Earth Day

Last week we trudged down the street and through the rain to a little local park to help plant trees for Earth Day. We ended up planting the trees in the woods between the river and the bike path in order to crowd out invasive plant species. The morning turned out to be great fun and Milo was a great helper. As a thank you for volunteering we received coupons for free Jeni's ice cream at an Earth Day celebration today, also great yummy fun.

Each year (okay for the last two years) for Earth Day, I have given Milo an eco-themed picture book. Coincidentally these are Sesame Street published books and they are both huge hits here. Whether it is the familiar characters or the content of the books we have been reading Grover's 10 Terrific Tips and Plant a Tree for Me on repeat lately. (You should be able to find the Grover book in the Target dollar aisle and who knew the Muppets had their own wiki?)

In other earthy news, our pea sprouts are now ready to be planted outdoors, but I so loved them when they were wee little plants. I don't usually start seeds indoors, but this has been a great project to do with Milo. We water them, talk about their growth and what things they need to succeed and bear fruit - er veggies.

We've come a long way since this was our Earth Day message:

On Walks

Although I promised myself that Milo and I would continue our daily walks until the sidewalks became impassable with snow and ice, this first real cold snap of the winter has the stroller gathering some dust. Walks have been a great help to me, in a number of ways. Of course there is the exercise aspect. I credit walking with losing that first round of pregnancy weight back in the spring. Walks around our neighborhood, to the grocery store, or for coffee have kept me moving and pushing around 20 pounds of baby up the slight hills of Clintonville have kept those calories burning.

Part of the reason we really like this neighborhood is because it is walkable. The sidewalks actually lead to useful places such as Kroger and Starbucks. It's also fun to just walk up and down the different streets, seeing how the houses are decorated for the holidays or who is renovating. When all else fails, we count cats on our walks.

A quick jaunt around the neighborhood gets us out of the house and the change of scenery is always helpful. I had come to think of our afternoon walks as a reboot for our day. Baby is cranky and won't nap, Mom is losing patience and would like some quiet time? Out with the stroller where we had just enough distance from one another to peacefully make it through the rest of the day. The fresh air lends some perspective I think.

I miss our walks and I am hoping that either the weather warms up or I get brave enough to get out there and walk anyway. Mittens, coats and blankets are made for a purpose, right?

Block Party

To be honest, I didn't know block parties still existed. The idea of closing down a street and hosting a huge potluck, seems like a quaint event from my childhood. Except in the early 80s, we knew all our neighbors and a yearly block party was just another chance to have Mrs. Murphy's yummy potatoes.

Now, I'm the first to admit, I don't know all my neighbors. This actually surprised me when we moved to Clintonville, which is a inner ring suburb of Columbus with strong neighborhoods mostly built in the 1920s - 1950s. Our street isn't as close-knit as some of the streets seem to be, and we barely ever talk to neighbors other than our immediate next door ones. So, when a woman stopped us on our walk home from the farmer's market last week with a Xeroxed invitation to a yearly block party we decided to make an effort to attend.

The party was last night and it was quite fun and a great opportunity to meet some of the neighbors we may have just waved at over the past two years. We met people who have lived on the street for 50 years and have watched their families grow up and leave the nest and are still here. Although there were a few old-timers, the majority of the street has lived here for less than five years. It was decided that our street hasn't changed much over the years and there seemed to be a consensus that it is a good thing so many young couples and families are moving in.

With the baby coming, I feel like we should know our neighbors better. Last night we made a good start at that.

Back to the Weekend Routine

We haven't picked up the tiles from the store yet, so we could spend the morning in our usual summer Saturday way - walking to the Clintonville Farmer's Market. I still haven't visited the other markets around town this summer, but the proximity and quality of the Clintonville market doesn't give me any reason to try out the others. Plus, the Clintonville market has added some new booths this year, giving us new products to try out.

We got there there late this morning and it is still slightly early in the season for most vegetables, but we were able to pick up a few staples. The egg lady (Silo?) provided us with some darling and tasty little Buckeye eggs. She said the chickens were a heritage breed she rescued from a farmer who wasn't allowing them access to pasture so they weren't laying well for him. They're now laying lots of small eggs for her, but some are too small for Whole Foods to buy, so she was selling the leftovers for a good price today at market.

The new booths this year are dairy related. Earlier this year, I flirted with the idea of going dairy free for a 14 days to see what, if any, symptoms were alleviated. I couldn't kick the cheese habit and never made it more than a day or two without dairy. I'm sure glad I'm not trying to do the dairy free thing now, because fresh, local dairy is delicious. We picked up some whole milk (pasteurized, but not homogenized) from Snowville Creamery. The whole milk made for a nice addition to coffee and I can't wait to try making ice cream with the rest of the half gallon. We also bought some grilling cheese from Blue Jacket Dairy. It's a specially processed cheese where you can grill it and it doesn't melt, but gets a delicious salty, crunchy coating on it.

Since our tomatoes aren't ripe yet, we also bought a pound (really just two tomatoes) and then called it a day at the market. Trips to the Farmer's Market are one of my favorite things about summer weekends.

Regardless

The calendar might say we have to wait until this weekend to have a true start to summer, but I know we're already there. I have several welts on my arms and ankles as a result of mosquito bites and for me there is no truer sign of summer. As if to prove the season is here, I also saw my first lighting bug of the year last night.

Over the weekend, we also went on our first bike ride of the year. It was a perfect afternoon on the bike trail as we skirted between sun and shade. We rode up to the Rose Festival which is always a beautifully scented event. This year the event seemed to be particularly well attended. Made me wonder if all the free events of the summer will see a uptick at the gate.

After our bike ride, we made our way to my parent's house for a Father's Day celebration. Which in our case, meant steaks eaten huddled around the coffee table watching the last round of the US Open.

So regardless of what the calendar says, between the roses, the bikes rides, the bites, and the celebrations, I'm pretty sure summer is here to stay for at least another couple of months.

A Winter Wonderland in March

Spring was coming, it was, it really was. I, prematurely it turns out, had flip flops on, it was warm and sunny last Monday. Even Mother Nature received the memo and bulbs were starting to peep up through the ground.

Then talk started of some snow to hit beginning Friday. This talk of snow soon turned into a melodrama of the Blizzard of 2008 with a special logo on the local news. Usually when there are stylized logos of storm warnings, I tune out. And so on Friday morning when it was cloudy, but clear of snow, I hopped into the Beetle to drive to work. From 8 a.m. to about 1:30 p.m., I was at a meeting in a hotel ballroom with no windows. When I pulled out of the hotel, I was surprised to see snow and not just a little snow, but enough snow to make the half block drive from the hotel to my office a little scary for me. Once at work, my car safely in the parking garage, an e-mail was sent saying we could leave early and to be careful on the roads. I decided my car wasn't going anywhere, so my friend B. and I headed to a bar for a snow day beer and then to catch the bus. At the bar, along the streets and then on the bus, there was a sense of excitement and community goodwill. It was fun and out of the normal for Columbus to have quite as much snow fall as this in March. I encountered the same sense of spirit on my walk through my neighborhood on Saturday afternoon. There is something about the first hours of a snowstorm that make me think PLAY, so we embraced that spirit for a few hours of sledding. And later still we had some friends over for pot roast, games and more wine than was probably acceptable for four people. But, hey, snow days are for celebrating.