Oh, You Shouldn't Have

i've gotten into researching my family tree, and i also decided that a great way to record family history would be to record my grandmother telling stories.

i got myself a little digital voice recorder that has a USB connection for your computer, and i recorded my grandma telling stories about various aspects and events of her life. i filled a whole CD last year, and we only got up to her marriage! there is plenty more to tell, so this year i'm going to make volume II, and she will tell stories about raising her children, and possibly tell about her firsthand experience about different historical events, or just what life was like back without computers, tv, plastic, or what she did for enjoyment as a child and as a teenager. there will be plenty of other material for subsequent "volumes"--she can talk about older generations that no one else really remembers or experienced except her. you would be surprised at how many colorful stories there are lurking in the roots of your family tree! even if you think there aren't any and you're from a boring family, i'm tempted to guarantee that there are juicy stories back there somewhere waiting to be told by (or coaxed out of) someone in your family.

anyway, you get the idea. i edited the tracks using the software that came with the digital voice recorder, and burned cd's for everyone in my extended family. they absolutely loved it. they keep asking me for more, saying "when's the next album coming out?"

hope this helps or inspires someone out there...

halcyon days to you all.

I mean who couldn't use a simple and concrete green guide to daily life? Especially one with a sense of humor?

I have two friends with birthdays this weekend; as they usually get lost in the shuffle of Thanksgiving, I always try to make sure to do something special.  One friend is crazy about my fritatta, so I am driving to her house and making her two fritattas for her birthday (with organic, local ingredients of course!).  I'm meeting the other friend for drinks at a local watering hole and, as he actually likes to cook, I'll bring him some of my fancier canned creations of the fall:  organic lemon basil white wine jelly and Magic Hat mustard.  Eco-booze indeed!

Especially, try some classic fairy tales on your kids: they'll often have solid environmentalist and humanitarian messages (is there a difference?) that can last a lifetime, all wrapped up in that magic world that children all seem to inhabit much of the time. "The Princess and the Frog" teaches that seemingly altruistic acts can bring benefits in spades. And was there ever a more appropriate fable for our time then "The Magic Porridge Pot"?

Stop, little pot, stop!

The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.

My husband and I love nothing more than getting our hands dirty planting native seedlings in the Wet season.  Luckily Xmas and the Wet coincide perfectly.  So a couple of years ago I came up with the idea of choosing native trees that resemble my family members and planting them around our property.  I then send photos through the year as the trees grow.  

Not only do my family get a gift that will (hopefully) last well into the future, provide all the usual benefits of a home for wildlife and oxygen for the planet but I get to have my family close by at Xmas too.

I think stopping someone else's junk mail is a great stocking stuffer -- especially for people who aren't quite as "internets" savvy. Catalog Choice is really easy to use -- but as mentioned, only takes care of catalogs and not Valpaks, credit card offers, and 20 million dollar money-back guarantees.

My siblings and their spouses and I have agreed to spend an extended weekend goofing around together instead of giving each other gifts this year, date has been set.

Also in years past I have been a fan of giving a donation of bees or trees or sheep or something to Heifer International for those people in my life, like my mom, that are really hard to shop for. Although last year I gave her the gift of taking down the ugly wallpaper border in her bedroom and bathroom and a gift card for a bucket of low-VOC paint in the color of her choice.  The year before I gave her a photo album of all the digital pictures I had taken of our family for the past 3 years but never bothered to print.  That's probably not green but not "stuff".  

• Tickets to a: movie, local sports game, theatre production, concert, art gallery, museum.

• Money/gift certificate for a restaurant (serving local food, perchance?)

• Any yummy food (because humans eat) and especially organic, fair-trade, and hopefully with as little non-recyclable packaging as possible

• Registration to a fun class at the community college, such as German lessons or watercolor painting or guitar lessons.

• A season's pass to the regional park or nature reserve (if it's not free, like in Canada)

We were pleased to see bluebirds visiting them only a week after I put them out them out last spring! And we look forward to seeing them again next year. It is one of those gifts that keeps on giving. And the bluebirds probably eat bugs that bother my vegetable garden.

When giving an item like a bird house as a gift, it probably helps to select a functional house suitable for a native bird AND provide some information about where to place the house -- part of the gift might be the research to ensure birds actually use it -- and perhaps install the house for the recipient. Hey... throw in a bird identification guide and a gift certificate for a native plant nursery right away!