Orchids and Trauma

I have a few issues with my Orchid, but I am grateful to have a moment to blog. The petals have fallen, and the base and soil seemed dry. I was watering carefully once a week, and am careful to keep the soil, and planting compound damp, but it somehow dried up. This is not good. I'm hold they come back, but I don't know. Any tips? Anyone out there with ideas?

We gathered a huge stash of chip bags and wrappers for Terracycle. They are making waste paper baskets out of the larger chip bags, and purses from smaller items. Very clever. My entire class is helping me at school with this project. This would be a good family recyling adventure.

I also made a train for a centerpiece for an upcoming community event, the Fahrnum dinner, celebrating trains. I used a glass sauce jar, fast food coffee cup lids, pill boxes, plastic shot glasses, etc. I got a few compliments on it when I delivered it to the decorating committee.

Art from found objects is a great way to conserve and recycle. Nothing goes to waste; it is inexpensive, clever, and stays out of the landfill. I enjoy making dolls this way, and have created them from folded magazines and folded newspapers, the kind the paperboys and girls through. We also used shredded newspaper for papier mache and for shredding to pack breakables.

At one of our Earth Day celebrations, we recently had a fashion show with clothing made of old plastic bottles, legal briefs [yes, the paper kind made into cloth], old garbage bags, tin cans, you name it. There are also great walking shoes made from old tires. You never know what we can use; it only takes a little imagination.

I plan on re-blogging many of my greening tips, now that Ecospree is following us on Twitter. Welcome and Thank You!! Now is a good time to begin eyeing one's favorite fall trees. The leaves are beginning to turn, and the cool nights are helping. I like to pinpoint the best colors, and then drive, or better, walk and bike around to enjoy them. I've picked up leaves my whole life, and pressed them between books. I have heavy, leather bound books on animals, and encyclopedias, which give me double pleasure. I love to browse them, and also to carefully unfold the absorbent towels between their pages to look at the still lovely, fragile specimens there. They remind me of school, when in kindergarten we maid leave imprints with gold and silver paints. I remember using evergreen branches for this, and being entranced. My collage days really began with the flowers and leaves I pressed, and still like to press, between pages of wax paper. I think this year I will make these again as Christmas gifts. I use a cool iron, and avoid goldenrod. They are beautiful, but deadly to me and anyone else with allergies. I am paraphrasing, but am reminded of "fern leaves from Fanny's portfolio," poems by Felicia Hemans and others, that Walt Whitman liked to parody in Leaves of Grass with "O Captain, my Captain!" Yet, the poems he made fun of were lovely, and even his parody was good. It was my mother's favorite, and I plan to read it in her memory October 8th at the reading in honor of my college literary magazine.

Well, such is life. More later, and there will be more recipes, and greening tips. Also, I'm doing terrariums again, and using found materials and twigs as shrubbery and structures. This is an economical way to create a little magic. Our first grade friend across the street, a little girl named Eva, is just crazy about helping me with these.

I love fall, and the blend of leaves and candy apples in the air. I don't even mind the smell of burning leaves, but these are not ecofriendly at all, not to us with asthma.

Another gift I will make his holiday season is a series of wreathes made from dried roses. My good friend and neighbor brought me an entire box. I enjoy decorating with natural objects, especially pumpkins and gourds. Many can serve as food later, and I often leave some out for our wild animals, which include a fox, a ground hog, many squirrels with real attitude, possum, chipmonks [all called Alvin, of course], and even a coyote,though I keep my distance from him. We also have families of racoons, not my favorites, but I respect them, and they respect me.

I wish a cool, crisp fall, if only in theory, to all who both rejoice, and mourn the return of Persephone to Hades.