Happy Arbor Day!

 Happy Arbor Day! This is a holiday for trees and everyone who loves them. Today is also the last day of National Poetry Month, so I thought I'd share a couple of poems about trees. I hope all of these links work!

Here is a history of Arbor Day.

This is a statue of the man who first came up with the idea of a day to celebrate the importance of trees, Julius Sterling Morton.

Here is a link to the Arbor Day Foundation.

How should you celebrate Arbor Day?

If you own a yard, you might consider planting a native tree.

The National Wildlife Federation has a Native Plant Finder to help you find trees and other plants native to your area.

Plant Native has a Native Plant Nursery Finder. Just select your state and click Go to find places that sell native plants in your area.

If you don't have a yard, but you'd still like to plant some trees, you can donate to organizations that plant trees in the United States and around the world.

Eden Reforestation Projects

The National Wildlife Federation

One Tree Planted

Don't forget ecosia.org. This search engine plants a tree for every search. I'm up to 257 trees.

You can also learn about trees.

Identify trees in your area with this digital tree identification field guide from the Arbor Day Foundation.

Here is a short video from BBC news about how trees communicate with each other.

This is an article about things to do outside during earth month. Number 4 is how to make an acorn whistle. I've never heard of this before, but I think I'd like to try it.

As promised, here are a couple of poems about trees.

Pear Tree

H. D. - 1886-1961

Silver dust   

lifted from the earth,   

higher than my arms reach,   

you have mounted.   

O silver,

higher than my arms reach   

you front us with great mass;   

   

no flower ever opened   

so staunch a white leaf,   

no flower ever parted silver

from such rare silver;   

   

O white pear,   

your flower-tufts,   

thick on the branch,   

bring summer and ripe fruits

in their purple hearts.

Trees

Joyce Kilmer - 1886-1918

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

Happy Earth Day!

 Happy Earth Day! I hope you all have an opportunity to get outside and celebrate the earth. Here are some resources to help you live a little more lightly on the earth.

Here is the official Earth Day website. There will be a live broadcast, events, and news.

Here is a history of Earth Day.

How to Save a Planet is an excellent podcast about what individuals can do fight climate change.

Ecosia.org is a search engine. Install the plugin and every time you do a search, a tree will be planted. How to Save a Planet did an episode on this search engine. So far, I'm up to 225 trees.

Who Gives a Crap sells toilet paper made either from recycled paper or bamboo (which is a grass and not a tree). They also donate part of their profits to charities that build toilets around the world. You need toilet paper; why not buy some that helps build toilets and doesn't kill 500-year-old trees?

Here are some things you can do everyday to have a little less impact on the planet. Feel free to add suggestions in the comments.

• Go outside. You won't be as interested in taking care of the planet if you don't have an appreciation for it. Take a walk. Sit on a park bench. Go bird watching.
• Eat less meat. You don't have to be a vegetarian, but eating less meat is good for you and good for the planet. Perhaps you can go meatless once or twice a week.
• Drive less. Be more efficient when running errands -- do multiple errands on one trip instead of making several trips. Is there one day a week or month when you can skip driving the car? How about carpooling (wait until you're vaccinated if you want to carpool with people outside your household)?
• Use less single-use plastic. Carry a reusable water bottle with you. Keep containers in your kitchen so you can use less plastic wrap and fewer plastic bags. Bring reusable grocery and produce bags to the store.
• Recycling is good but reducing what you buy and reusing what you have are even better.
• Organize a swap - clothes, toys, books, household items. This can be done outdoors and would be a good way to get some new-to-you items and safely get together with all those friends you haven't seen during the last year.
• Pick up some trash and dispose of it properly.

Let me know in the comments what action(s) you take or are going to take. If at least three of you comment, I'll have a drawing tomorrow (4/23), and the winner will receive a $25 gift card for Who Gives a Crap. I'll announce the winner at our weekly meeting.

Weekly update - April 21, 2021

 Here is our weekly update for April 21, 2021.

Grandchildren Sample

·         Draft card progress:

	Sample A	Sample B
Found	4950	6873
Total searched	6471	9049
Link rate (Total searched)	76.5%	76%
Dead before draft	765	1187
Already in service	56	66
Living outside country	25	17
Too young (or not born)	221	159
H/W blank on draft card or enlistment card	96	115
Draft records unavailable/destroyed	27	60
Too old	2	34
NF -- any other reason	329	538
TOTAL NF	1521	2176
% of Total grandsons searched	100%	76.9%

 

·         AnnaLisa has been coding death causes this week. Except for a few loose ends that need to be tied up, Irene has finished coding occupations.

·         Data collection has slowed because of traveling, coding, and screen testing.

MVCC Progress

·         Deleting households and individuals is in testing, and Giles expects the release to happen this week. Planning has begun for the census pages. Currently, the expected order is to begin with 1900, then do the rest of the 1900s pages in order, then go back and do 1850-1880.  

Traveling and COVID:

·         Sandy is still traveling but will be back tomorrow afternoon. 

·         One more of us has gotten her first vaccine shot. Those of us who are fully vaccinated are feeling pretty good because the infection rate among 77 million fully vaccinated people is less than 0.008 percent. That is a total 5,800 infections. Among the general population there are around 68,000 infections per day. (CDC as reported on CNN and Washington Post)

World Art Day

Thanks to those of you who submitted photos for our small virtual art exhibition. If anyone else wants to submit a photo, I can update this post with additions.

Here is some information about World Art Day.

Our first submission is from Janice, who is a woman after my own heart, and creates beautiful pictures by completing jigsaw puzzles. Here is what she's working on now. Perhaps she'll share another photo when it's finished.

Our next submission comes from AnnaLisa who participated in a paint night a few years ago. Here is her painting. So cool.

AnnaLisa has further shown her creativity, through an activity I also enjoy - making photo books. Here is the cover of one she worked on in the past year. It is from one of her trips, and it's 171 pages long. Impressive!

Our next submission is from Coralee who never fails to impress using her skills with needle and thread. Here is an embroidery and beading project she's working on. We hope to see the completed project when she's finished with it.

Our next submission is from Irene. It is a painting of the First Vision in the sacred grove that she did during a Relief Society Zoom class. It's pretty great. AnnaLisa and Irene are making me want to take a painting class!

Our next submission is from Sandy. She created this while teaching the girls at church about Matisse cutouts. This sounds like a great activity, and the result was this awesome project.

My submission mostly involves gluing paper. I created a reader's journal to keep track of my reading this year. Here are a few (not very good) collages of many of the pages. The pages aren't in order, because I didn't take the time to edit the collages. I made this by decorating an old notebook that was just lying around.

This first photo in the first collage is just the cover of the notebook. I didn't paint that picture, but I liked it and thought an Emily Dickinson quote was appropriate for the cover of a reader's journal.

Every few pages I decorated with postcards of Penguin Classics book covers.

A visit from the Easter beaver

 Here are a few more springtime photos.

I didn't get a visit from the Easter bunny, but I did see this baby beaver yesterday.

If you have two pieces of bread,

Give one to the poor,

Sell the other,

And buy hyacinths

To feed your soul.

-- Hindu poem

The Potomac River

Some fun days in April

Thanks to AnnaLisa for giving us information on special days to celebrate this month. It looks like there are a lot of days this month worth celebrating. Send me some photos of your creative art projects, and I can post them on April 15.

April 3 - World Party Day

April 4 - Easter and Vitamin C Day

April 6 - Fresh Tomato Day

April 12 - Drop Everything and Read Day

April 14 - Look Up At the Sky Day

April 15 - World Art Day

April 20 - Volunteer Recognition Day

April 21 - Big Word Day

April 22 - Earth Day and April Showers Day

April 30 - Oatmeal Cookie Day