One of my favorite experiences is sitting in the rain.  The rain is powerful...fresh water to grow our flowers and vegetables and water to quench a drought parched earth.  It is also a peaceful song for the soul to enjoy.

When I was a young girl living in the mountains of Tennessee, one of my favorite experiences was sitting in the loft of our A Frame mountain cabin reading while the rain came down in soft afternoon showers. The rain was predictable and it came each afternoon around 1 p.m. I loved the sound of the rain coming through the trees and the fresh smell afterwards.  It was a most peaceful experience and my favorite time of the day.  

Another great memory of childhood was playing in the lawn sprinkler "rain" in the summer time when the natural rain didn't come.  I would skip in and out of the sprinkler and let the water fall...back and forth, like a gentle rain.  And then afterwards I would sit in the warm sun and read.

As an adult, I have consistently moved further west and finally cross country to a state that has generally beautiful long and dry summers followed by dangerously hot autumns.  I love California because we have the ocean and our own mountains but I do miss my afternoon showers in the Tennessee mountains. I have a sprinkler system here though and when it comes on it is nostalgic of my summer rains of childhood.  I sit on my art deck and read, complete an art project or just meditate as it "rains" on the gardens all around my deck.  It sounds just like a summer shower.  Everything turns softer and it's very calming.

Why is rain so powerful yet so peaceful?  Because it means life and new birth.  Nothing could exist without water and rain.  We must have it too - for our own physical and emotional wellbeing.  The sound of rain, the smell of it, the feel of it, the look of it; it feeds the soul and I think that I am perhaps my most peaceful during the falling rain.

I recently attended the virtual awards ceremony for six outstanding graduating "Rising Stars" from 6 local high schools.  I was so impressed with their accomplishments and the future plans of these students.  .

Throughout the year, nearly 40 high school seniors from the six schools were recognized monthly for demonstrating character, integrity, love of learning, involvement in school and community activities and the ability to overcome challenging life circumstance without compromising their education.  The six final winners received $1000 each to go toward their higher education.  

They were all so impressive; some to highlight were:
 
A student who will go to Dartmouth College where he will major in business education with a concentration in developing  programs for non-profits.  His concentration is non profits dealing with at risk and special needs children.  He was very involved with the Best Buddies program in high school which pairs an older student with a younger one with special needs to help him or her through school.  

A young woman who was class valedictorian and who is going to major in environmental studies at UCLA (which has a wonderful program in the field).  Environmental studies are so important - we certainly need to take care of Mother Earth and manage our resources better than we are at this time.

I was also very impressed with the young woman who was student body president at her school and who is going to the University of San Diego to major in international justice.  We are one world and we need to think that way and take care of everyone who inhabits this earth in a fair and just way.  

​Other "Rising Star" students are going to major in cross cultural relations, early elementary education and child advocacy and ethical business with environmental awareness.

All in all, it was a very impressive group of students with very lofty goals.  I feel good that we are developing leaders like this and look forward to what strides they are going to make for the future of our world.  

In my search for a healthy diet to adhere to, I have adopted a mostly vegetarian diet.  Some of the issues with the consumption of beef and dairy products versus the benefits of a plant based diet are outlined by the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine.  Dairy products and foods high in saturated fats lead to inflammation, the cause of  many adverse health conditions.  I had severe childhood asthma and drinking milk made it hard for me to breathe.  Scientists have proven that a  plant based diet can help prevent  conditions like asthma and with plant based milk I don't have a breathing problem. 

Much of the grain that we grow to feed the livestock we consume is drenched in pesticides such as glyphosate, a known carcinogen which is then passed on to us through our diet.  Raising animal feed crops also uses 80% of the land in our country and nearly half of our water, squeezing out native wildlife and creating water shortages.  By reducing the meat we consume and substituting organic produce we can ease pressure on the climate, land, water and wildlife.  While animal agriculture generates about $35 billion more in profit than plant farming, the expenses of animal agriculture are also about $55.8 billion more.  Research concludes that “plant-based agriculture grows 512% more pounds of food than animal-based agriculture on 69% of the land.  According to research by the University of Michigan and Tulane University and supported by the Center For Biological Diversity, it was found that replacing half of all animal based foods with organic plant based alternatives, would result in a reduction of 1.6 billion tons of climate pollution over the next 10 years. 

Now that we are enjoying barbecuing on the home grill in this summer season,  maybe by putting more plants and less meat on the grill, we can improve our health, reduce our carbon footprint and help save our wildlife

Getting our climate warming problem under control is essential to the future wellbeing of our planet. I love reading about innovative ways that we can work within our natural world to do that.  

Cattle are the no. 1 agricultural source of greenhouse gases worldwide.  When cattle eat they produce vast amounts of methane with their digestive processing.  Each year a single cow will belch about 220 pounds of methane, which is shorter lived than carbon dioxide but 28 times more toxic in warming our atmosphere. Two cows emit as much greenhouse gas as a 25 mpg car will emit when driven 10,000 miles.  

Scientists and universities are studying the situation around the world.  Better breeding, genetics and quality nuitrition have increased the efficiency of livestock today; we are now feeding and supplying milk to more people with fewer cattle.  But those that we are raising continue to belch air polluting methane.

Dairy cattle farmers and cattle ranchers are now joining forces with ocean seaweed farmers to fight climate crisis by cultivating a red seaweed supplement for cattle feed.  This additive produces up to a 60 percent reduction in cattle methane emission with just 1 percent of the seaweed in cattle feed.  The cattle like it and the cow's milk tastes good with the added algae.  It could be a relatively simple solution for reducing emissions.

There is one problem however; producing enough seaweed additive.  It can be produced in bioreactors, but producing it in quantities enough for all cattle everywhere is a challenge that scientists are working on. Feeding 100,000 head of dairy or beef cattle a small bit of this seaweed would be the equivalent of taking 50,000 cars off the road.

Another criticism of cattle raising is that it takes up so much land (nearly half of the land in the United States). Overgrazing those lands can degrade soil health and add to climate warming.  On the other hand,  proper cattle grazing can help mitigate climate change.  Environmentally conscious farmers are now maintaining a diversity of native grasses and rotating their herds between pastures to give the cattle plenty to eat but not allowing them to overgraze. This leaves as much grass as possible to allow water infiltration and develop a healthy root system for the grasses.  The longer and denser the roots, the more they can hold atmospheric carbon in the soil.  While sustainable grazing practices won't completely eliminate methane produced by the cows, they can offset it.  According to climate scientists, this solution could sequester 16 gigaton of carbon dioxide by 2050.  This is just one example of how we can work together to maintain a healthy planet.

August 26th is National Dog Day but Gumby and I want to celebrate a little early.  He and I have been spending a lot of time together quarantining at home during the Covid-19 pandemic.  We want to post something celebrating dogs today on June 26th so we can get the message out early.  We both know the value of dogs - although he barks fiercely at them, particularly the Saint Bernard who lives across the street and is about 10 times his size.  Gumby has a little man's complex.  .  

Dogs are truly the "companions of our souls" and they are with us in good times and bad.  They bring us so much joy and love us so deeply.  I love all animals but I particularly love dogs and have had at least one dog  in my life all of my life.  It hurts me to see how many dogs are not given the love that they need and deserve and I can hardly go to a shelter because I want to take them all home with me.  Fortunately we have a wonderful shelter close by, the Rancho Coastal Humane Society and they win awards for how well their shelter is managed and how well they take care of their animals.  They are a No Kill shelter and my last two fur babies have come from there.  Inspector Gumby is my baby now.  

This is a portrait of Gumby with his "Doggles" on, getting ready to go for a car ride where he likes to put his head out the window if we let him.  I thought that maybe he would not like these little protective goggles but he seems to think that he is special in them.  They also make aviator caps to protect a dog's ears as well so they won't develop hematomas from the wind.  I have dealt with that and it is not pleasant for you or your fur baby

​Gardens are symbols of rebirth and beauty.  I have, at best, a very light green thumb but I love my garden and enjoy watching it grow and develop.  

We just returned from a trip over the Memorial weekend and, coming home, I was struck again with just how beautiful our garden is. We have a small yard of which only a very small portion is grass (and some weeds that I pretend are grass).  The rest is all flowers, succulents where the yard  is sunny and dry, fruit trees, palms, several types of ferns where it is shady and flowering bushes.  


Right before we left on our trip, I planted milkweed to be a home for the beautiful, but increasingly rare, Monarch butterfly.  In recent years, people have replaced the Monarch habitat and food source, the milkweed plant, with increasing development. When we arrived home, I was thrilled to find a monarch caterpillar on the milkweed and a beautiful adult Monarch resting on one of my bright red succulents close by.  I am so happy to now be helping in my small way with giving the Monarch a home.

The rest of the garden seems to be in full bloom now and I have flowers of all colors everywhere.  They make me happy and peaceful when I see them and I love to hear the birds chirping and see them darting among the flowers in the early morning and in the evening.

As seen here, there are many colors in our garden from the vivid multicolored Birds of Paradise to the yellow lilies and the brilliant red roses.  This is actually just a part of the rich beauty and  color that ranges from pink roses to pale purple lavender in the garden.  I also have a peach tree and a miniature lemon tree, strawberries and herbs such as rosemary, Italian oregano and pineapple mint...such a bounty  and something growing and blooming all year.  I enjoy and appreciate it all, 

At this time of the year, I usually look down on our community pool and it's full of families and small children, but this year the pool is quiet and empty (I do miss the happy children's laughter) - except for two ducks who seemed to be really enjoying themselves.  Although I would rather be seeing the ducks out hiking along the banks of the boundary waters as I did years ago, it was still fun to see them enjoy themselves in our pool. We are on the migratory path for the ducks as they head north and south and this time of the year they are everywhere throughout our community.  

We live in a rather rural area with not much city life (although we do have the congestion of the I-5) and we are a mile from the ocean and about the same distance from two lagoons.  It is a small city with a master plan to keep 40% open protected space and a maximum buildout plan to never get too large.  So we have many creatures living here, rabbits under our deck, lizards and toads in the gardens, possums and even a baby skunk who wandered through recently.  It's nice to know that we can all live peacefully together and, as I mentioned in my last blog, I just planted milkweed plants to draw the butterflies into the succulent garden out front .

I think how much enjoyment all of the critters, birds and flower gardens give to me and I am very thankful, that, even if I have to stay close to home except for infrequent wandering out with my protective gear on, that I have such a beautiful place to enjoy.  Hopefully our pandemic will be over sooner rather than later, but, until then, it is nice to focus on the quieter beauties of life.  Take care and stay well.

I love butterflies and I found a beautiful butterfly puzzle to complete during the stay at home directives.  We had fun taking turns working on it.  As it is a circle and only 14" in diameter (the brown background is the table that it was laying on, not the puzzle itself).  But as we got down to putting in the last few pieces, there was one piece missing.  After looking all over for it we had to decide that it had accidentally been thrown away and I "made" a fill in and we called the puzzle finished. It was so beautiful that I couldn't bear to tear it down so I varnished it onto a backing and hung it in my office.  It hangs there to brighten my day.  Can you see the space where the missing piece should be?

​Butterflies are beautiful and so endangered by the pesticides that we use today and the way that we are destroying their habitat. I want to encourage them to visit us and be healthy.  The Monarch butterfly thrives only on one plant, the Milkweed, so, after talking to my daughter who has a butterfly garden, I decided to get one big healthy Milkweed plant and give it a try.  I will plant it now that "spring has sprung" and hopefully we will provide a Monarch stopping point as they flutter through the area.  Hopefully they will lay their eggs on the Milkweed and the caterpillars that hatch will have a nice food to munch on as they begin their lives and their metamorphosis into beautiful butterflies.

The milkweed is a tall rangy upright perennial that grows in
​full sun and provides the food that the Monarch butterfly caterpillars thrive on.