Week 55 – Sick of Litter

<cough cough>

After taking a few days off to show Cami our gray, cold city…I finally came down with whatever virus is going around our office.  Thank goodness I was able to squeeze in some tourist time before I lost my voice and energy.

A quick pick up of litter on Saturday when the sun peeked through for a few minutes was welcoming.  Ben’s taking excellent care of me and Cami is safely back in Portland.

Five minutes and two buckets later we were done.  Don’t forget to stay tuned next week for our annual Halloween Pumpkin Contest.  Winner takes all!  Bwahahaha… <cough cough>…ow.

Week 54 – Fall Over Dead

“the year is dying.”  Paul Dunbar

For the girl who comes from the land of no seasons, it took awhile for me to appreciate the fall.  The Northwest does not have the true fall colors of the East coast but we have the brilliant reds and yellows that are reminiscent of that last fizz right before that New Year’s sparkler goes out.  Just a burst of “look at me!” before it hibernates for the long winter.

Ben and I had a busy Abby birthday weekend and went for a fast pick up before my niece Cami’s arrival for her college break tomorrow.  We drove through our normal “quick-picker-upper” places and were surprised how clean the area looked.  With a closer look we realized the fallen leaves left a pretty blanket of color to cover the clutter.

Five minutes and two buckets later we were back in the car headed for home.  Later that evening I called my sister to let her know that I would bring Cami to the mall to buy warmer Fall clothes.  She let me know how grateful she was and said Cami described the Northwest as “the air-conditioner being turned on outside.”  Very cute.

The antithesis to the Spring awakening is the Fall who dies a spectacular death.

Week 53 – Happy Anniversary!

Since traditionally paper is given to couples on their one year anniversary it was apropos that we picked up lots of paper on our first anniversary. It was a little windy and there was a definite nip in the air as we picked up litter this week.

Fall is here in Seattle and in our quest for that perfect soup; we headed to the local farmer’s market in West Seattle with a quick pick up at the park across the street from the market.

What a beautiful day! Yellow and red leaves scattered ever so poetically, children laughing in the park playing in the leaves and parents screaming at their soccer children to run faster.  Except for the last part, it was the perfect day and a wonderful place to commemorate our one year anniversary.

Looking back, we had no idea that we would accomplish so much.  We are very proud of our accomplishments and even prouder of our tenacity.

53 weeks

104 buckets

approximately 424 lbs of trash collected and recycled

Not bad huh?  How did it all start (if you are really curious you will see our first post of Oct 12th)? I remember Ben turning to me and saying, “How can we help in our small way to give back to our community?”  It seems easy and selfless….which it has been and is.  There have been a couple of times when one of us has said….”can we skip this week?” I’m flashing back to the massive snow storm in Seattle where we could barely walk a few feet in the snow much less find trash in the streets and we are always, always, always happy that we did go out that day.

We made memories… like that time I thought I found a dead deer in the ravine and it was a poor dog which mortified Abby (Ben’s daughter) and the time we walked through the mysteriously cool fog through Lincoln Park.  Some weeks are better than others but we never lose focus and reason why we are doing “this”…picking up trash every week.  It seems small and almost senseless, but in our small way, we feel we are giving something back.  We are giving something to our community, giving something to our children and giving something to ourselves.

It’s been a wonderful reflection on our first year.  We will again channel Obama’s humble speech as he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize and said he would accept this award as a call to action as other nations as the well as the US  journey to find peace.  We have begun a momentum that can change history.  Well, maybe Ben and I can’t change history, but we can make a difference in what we see as our “small call to action.”

Week 52- Under the Bridge

“I drive on her streets… cause she’s my companion
I walk through her hills… ’cause she knows who I am
She sees my good deeds, and she kisses me windy”

The lyrics seemed apropos even though the Chili Peppers are, of course, not talking about picking up litter under a bridge.    Nevertheless, on the cusp of our one year anniversary (our first litter pick up was Oct 12th 2008 – I dare you to check) we went to a new spot under the West Seattle bridge and filled two buckets.

Seattle has such cool “under the bridge” sights.  For example we have the Fremont Troll and the cool sand worm looking things on Elliott Ave that leads to the Sculpture Park.    Unfortunately, besides the cool looking attractions, we have a lot of litter and homelessness under our bridges.

It would be wonderful if we could bridge the gap between ourselves and our readers and see if we can get more Bucket Heads to volunteer by our one year anniversary next week.  We promise we’ll post your selfless endeavor on our site and commend you as we reminisce how it all started.