Spring has sprung – well, at least it did for a few days -- and my thoughts have turned to my back yard, where we will spend a majority of our free time this spring and summer. On this 45th anniversary of Earth Day, I am thinking about how to make our yard the beautiful green place we’ll enjoy while also making it “green” in the environmental sense.
Looking forward to these beauties in June!
Last spring we were new to our house, so it seemed like every day there was a new bloom or flowering tree making its debut – I was thrilled to find that we had hyacinths and tulips early in spring, and then the lilacs (my favorite!) showed up, and then the gorgeous peonies! The previous owner had a real green thumb and put in a variety of plants and flowers that bloomed across the seasons and we were able to enjoy a beautiful flowering yard all the way through fall.
Six-year-old me (in the yellow jacket) camping with my grandparents and cousins. I am currently stalking vintage awning lanterns on eBay.
My husband and I both grew up in Michigan -- I hail from the Upper Peninsula (UP), and he grew up in Southeastern Michigan (but with a deep love for the UP and all things outdoors.) Early on in our relationship we discovered we also shared a love of camping; our families had both spent a lot of time camping on family vacations when we were kids.
Driving into work today, I caught the tail end of a NPR story on March Madness, AKA the 2015 NCAA Basketball Tournament, and the negative impact on worker productivity it brings to companies each year. (I can't find a link to it just yet, I'll circle back and link it up when I do.)
A company CEO interviewed in the piece says they are turning those lemons into lemonade by making the first Friday of the tournament a vacation day and inviting all staff and clients to party at a local bar and enjoy "all the madness" together.
He says insights his people gain from observing customer's tournament picks and the way they react to and with the game gives them valuable information on how to better work with and serve those customers.
While binge-watching television last weekend, I got the chance to see a pretty varied cross-section of female characters on television. A lot of what I saw made me cringe. Nurse Chapel of the original Star Trek went on a dangerous mission in a micro-skirted uniform and Wonder Woman chased bad guys in a bustier. In nearly every episode, the supporting actresses / damsels in distress on MacGyver let him do all the rescuing and, of course, kissed him for his trouble and Laura of The Dick Van Dyke Show made it clear that her husband called the shots.
I spent a lot of time explaining to my daughter that attitudes about how women should act and dress and what roles they play in the world have changed over the years, and that those changes are reflected on TV. I know it’s not perfect – on cop shows, they still chase criminals in ridiculously high heels, but increasingly, women on television are portrayed as smart and capable - masters of their own fate.
A lot of the tough, independent female characters that have kicked serious butt across our television screens helped make that happen by giving generations of girls some pretty spectacular role models to live up to.
On Scandal, Kerry Washington’s Olivia Pope defines power.
A new baby has joined our family. My brother and his wife welcomed their first daughter into the world at 7 pm on Tuesday March 3rd. She's a little bit of a miracle child and to say everyone is ecstatic would be an understatement.
