Earth Day 2023

I am old enough to have attended the first Earth Day celebration in 1970  when a senator from Wisconsin, motivated by a damaging oil spill,  organized a movement to raise awareness for the need to protect the natural environment.  An estimated 20 million people nationwide turned out for what were billed as 'teach-in' events on college campuses and cities throughout the country. Many people turned out to pick up trash, plant trees start farmers' markets,  By the end of 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency had been established and an era of environmental regulations resulted. Earth Day has since grown into an international celebration of our planet and what we can do to protect it.

We began our own earth day with the sound of rocks being pushed into a dump truck from a height and earth being pushed around with no obvious physical changes in the landscape next door. I'm not sure I believe that much of anything about that project qualifies as earth friendly.

We dropped my sewing machine off at the shop, went to the Farmers' Market and picked it up again on the way home. The owner of the store does the repairs and is a very nice man. He explained how he put my sewing machine back together  in a way that made me feel less stupid. I knew there was a simple solution, which involved turning the machine on its back so that gravity was my friend instead of my enemy. He didn't charge anything. It wasn't until we got back home that I remembered that there was a problem with the bobbin motor that I had forgotten about. I dug out a pre-filled  bobbin which should get me through  the current phase of the quilt, but I'll still have to take it back again before I can fill another bobbin. It probably won't be free next time....

Our lovelorn turkey walked across the driveway, down the lawn into the drainage swale and up the bank on the other side to investigate the results of today's earth moving effort. The bird on the feeder, with a backdrop of scorched earth from the fire was unphased by a large turkey muttering to itself as it walked underneath.