Blogging for global change

I’ve just been nominated for a “Blogging for Global Change” award by fellow blogger, CraftyGreenPoet of Edinburgh Scotland. The award originates at Climate of Our Future, a blog dedicated to discussing climate change and how it can be prevented. The “award” is a way for individuals to acknowledge and ecourage eachother’s efforts and make links with others. This is how it’s described on the site:

This award goes out to all of the Bloggers for Positive Global Change. It’s not limited to any specific ideologies, religions or philosophies. It puts a premium on human compassion and the desire to make the world a better place for all of us, without exception.

The participation rules are simple:
1. When you get tagged, write a post with links to up to 5 blogs that you think are trying to change the world in a positive way.
2. In your post, make sure you link back to Climate of our Future.
3. Leave a comment or message for the bloggers you’re tagging, so they know they’re now part of the meme [“Meme” is a new word for me. It’s dictionary meaning is “a system through which behaviour is passed on from one individual to another” — kind of like a chain of people, I guess.].
4. Optional: Proudly display the “Bloggers For Positive Global Change” award badge with a link to the post that you write up.

Wow! Well, I’m honored to be nominated. I like the idea of making connections and supporting people who are concerned about the world and want to make a positive difference. I hope I can live up to the nomination.

I’d like to nominate True Stitches, the blog of my friend Heather, who believes in making the world a better place one stitch at a time (and in other ways as well).

I’d also like to nominate author Diane Haynes and her Wildlife Rescue Series blog in which she talks about her wildlife-rescue-mystery-themed YA novels, the writing life and her concern for nature and animals.

Here are a few more intriguing web logs written by people who care about people, animals and the natural environment (a couple of them have already been nominated for the Blogging for Global Change award):

Green Girls Global

World Changing

Teaching Environmental Sustainability

Whorled Leaves

Wardrobe Refashion

Bee Creative

Sew Green

SecondHandNation

Olympia Dumster Divers

No Impact Man

(some of my latest “green” one-inch buttons)

Taking photos isn’t the only way to remember a holiday

Since I became interested in Artist Trading Cards (ATCs: 3 1/2 inch x 2 1/2 inch works of art you can save and trade like hockey cards), I’ve taken some basic ATC art supplies with me whenever I go on holidays. The most fun is creating the cards as a group activity (if there are five people participating you create five cards, with each person adding something to each card, so that everyone ends up taking home one card created by everyone). I’ve done this with people who don’t normally make art, and they were surprised how much they enjoyed themselves — like they were kids again, allowed to play with paper, scissors and glue.

The card above is one I made with four women friends during a weekend getaway to a cabin in Manning Park (can you tell eating and knitting were two themes of the trip?).

And here’s one my mother, daughter and I made on a trip to Nelson, BC, the town where my mother grew up (includes images from a brochure on the town, bits of map, and a rubber stamp skunk bought from a Nelson artist, which reminded us of two skunks encountered on our trip).

I ended up doing a card to commemorate my Oregon trip on my own, which wasn’t as much fun (it encorporates bits of local newspaper and road map).

Visually, these aren’t my best ATCs, but in terms of the memories they evoke, they’re my favourite.

Windy coast haiku

I tried to write some haiku while I was on my Oregon holiday, but my brain seemed to want to turn off and just enjoy. This is all I came up with:

particles of sand

fly like a swarm of insects

nipping at my skin

 

What I did on my summer holidays (part 1)

My husband, daughter and I just got back from a week on the Oregon coast. We had a wonderful time, and I couldn’t resist sharing some of my favourite photos from the trip (please ignore the tipping horizons):

Before the fireworks, July 4, Long Beach, Washington

Looking down on Cannon Beach from Ecola Park (I think)

Wind-blown sand on the beach near Seal Rock, Oregon (we stayed in a cottage near here)

One day we walked about 2-3 miles down the beach to these volcanic rocks and tidal pools

My daughter rescued this star fish, which was buried in the sand, and released it on a tidal pool rock

Yaquina Head lighthouse in the fog (I’ve had a lighthouse story brewing in the back of my mind for a few years, and my inspiration was renewed as I climbed up the 110 steps of the lighthouse tower)

My daughter loves the ocean and the sand

Me trying to climb a sand dune south of Florence Oregon (it was higher and steeper than it looks!)

We were lucky to have at least one evening when the fog cleared enough for us to see the sunset