Sleepy Sunday

The kids slept in this morning, relatively so at least; 6:45a was the first time I heard the pitter-patter of Ol's feet. He'd forgotten about Easter so I didn't remind him until Jack woke up about twenty minutes later. They were thrilled by the treats EB left: a Lego Yoda watch for J; the new Otis book for Ol; eggs full of jelly beans and chocolates. It's gray and chilly here; rain keeps threatening. Nevertheless, Jack and T raked the yard this morning while Ol and I went to the farmers market and regular grocery. He cute-suckered me into paying $5 for a half-gallon of apple cider but he did ask for two bunches of kale so I think that evens things out. Look at these gorgeous beets we bought- they glow! And the roots are so small and tender, the leaves perfectly healthy and not raggedy in the least. I can't wait to eat them.

Do y'all know one of the few things that brings me down when I visit places like Louisiana? The seeming lack of concern for environmental welfare. You could not find a recycling bin if your life depended on it in New Orleans. In fact, and in all seriousness, the only ones I could find were at the one Whole Foods and only accepted plastic containers and paper shopping bags. Oh, and all things Mardi Gras. But no cans, no glass, no other paper, no plastic bags. I'd saved all our recyclables all week assuming I could at least bring them to a drop-off site, and it killed me to toss most of it out. We, six of us!, accumulated only one bag of garbage but four of recyclables. Can you imagine if that was the ratio for every household AND recycling was mandatory? Can you even fathom how much less ecosystem-destroying crap would stay out of our dumps and landfills? It really depresses me because there are many more towns like New Orleans and Lake Charles than there are those like Portland, Seattle and even DC where you can recycle pretty much everything. It's so easy and in the long run conserves so much in the way of money, natural resources, animal habitats and so forth. Sigh.

Admission: When I'm in a place that does not recycle, I bring as much of my recyclable stuff back home with me as I can stuff into my bags. It's definitely kinda OCD but it makes me feel better!