I'm inviting you to share my bEARTHday celebrations in food and drink.
I'm inviting you to share my bEARTHday celebrations in food and drink.
As most of you know, whenever possible, I like my Second Look to somehow reflect what our current host at Art Journal Journey is featuring. That means I had to look for something that reflected Poetry, the theme which Valerie and Erika share this month.
This post was created for two very different challenges from two different challenge blogs that are no longer with us. One prompt was Rhyme Time and the other was Poetry. This entry was originally published in September, 2014, and contains the ONE and ONLY poem I ever wrote.
It was even published in a national teen magazine, although, for the life of me, I can no longer remember the name of it.
After
all, I was only 11 when I wrote and submitted it. Actually, if truth
be told (and again, I simply don't remember) I suspect I talked my
Grandmother (Grands raised me from birth) into submitting it for me.
While trying to create this entry, I looked high, low, and everywhere in between for the tree image I though I owned (in green). But it must have belonged to my friend Kathy, because it was in with a bunch of stamped images I had received from a stamping swap I participated in years and years and years ago. I did, on the other hand, find the other tree, but should have left it off, since I didn't stamp it nearly as well as the tree I had received in the swap.
Now it's time to share your own Second on the 2nd. The rules are quite simple and everyone is welcome to join the fun look back. All you have to do is bring back a post that you are especially proud of, or perhaps one you shared before anyone knew your blog existed. Any post, any genre, any artistic endeavor is acceptable, as long as it's been published sometime in the past. Then link below (direct links only, please) and Bleubeard and I, along with other Second on the 2nd friends, will be by to visit.
It's a new month and we welcome a new host, as we always do on the first. Normally, I would thank the previous month's host for a job well done, but that host is also one of our co-hosts this month. This month two moderators of Art Journal Journey are our hosts. Please give a warm welcome once again to the much respected Valerie, who can be found at Bastelmania and a warm welcome to the talented Erika who many of you know as BioArtGal. Valerie's and Erika's theme is Poetry. Valerie is up first, then Erika follows.
To be honest, I know practically nothing about poetry. I do, however, remember Poe, as in Edgar Allen.
Before we begin today, I want to apologize for my lack of participation this past weekend. Two of my No Name, No Photos friends who I shared my bEARTHday meal with, talked about St. Louis. I mentioned how many times I had been inside the Arch and how it was so much more exciting than when I visited the Statue of Liberty, they decided to treat me to a weekend in St. Louis. All went well when we left on Friday, but when we chose to come home, we ran into tornado warnings, tornadoes, flash flooding, and thunderstorms that were relentless. Needless to say, we didn't get home until about noon today. Of course, I hadn't prepared my T Tuesday post, so I hope I make it on time.
Today I'm joining both Friday Face-Off and Friday Smiles.
I'll be back later with the Smiles portion of this post. I'm still getting photos off my camera.
Be sure to wish Nicole a happy birthday because it is this Saturday.
Now it's time to join Annie (at A Stitch in Time) and the other wonderful ladies who also share their smiles each Friday.
I realize you must be tired of reading this, but I STILL cannot leave comments to anyone who uses embedded comments. I get "failed to publish," and I get the same message every time. This is very frustrating. I appreciate your patience and understanding that it is not me because I do visit and leave, or try to leave, a comment.
Instead of sharing my bEARTHday, I am sharing my foodie friend Sally's birthday which was the 28th of March.
It's now time to share your own drink related post. It can be photos, a place you visited, movies, postcards, books, sketches, mixed media, drawings, paintings, tags, scrapbooking, or other art that is digital, hybrid, or traditional, as long as it in some way relates back to a drink, any drink. Regardless, please share below and Bleubeard and I, along with the rest of the T gang will be by to visit. Please link only your T post and not your blog in general. Old photos are acceptable because they may be taken any time, not just on Tuesday. Be sure to visit the other T Tuesday participants.
I will not be around to join you for T until much later tonight. Two of my No Name, No Photos Allowed friends are taking me to dinner. We meet at 5 p.m. for "drinks" (mine will definitely be non-alcoholic), then we have reservations at 7 p.m. for a very exclusive restaurant. I've insisted NO GIFTS allowed.
Please be aware I STILL cannot leave comments to anyone who uses embedded
comments. I get "failed to publish," and, even though I keep trying, I
get the same message every time. This is very
frustrating. I appreciate your patience and understanding that it is not me because I do visit and leave a comment.
Today is Earth Day (although every day should be Earth Day). It's also the day of my birth. There are 193 countries participating in Earth Day today. Yours is surely one of them.
For 2024, the theme is one that is near and dear to me: Planet vs. Plastic. Long time readers and visitors to my blog know how I feel about plastic. It is one of, and possibly the worst invention ever.
However, let's go back to the first ever Earth Day. If you've been around my blog for years, or you are aware of Earth Day, you know it was originally created by Senator Gaylord Nelson and intended to be a teach-in on various campuses across the nation. Teach-ins are actually debates and who really would debate in favor of pollution, bad water, or dirtier oceans? That was when the focus was changed and, instead of having an Earth Day celebration solely on college campuses, it was decided that the event should also be held in community centers and parks.
Although Gaylord Nelson gets all the credit for Earth Day, way back in the late 1950s, Rachel Carson, an American marine biologist, began looking into pesticides first used by soldiers in WWII. Before that, she was concerned about the synthetic pesticides created by the military after the war. In 1957, the Dept. of Agriculture tried to eradicate fire ants using DDT and fuel oil to spray on private land. One such place was Long Island, New York. She learned that not only were the fire ants NOT eradicated, dogs, birds, and horses WERE (Lear, Linda, Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature, pp. 117–124).
Some of your parents or grandparents may remember that there were no cranberries for sale in 1957 through 1959. A specific herbicide was over-sprayed and the cranberry crops had to be halted (Lear, p. 22).
It was then Carson decided to write a book documenting research of the chemical spraying programs funded by the Dept. of Agriculture and corporations that made the chemicals. The book is called Silent Spring. It was published in 1962 and was the forerunner that led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
If you want to celebrate Earth Day, do something for the environment. Pick up trash along a river, help clean up a park, plant a tree, or recycle old electronics.
If you are unable to do any of those and plan to go grocery shopping today, please DO NOT buy anything in plastic. Glass jars, tin or metal cans, and paper/cardboard are acceptable. I love using 1/2 and1/2 in my coffee because it comes in a cardboard container. If you go out to eat and decide to bring some food home, I hope it's not in Styrofoam, which is a form of plastic. Let's give plastic the boot!
Let's see what the rest of the world is creating today using recycled products.
Jane Perkins: The Raj's Emerald, a portrait using found materials
Barefooted Welder: Scrap metal sculptor from Australia who created Kali the cat
Robert Bradford: Horse sculpture made out of recycled toys
Steven Rodrig: Sea turtle sculpture using discarded electronics
Nick Gentry: Portrait made of recycled media
Derek Gores: Collage made from recycled magazines
Erika Iris Simmons: Bob Marley portrait made with old cassette tape
TC Trash Art: Daily art made from beach clean-ups in Florida
I hope you have enjoyed this look at what others consider art made from trash, waste, or recycled materials. Have a fabulous Earth Day and please do something good for the planet today (and every day).
And a bit of PLASTIC humor before I go:
This is Day 22 of 22 and I shared how other artists respect the planet by using recycled, repurposed, and reused materials in their art.