Recycling – Natalie the Explorer

January 2022 Reflections

January 28, 2022January 28, 2022Natalie79 Comments

Hello and welcome to Weekend Coffee Share #54! I’m glad you’re here. Please come on in, help yourself to a cup of coffee, or tea, or hot chocolate at my coffee station and let’s chat.

Week 4/ 52

On January 2, 2022, I wrote that this year, I continue to focus my energy on Health, Home, and Leisure to live a healthy and enriched life. The last weekend of January is a good time for me to reflect on January happenings.

White birch trees and a clear blue sky on January 4, 2022

Health

In January, I consistently completed my wellness routine: Some outdoors (cycling, walking) and some indoors (practicing meditation, language lessons, strength training, and yoga). Taking care of my health every day is second nature to me. What I’m mindful about is to keep my exercises fresh by making small changes to them at least monthly.

On extreme cold or snow days, I use a new-to-me dance cardio workout at home as a substitute for cycling outdoors. The workout with upbeat music is fun. It keeps my brain and body engaged, improves my coordination, boosts my mood, and is good for overall toning.

On normal winter days, I continue exploring my corner of the world, enjoying Lake Ontario, cycling or walking on recreational trails, and visiting Toronto’s parks and neighbourhoods. The trails are quiet on weekdays in winter, allowing me to savour the beauty of the season.

Ice and snow in Toronto Harbour on January 25, 2022

Home

The new year started on a bright note. I finished my first community food drive on January 4 with 350 food items collected and delivered to a fire hall. It was rewarding to see the donations lifted and placed in a big Daily Bread truck to go to the food bank.

I had four virtual happy birthday celebrations with my family and a dear friend. We’re geographically dispersed so virtual gatherings work. I also took friendly walks with a senior neighbour.

I worked on purging, recycling and improving my physical and digital space. As a result, my home is more organized and I regain some space. I feel satisfied with the progress I’ve made in January.

The Waterfront Trail — January 2022 experiences

Heart display at the Distillery District — January 2022 experiences

Leisure

Similar to my Health activities, I take a balanced approach to leisure: Some outdoors and some indoors. In January, my outdoor time included exploring beautiful nature, discovering amazing park murals, watching birds, and listening to bird sounds along the shore of Lake Ontario.

My indoor leisure time was spent on listening to music, reading articles, books and blogs, writing blog posts, hosting the weekly Weekend Coffee Share link-ups, and sharing my stories, photos and comments with my blogging community.

Blogs I wrote:

Books I read: Listed by author’s last name; asterisk indicates new-to-me authors.

The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis *
The Secrets of Midwives by Sally Hepworth
A Separation by Katie Kitamura *
Heart Berries A Memoir by Terese Marie Mailhot *
Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill *
Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto *
We the Animals by Justin Torres *
Navigate Your Stars by Jesmyn Ward, illustrations by Gina Triplett *

Overall

January has been a calm and fulfilling month for me. I’m thankful for my good health, my cozy home, and all the good experiences and joyful moments in January.

How has your January been?

Shared with #2022wotylinkparty.

Coffee Share #2 | Words and Photos

January 15, 2021January 19, 2021Natalie98 Comments

Hello and welcome to Weekend Coffee Share #2! Please come on in and help yourself with a cup of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate at my coffee station. I can hardly wait to share my news and photos with you.

1. Awesome Coffee Share Party #1

By closing time on Sunday, 25 bloggers from 5 continents have participated. Countries include Canada, Australia, Iceland, Ireland, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, and the United States. Isn’t that amazing?
About 50% of the participants joined the Weekend Coffee Share link up for the first time. This is a great opportunity for all participants to make new blogging connections. Thank you, everyone, for coming.
I added the InLinkz link to make it easier for participants to see all the links in one place. At any time that the InLinkz link doesn’t work, plan B is to use the Comments section.

I read all participants’ blogs and appreciate what you’re sharing in words and photos. Either via InLinkz or Comments, I read what you have to say.

Overall, Weekend Coffee Share party #1 exceeded my expectations. I hope you also had a positive experience. If so, please spread the word. My InLinkz link can accommodate up to 50 participants.

2. A Promised Land

My library let me skip the line to borrow A Promised Land, Barack Obama’s latest book and presidential memoirs. The e-book version shows 1177 pages on my iPad. Normal loans allow 21 days before the book is due. The Skip the Line loans are for 7 days only. I set a target to read close to 200 pages each day for six days, and used the 7th day to review selected chapters.

The timing of this book loan is perfect. Given the recent US presidential election and the upcoming inauguration, the book content is more relevant to me now than any other time. It’s interesting to read history and watch live US presidential events that are going to be part of history.

At 1177 pages, there are thousands of words, and yes, there are 81 photos at the end.

3. Thursday Doors

Speaking of photos, I went through the digital images on my phone to delete those I don’t want to keep and to free up the memory space for new photos. From this exercise, I chose four photos for the Thursday Doors photo challenge. Here’s my entry this week.

Kwagu’t ceremonial house in Victoria, BC, Canada.

This Kwagu’t ceremonial house is part of the hereditary cultural property of Chief David Knox of Tsaxis (Fort Rupert). Go up the few steps in front of the house, and if you zoom in, you see the door handle in the centre.

Front entrance of Roy Henry Vickers Gallery in Tofino, BC, Canada. — Doors to enter Roy Henry Vickers Gallery in Tofino, BC, Canada.

Two black doors framed with painted cedar planks mark the entrance to Roy Henry Vickers Gallery in Tofino. If you haven’t heard of this Canadian artist, I encourage you to visit his web site for his biography and amazing art. I do not earn any commission for mentioning the artist’s name or his web site.

Beautiful wood carvings at the doors inside Roy Henry Vickers Gallery.

Art displays inside Roy Henry Vickers Gallery. — Art displays on the walls and on the door framed by two big wood carvings in the gallery.

The rest of my week went well. Your turn:

How did your week go?
Are you looking forward to joining the Weekend Coffee Share blog party?
What do you think of the above doors?

I’d love to hear your comments.

Linking with #lifethisweek, #senisal, #weeklysmile.

Have you heard about the Float’em Garden?

November 7, 2019November 11, 2019Natalie45 Comments

During my stay in Tofino, I walked along the main streets in the village and discovered the Float’em Garden. I thought I’d share the artist’s message and the story behind the objects in the garden with my blog readers.

About the Float’em Garden

The Float’em Garden is located along the sidewalk on Third Street between Campbell Street and Main Street in Tofino. It’s an outdoor public art installation comprised of eleven individual assemblages made entirely from marine debris. Pete Clarkson, the artist and a park warden, has been creating his unique marine debris art since 2000. The Float’em Garden was opened in June 2018.

Art from recycled marine debris

From Sea to Tree and Little Bear by Pete Clarkson

Message from Pete Clarkson

Here’s an excerpt from Pete Clarkson’s message inscribed at the Float’em Garden:

“I hope you’ll take a moment in this spectacular place to enjoy the Float’em Garden, and consider your own role in the marine debris story. As these objects remind us, there’s no longer an ‘away’ when we throw things away. Everywhere is somewhere, and the ocean is downstream of everything. The daily decisions we make – what we buy, what we throw away, what we value and support – can add up to a chorus of positive action. Let your actions show how much you care. We can all make a difference!“

I find the Float’em Garden art installations visually interesting and the message behind the marine debris thought-provoking. It’s a good reminder that we are all connected and we need to reduce waste that is harmful to our environment.

Practicing the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle)

My family and I have made a diligent effort to practice the 3Rs in our day-to-day living. We follow our municipal waste reduction movement and help keep items out of landfill. Some of the actions that we’ve taken:

Borrow books or DVDs from public libraries.
Buy locally-grown fresh produce as much as possible.
Cook and eat most of our meals at home with no food waste.
Donate clothes and linen to recycling organizations.
Put recycling, organics, and garbage into the right bins. Blue bin for recycling, green bin for organics, and black bin for garbage in our city.
Read or subscribe online for news and community event notifications.
Re-purpose cookie tins and glass jars for storage.
Trade in old items when purchase their replacements (where trade-in is offered).
Use refillable water bottles.
Use reusable bags for grocery shopping.

We shop consciously, plan ahead, buy only what we need, and consider the impact of packaging when making purchases.

I wonder to what degree Pete Clarkson’s message and similar environmental reminders affect consumers’ shopping habits, especially around the holidays when people tend to have more purchases and more social gatherings.

How does the marine debris story from the Float’em Garden affect your shopping habits? How well is waste managed in your city? I’d love to hear your comments.