A Small Effort.......

Today is Earth Day.....and what a beautiful day it is here in Wisconsin. I know there are marches, projects and speeches all over the country today reminding everyone to care for this place we all call home. I wasn't able to participate in any of the "big" efforts close to home, but our personal "little" project made me feel so good.

To start the weekend, Dave and I spent Friday night staying with two of our grandsons. Pizza, ice cream and a movie! We spent part of the evening working on a terrific jigsaw puzzle with a lovely earth-oriented theme. The puzzle was titled "Tree of Life" and featured lots of birds and animals designed to showcase the bounty we enjoy on this one small planet. We finished it today.

To start off the day this morning, I was walking Fenway around the block near my daughter's house and found a $20 bill on the pavement. Picking it up I looked up and down the sidewalk to see if I could spot anyone who might have dropped it.....no one in sight so the cash went into my pocket. When I got back to the house I "teased" the boys that sometimes it's good to be up early to walk the dog!


After breakfast we three grabbed grocery bags and walked to a nearby park. We wanted to do something in honor of Earth Day and looking for trash near home seemed like a good idea and one we could do on our own. (Dave was back in Port Washington cleaning up along the bike path with The Lions Club.) The boys and I spent about 30 minutes just wandering the paths through the woods at the park and found some discarded cans and water bottles, some bags from a local fast food restaurant, a fork and some cardboard. And then one of my guys yelled "I think I need some help over here!" Behind a fallen tree was a huge pile of trash.....more than we could even begin to gather in the bags we had. So the boys made the suggestion that we pick up the non-biodegradable stuff and leave the paper behind. Good idea!

I just felt so lucky today, spending time with these special young men and doing something good for the neighborhood and for Mother Earth. It just felt so good!

I stopped at Riveredge Nature Center on the way home and donated the $20......I will remember Earth Day 2017 for a lot of reasons!