing in Hurricane Alley, pictured above.)

Probably the most recurring storm is a thunderstorm, and we've been having various thunderstorms passing through here today. Lots of rain, so when the rain stops, the steam arises!

2) When was the last time you dealt with a significant power outage?
We are lucky that we do not have power outages too often. The worst is having one in the summer so there is no air conditioning and no possibility for using a fan!

The power we have been missing most lately is the off-and-on internet connection our computers have had. In the next few weeks, our internet company is going to bring in a dedicated line to the computers.

3) Are you prepared for the next one?
We are semi-prepared, as always. When it looks like a hurricane is heading our way, we load up on water and canned goods. The garage holds the numbered plywood boards to put over the windows when absolutely necessary, which has not happened this year. . . . yet.

4) What's the weather forecast where you are this weekend?
Intermittent thunderstorms with high temperatures!

5) How do you calm your personal storms?
Talking with friends and praying.

Friends

I love M.I.L.K. greeting cards. I usually can buy some when I am in Seattle. Today someone sent me an email with lots of their images, and I fell in love with the cocker spaniel puppy. Plus, I like the sentiment, as my friends mean a lot to me.

I love chocolate!

Visiting the Theo Chocolate Factory in Seattle this summer introduced me into the idea of Fair Trade and artisan chocolates. The tour was fun and informative, with snacks of various kinds of Theo chocolate all along the way. I previously blogged about that here.

Since most Fair Trade chocolate seems to be dark chocolate, I have passed it by until this visit. As I wrote in the blog post below, my love for chocolate now is encompassing Fair Trade milk chocolate, which is somewhat similar to semi-sweet chocolate chips, but richer. I feel fortunate that I was introduced to Theo Chocolate and that one store here in Corpus Christi sells it. But it still takes an effort to get over to that store!

Chocolate can also be ordered online from Theo Chocolate.

I probably will stick with milk chocolate, but since I find that the cheaper U.S. milk chocolate is too sweet now, I plan to keep looking out for Fair Trade milk chocolate. I did find that I liked the milk chocolate made by Endangered Species, which does not have the Fair Trade certification on it but is organic. I am thinking that if Fair Trade chocolate is not available, it is better to buy organic certified chocolate, because the growing conditions and hopefully the working conditions are better than the cheaper brands. (Look for the amount of cocoa beans used!)

IF I can find Fair Trade chocolate in Corpus Christi, Texas, I know you can find a Fair Trade brand near where you live!

Fair Trade Chocolate

I have always loved chocolate, especially milk chocolate. Avoiding milk chocolate is one of the difficult things about being on a diet. However, now I am not sure that I like milk chocolate best of all, because I have tasted Fair Trade chocolate.

MJ brought me varieties of Fair Trade chocolate bars from the Whole Foods Market in San Antonio, since not much is available around Corpus Christi, TX. After eating Fair Trade milk chocolate, which has 40-45% cocoa in it, I find that I prefer it much more than the normal U.S. milk chocolate bar. I bought one (on impulse) and found it to be too sweet. Plus, such an average milk chocolate bar has only 10% cocoa and lots more sugar; no wonder I find it so much sweeter.

Since preparing for and participating in the Green Fair at First United Methodist Church this past Sunday, I have learned about the injustice and cruelty perpetrated in the production of cocoa/chocolate. An excellent source to learn about this is here. This site also has an extensive chart showing whether various chocolate companies use slave labor and/or have organic ingredients. Also the book Bitter Chocolate: The Dark Side of the World's Most Seductive Sweet by Carol Off has extensive data and information about the history and current production of chocolate.

Here is a little bit of info about cocoa and slavery:

• West Africa collectively supplies nearly 70% of the world's cocoa AND the Ivory Coast produces nearly half of all all the world's cocoa.

• There are about 600,000 cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast, with an estimated 15,000 children forced to work as slaves on these farms.

• It is estimated that 90% of cocoa farms on the Ivory Coast use child labor.

Since 90% of most U.S. candy purchases are impulse buys, we can affect the large chocolate companies by NOT buying the "slave chocolate" so readily.

We can write to the big chocolate companies and ask them to buy Fair Trade cocoa. (I just ordered some from Amazon.com here.) Tell them that you expect something to be done immediately to ensure that cocoa imported into the U.S. is not harvested by enslaved children.

• Hershey Foods Corporation, 100 Crystal A Drive, Hershey, PA 17033; (717) 534-6799--POST on their Facebook site.
  

• Mars., Inc., 6885 Elm Street, McLean, VA 22101; (703) 821-4900

• Nestle USA, (800) 225-2270
  

internet dependence. . . . .

Our internet is going on again and off again, so we are unsure whether connection will continue or not. Supposedly, it was fixed with a new modem, but in the past two days the connection has been lost four different times for several hours each.

I'm glad I went to the library and got more mysteries by Daniel Silva. The Unlikely Spy was excellent and got me hooked on this author.

Tomorrow both CB and I show up for jury duty at 8 am. Which one of us will be there longest?

After that, we'll see if there's any internet connection. . . .

Fair Trade

I finished my school project board about fair trade for tomorrow's Green Fair at First United Methodist Church. I pasted info that I typed and wrappers from Fair Trade chocolate bars, tea and coffee on it.

A couple quotes I found from Clawson's book Everyday Justice: The Global Impact of Our Daily Choices:

"Researchers estimate that there are more slaves in the world today than there were during the four hundred years of the African slave trade during the colonial era. The current estimate stands at 27 million." (59)

"Candy companies rely on impulse buys for 90% of their sales. Altering this everyday action can send a huge message to the chocolate companies." (68)

"If we purchase items made by underpaid and abused workers, we participate in their exploitation." (133)

JUST a Girl!

Future losses

A few months ago a storm hit us and the big tree in the backyard lost a large branch. The picture of that is here.

Now we noticed that there is a suspicious bulge around the middle of this same tree. It is cracking and will eventually fall over. So the poor ash tree needs to be removed.

That is so sad. We will plant another tree, but it will take years (decades) for it to grow as tall. It will take a long time for us to find shade under the tree that is in the middle of the backyard.

Other news is that our poor old cocker spaniel Baillie had two types of accidents this afternoon. Old age and poor reflexes are setting in. We will have to be more aware of forcing her outside at regular intervals, rather than letting her go outside when she thinks of it. Being blind and deaf, Baillie does not notice when Maisie and/or Cisco go out the door. (Baillie is 14 years old.)

Friday Five: Dorm Life

I had a totally different experience than most of the RevGals, because I lived at home while I went to college. Both CB's and my parents could not afford to send us away. Luckily, there was Western Washington State College (now WWU) in Bellingham.

Here are Martha's questions for today's Friday Five at RevGalBlogPals:

1) What was the hardest thing to leave behind when you went away to school for the first time?
I stayed at home, so I did not leave.

The hardest time to leave was in 1972, when my new husband and I moved to Virginia. I remember crying as we traveled away on the interstate highways.

2) We live in the era of helicopter parents. How much fuss did your parents make when you first left home?
There was very little fuss, even though neither of my parents had college degrees.

3) Share a favorite memory of living with schoolmates, whether in a dorm or other shared housing.
My mother insisted that I spend one year in a dorm on-campus. I was dating CB then, and I remember him meeting me in the lobby of the dorm, as there were strict rules at the male and female dormitories.

I remember typing in a little study room in the wee hours of the morning in the dorm, trying to finish an English paper. I always waited until the last minute (and got A's).

4) What absolute necessity of college life in your day would seem hilariously out-of-date now?
My electric typewriter and easy erase typing paper. I remember how difficult it was to put footnotes at the bottom of the pages, while keeping the correct margins.

5) What innovation of today do you wish had been part of your life in college?
Computer!

Maisie Pictures

Cathy told me that she would like to see some pictures of Maisie. The most recent ones are with MJ after we returned from WA State a few weeks ago. Maisie loves MJ, and MJ adores Maisie.

Maisie is hyper and excited, as usual.

Can't you see how much Maisie loves MJ?

Clothesline Alaska-style

By Barbara Lavallee

I have this magnet on my refrigerator. It's from our trip to Alaska. I really like the happy art of Barbara Lavallee.

Why Glenn Beck Hates. . . .

I really like the cover of the newest edition of Sojourners magazine. You can go here to read the article "Why Does Glenn Beck Hate Community Organizers?"

If you find the cover difficult to read, here are the answers to that question:

Why Glenn Beck Hates Community Organizers--

1. They give power to the people
2. They change the future
3. They help people stand together
4. They help churches work for justice
5. And they're making a difference

You can also sign up for Sojourners to send an email from you to tell Glenn Beck that you are a Social Justice Christian. I did!

The internet is up again!

We have not had internet service for a few days now, and finally we were given a new modem today. We had been told that a technician would help us today any time between 8 am and 9 pm. Luckily, he came before dinner time.

Although, CB and I did not resort to this, this cartoon gave me some chuckles. (It might have been us if the air conditioning had stopped working though!)

TODAY

in Corpus Christi, TX

Who is to change?

Be not angry that you cannot make others
as you wish them to be,
since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.

~Thomas A Kempis

From Inward/Outward. Subscribe here.

As they say in 12-Step programs, "The only person I can change is myself." And that is hard to do!

The caption is "No Words"

The caption for this is "no words," which is how I've been feeling lately.

I hope I am not joining the ranks of former bloggers who just leave. Since vacation to Alaska, where I pre-posted, I have had little interest in blogging, not even putting pictures from the trip here. To capture my interest tonight, I thought I'd do one of those me-me-me bullet points of what is/is not going on lately.

• My mouth has mostly healed from my splat accident in Seattle two weeks ago. I have an annoying bump that still needs to heal inside of my mouth, which seems to be the remnant of the hole.

• I continue in my reading of mysteries checked out from our public library. I really like the authors recommended in the "Newsweek" editorial that I mentioned here. Denise Mina and Benjamin Black are my current favorites. I am able to find more books by Denise Mina at the local libraries. I really like the young journalist in Glasgow that Mina writes about; she is an interesting character from an Irish Catholic background but in Scotland.

• I am reading too much to be de-cluttering. It's more than likely a procrastination ploy. I am enjoying these last few weeks before all the classes and commitments start up again with the advent of Labor Day.

• A friend asked me to help at the Green Fair she organized for next Sunday at First United Methodist Church. I was excited about reading Everyday Justice: The Global Impact of Our Daily Choices by Julie Clawson, which prompted my interest in participating in the Green Fair--especially about fair trade items. Today I bought a cardboard project board, which I will be decorating with info this week.

• Among the interesting and disturbing topics I have learned about is the slavery and human trafficking involved in the farming and production of cocoa beans. I learned much more when I read Bitter Chocolate: The Dark Side of the World's Most Seductive Sweet by Carol Off. The author dramatically quotes a young cocoa worker saying, "When people eat chocolate, they are eating my flesh." (134)

• Go here to see a chart that shows which chocolate companies have slave-free chocolate, as well as reading a well-researched articled about chocolate and its production.

• Oddly, both husband CB and I are called to show up for jury duty on the same date and time--next Monday, August 30 at 8 am.

• My friend Terry in Seattle will be 60 years old tomorrow. Happy Birthday to Terry! I will be 60 in two months.

• CB and I saw the movie "Inception" yesterday at a matinee. We really enjoyed it. I liked it better than CB, who said it got too complicated. I want to see it again to wait until after all the credits are run to see if the top stops spinning.

Friday Five: De/Re/CLutter?

Since posting about decluttering, I am still muttering about the need for it in my house. How about you?

1. What things do you like to hang on to?
I hang on to notes and cards friends and family send me, which I put in drawers. I like to keep pictures, my kids' toys and books, cookbooks, books, clothes I might need someday. . . .

2. What is hard to let go of?
All of the above. Books are really hard for me to part with.

3. What is easy to give away?
Spontaneous giving makes that the easiest way to give things away.

4. Is there any kind of stumbling block connected with cleaning out?
I get hung up on giving things to the "right"person who will like it. The other stumbling block is imagining how long the cleaning will take, so I avoid that entirely.

5. What do you like to collect, hoard, or admire?
Books; Zuni corn maidens; cards and stationery; quotes

Bonus: whatever you can think of that goes along with this muttering about cluttering.

RECYCLE!

Try to Freecycle in your community. It's easy!

In fact, I blogged about Freecycle when I first heard about it.

Decluttering (all the STUFF)

I really needed to read this today. I also need to remember this. And I need to act upon this.

Leo Babauta writes for Zen Habits:

If you’re holding onto stuff because you feel it would be a waste of good money if you got rid of it, here is the answer you are looking for:

I hereby release you of your burden.

You are free. You bought these items with hard-earned money, and you don’t want that money to go to waste, so you’ve been holding onto them. It’s a burden that keeps you from freeing yourself of these unneeded possessions — it forces to you keep the space they occupy, to maintain these possessions, to constantly see them every day even if you don’t want them, to walk around them or trip over them or live in a cramped, cluttered space. This is a burden, paying penance for your initial wasted expenditure of cash.

But: the waste was when you bought it, not when you get rid of it. You bought something you didn’t really need — and the real waste would be to ignore this and not learn from it.

So here’s how to make sure that by decluttering possessions you don’t need, it’s not a waste:

1. Learn your lesson. This might sound condescending, but it’s not meant to be — if we don’t realize our mistakes, we can’t learn and avoid them in the future. So realize: you shouldn’t have bought the items in the first place. Avoid doing this in the future, by buying as little as you possibly can. Stop being a consumer, and start living.

2. Realize that keeping the items is wasteful. If you keep stuff you don’t need, it costs you money — you pay for the space to store it (lots of possessions means bigger homes or storage containers), you pay to maintain it, it costs you time (and therefore money) to keep it and go around it, you have to fix things when they break, you have to sort through things to find things, you spend time moving things around, and so on. Getting rid of this unnecessary stuff frees you of this waste.

3. Find someone who will use it. It’s a waste to keep something when you’re not using it (a good reason car-sharing is a much better use of cars than private ownership, btw). So find a friend or family member who needs it, or give it to Goodwill or some other such charity, or donate it to a library that will let many others use it. Consider starting a neighborhood tool library, or a book-sharing spot in your community. When someone else uses your items, it’s not a waste.

4. Test the waters. If you’re unsure of whether you’ll need something later, put it to a test: have you used it in the last six months? If not, you probably don’t need it (unless it’s seasonal — then ask if you needed it in the last year). If you’re still unsure, box it up with today’s date, and check on it in six months — if you never needed to open the box, you didn’t need it.

5. Don’t let your possessions own you. If you hold on to possessions because you feel it would be wasteful to get rid of them, they are controlling you. They are dictating your life, rather than you creating the life you want, living how you want to live. Let go of possessions and be free — living otherwise would be the true waste.

6. Make better use of your time and space. Once you’re freed of this clutter, don’t waste your freed time on acquiring more stuff. Spend your time on incredible experiences, not on possessions. In the end, get a smaller house, now that you need to store less stuff, and help save the earth while you’re at it (a smaller home, along with ditching your car and becoming vegan, is one of the most important things you can do to reduce your carbon emissions).

To subscribe to Zen Habits, go here.

Suffering (or wilted flowers)

By David Hayward, Naked Pastor

Me????