Week 64 – All that G-litters is not Gold

Ben and I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and a warm winter Solstice greetings to all. Tis’ the season to “give” and we thought it would be a wonderful idea that after all the hub-bub subsided Christmas morning that we give our planet a little Christmas present and fill a couple buckets with litter.

It felt good to do something for our community.  In my haste to leave work on Wednesday I forgot to drop off the donated food to Northwest Harvest.  I had to shamefully sneak back in my office yesterday on Christmas Eve and drop the food off at the food bank…too late for donations to the needy.  I know that they can still use the food after Christmas, but the whole point was to make someone’s Christmas dinner a tad bit merrier if possible.  So when Ben suggested a litter pick up on Christmas morning I jumped all over the possibility of redeeming myself.

It was a beautiful Christmas morning here in Seattle with the blue skies and sun peering through the trees with just a fine layer of frost covering everything.  The frost even covered all the litter we picked up which just goes to show you that “all that glitters is not gold.”

Week 63 – Burien Ground

We’re not sure if it’s the holidays or the bitter cold but we are finding it very difficult to find time for our weekly bucket pick up. Ben had to work extra hours and between the kids and the rain we just couldn’t seem to make it work.  This is the second missed week where we needed to pick up four buckets to make up for lost time.

When the constant rain and bitter cold turned to 40 degree weather and just a gentle mist, we headed out quickly before the weather turned on us once again.  We can’t help but wonder why it has been so difficult making the time where as last year we didn’t even miss a week during a massive snow storm.

Maybe because it’s not a new adventure, maybe it’s because our current administration (our initial muse) has had more uphill climbs than we anticipated and we’re feeling the effects.

Maybe the newness has worn off, but during these trying times we must pull together, make the best of it and forge ahead.  Four buckets in the cold mist amongst the massive debris near the airport in Burien made for a quick pick up.

We couldn’t even see the loud airplanes overhead.  We knew they were there as they rumbled in the dark gray clouds.  63 weeks and 4 buckets later we looked back at the tire and garbage ridden area and could barely see a dent.  But I liken our efforts to the invisible planes overhead…we can’t see it but we believe it’s headed in the right direction.

Week 61 – Oh SNAP!

Thanksgiving preparations and merriment consumed our time last week so we skipped a week and wish we hadn’t. A cold snap has Seattle in it’s grips and we faced the bitter cold for a four bucket litter pickup yesterday!

We headed to a desolate industrial area just below the West Seattle bridge and fortunately filled our four buckets quickly as the bitter cold wind had us both shivering.

As we all head towards Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Pagan Yule, Christmas, Festivus, etc let us all remember that this is the giving season. Why don’t some of you reading this head out and fill a bucket or bag with litter and give a wonderful gift to the planet that gives us life?

Happy Holidays to you all, stay warm and be happy!