A Saturday in the Fall in the City

Outside the library.

The start of campus...you can see the Saturday Farmer's Market in the distance.

All of these are the Park Blocks downtown in the city. Campus is at one end of them.

Thought you might enjoy some pictures of fall in the city. I was on campus last Saturday working on some projects and assignments that are due, so took my time getting there and returning home in order to take some pictures.

Whew..(and some CEH resources)

So after 4 weekends in a row of being away from my house and feeling like I've been on the go during the weeks as well....I finally had a day to "catch up" today. Thus I did those great things that make me feel like my life is a bit more orderly. I vacuumed the house, swept the floors, cleaned the bathroom and kitchen, did two loads of laundry including the sheets, prepared a cabbage salad I can take to work with me this week, paid a couple bills, wrote some Thanksgiving cards, aired out my room, generally got organized, and now I'm in the process of cleaning up my email inboxes.

I have three email addresses but two of them I have linked together so I only have to worry about checking two. One email I primarily use for personal contacts and some class stuff, as it was started when I was having problems with professors receiving emails from my old account. So the old account has turned into list-serv central. I receive newsletters from my church, from three environmental organizations, from Mother Earth News, from a social work research institution, from a public health organization, and from a local charity. Then I have two list-servs and a Bible verse that are delivered daily, and multiple emails everyday from my MPH program. Needless to say, its very easy for me to get behind on the "news from the field." So here are some great resources for all of you! :-)


A REPORT CARD BY WOMEN’S VOICES FOR THE EARTH which looks at the chemicals that are in common cleaning products.

Another new book I need to check out: Poisoned Profits which argues that many of the negative health and behavioral outcomes we are seeing in children are related to the toxins we all are exposed to...which the newest research is demonstrating an even stronger connection to this theory.

And another push for breastfeeding as breastfeeding has now been linked to decreasing child behavioral problems. (Although, scientifically I do have some questions about definitively stating that just breastfeeding is the reason for this...there are many other factors that could also be related to this outcome.)

If you haven't noticed, a lot of the research that I focus on pertains to childhood outcomes associated with exposures to everyday chemicals. While I would argue that these chemicals also can be associated with negative outcomes in adults (such as the fact that 1 in 3 people will develop cancer in their lifetime), it seems to me that when we talk about children we are more able to get people to listen. Thus a lot of what I am interested in and some of the best ways to get legislation passed, is by focusing on how our lifestyle is damaging our kids.

While my original intention with this blog was to be much more educational than personal, I've struggled with writing meaningful blogs full of what I'd like to transmit while I've been in school. The irony is that I have more research available to me, but it's harder for me write posts about it while I have so many different health subjects rattling around through my brain. So hopefully in six more months, I might be able write a bit more educational of posts....until then I'll probably just continue to direct any readers to where they can glean some of the information.

Hope everyone is having a great day!

Six Random Things

Hmm...we'll see how well I do at this and whether or not people want to play along is up to them. Although I might not tag 6 so we'll see....

The rules are:
Link to the person or persons who tagged you.
Post the rules on your blog.
Write six random things about yourself.
Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

SIX RANDOM THINGS ABOUT ME:
1) I have a great habit of making random comments or sometimes asking direct questions that leave people shaking their heads and wondering why I thought of that particular thing in that particular moment.

2) Even after living in Argentina for about a year and minoring in Spanish in college, I will never be completely fluent in any language other than English. I can communicate but I just don't have the capacity to fully adhere to all the sounds and rules. Some people have the language gift, I'm just glad I know what I do.

3) I sucked my thumb as a child and I think it's why I have stubby thumbs.

4) One of my favorite things to do with any of my good guy friends is enjoy a couple of beers while playing a fun but intense game of Scrabble.

5) When I was 18 I got a tattoo of a cross, as I always felt more protected somehow by wearing one. (And this way I felt that I wouldn't have to continue to buy new cross necklaces when the old ones broke or chlorine ate them during swim season, etc.) Eight years later I still haven't told my father, who is staunchly opposed to tattoos, so hopefully he still doesn't read my blog. :-)

6) For the last 23 years of my life, I have always lived within a couple hours drive of the beach, and now I can't imagine ever not living near the ocean in the future.

So I will be tagging:
Heather at My Journey
Jelly Wares
Learning to Step Lightly
I don't know if they've already been tagged or not but some of the others I would have tagged already have been tagged in the past.
And I'm not tagging her but Katie over at Two Frog Home has her own 100 Things that she posts on occasion about herself. Neat idea!

Wednesday Happiness

Wednesdays used to be my favorite day of the week because you're halfway through. So I thought I'd share some happier things:

My lovely sister found this great idea of making totes out of plastic bags. She's completed two and has requests for many more, but what a great concept of reusing those pesky plastic bags that don't hold very much into something that actually can carry quite a bit. I've quite enjoyed the stories of my youngest nephew in that family telling his mom about everything that could be put in one of those bags and how deep to make it so that it could carry even more. Here is a picture from when she was working on the second one:

We had a storm pass through here last night. While I might get tired of the rain at the end of our months long rainy season, I always love the beginning of the rainy season. The rain and wind whipping around has a sense of renewal, a sense of cleaning the Earth off for the coming year. Another comforting piece of this for me is that five years ago one of my high school best friends sent me a bamboo wind chime. That wind chime has followed me to almost every residence I've been in since then, and I have memories of many nights of hearing the bamboo chime clanging throughout the midst of a storm (much to my sister's dismay one night). However the chime itself has become a comforting sound to me...that regardless of where I am and how many changes I make there is a natural ebb and flow and consistency within it all. In recent years I've had to repair the chime twice, but I should still be able to get some decent life out of it yet.

Last night I finally finished my midterms and am now heading into the downhill wind up of papers and presentations. However the best part of the school factor is that a fellow friend/colleague and I met with a major Oregon environmental organization yesterday about potentially interning with them and several projects were offered to us as possibilities. This organization is one that I have been following and involved with on the peripheral for over a year now. They focus on many of the issues that I feel are most important and it would be an incredible opportunity to get to work with them!
What are some of your Wednesday happy things?

Another Weekend Away

As much as I love these weekends away without Internet, it really does leave a major pile of "to-dos" for when I return home. This weekend was spent with my grandmother at the beach and was incredibly relaxing and worthwhile. The older she gets, the more I cherish the moments with her and the wisdom she instills in me. One of my aunts and cousins came over on Sunday evening and it was great just spending time catching up.

I spent several hours on Saturday and Sunday attempting to sand down an old desk that I've had in storage over at the beach house. The desk was originally made by the boyfriend of my granny's sister. It was used by my father when he was younger, my sister, and finally was passed onto me when my granny was clearing out her house after my grandfather's passing. The desk itself is large with wonderful shelves but it also makes it a challenge when it comes to removing paint. I had originally attempted to strip the 2-3 coats of paint and finish but the stripping agent just created a huge mess. Not to mention I kept thinking of how horribly toxic the fumes and the thick liquid are for my health, and what to do with all the gunk once I'd stripped it? So instead I pulled out Dad's sander and spent two days just sanding down to the stain. Sometime in the next month or two before we close the house for the winter, I'll need to go back and do the finishing sanding so that I can finally bring the desk to my house for usage.

As I was sanding, I couldn't help but look up in awe at the beautiful view we have from the ridge of the hill the beach house resides on. Even when it was pouring down rain, I was still protected in the garage, surrounded by years of past projects and the numerous tools that were held in the hands of many of the industrious men in my family. I saw the shelf Dad created me for a previous apartment made from the loft bed he'd made for my dorm room. I saw the saw and lathe used by my brother to make beautiful gifts for family. I remembered years of watching my brother, father, and grandfather cut, nail, screw, measure, etc in order to add on rooms to the house and remodel what had previously existed. I re-lived helping Dad on one of his most recent projects. And with my hands stuck in Poppa's gloves, I felt protection from the spiders crawling around as I searched for the tools I needed on his benches. :-) But really most importantly, I felt so glad that while I still like my dangly earrings and shiny shoes, I am also happy to use a hammer, haul wood inside, and sand for hours in order to get the result I desire.

On the drive back this afternoon, I started thinking......about how strange it would be to not know how to do some of those things. I feel there is MUCH to learn about how to survive off the land and how to really get by....but I feel so grateful for the things that I do know, for the experiences I've had in my life, for the experiences taught to me by all four of my grandparents. And I have to wonder what it is like for individuals who have grown up never having any of those experiences. What is it like to not know how to catch a fish? What is it like to not know how to make a birdhouse or to cut a piece of wood? What is it like to not have seen a dead deer, or to have never picked berries, or made jam, or chopped wood? What is it like to have missed out on so much.....of self-sufficiency and existence?

Some would argue that we don't need to know how to do those things anymore, that technology will solve all our problems, etc etc. But how incredible to feel that connection to our history and to recognize that technology or not, sometimes it's just easier or more fulfilling to do it for one's self.....and to actually recognize the worth of the thing being created, produced, or consumed.

Monumental Day in History

I had class this evening from 6:40 until about 8:20pm. However my cube mate and I hunkered down between our research hours and our evening classes and watched election coverage via the BBC. Before class was let out early, the texts and calls were coming in to let us know that Obama had taken the election. What a night in our nation's history! What a night for those of us that live in the United States. And what a night for the world.

I just finished viewing Obama's acceptance speech for the second time this evening. And I am proud to say that our President elect is one eloquent individual. And for the first time in a long time, I feel hope for our nation. I feel hope for the world. I feel hope.

My first of three phone calls tonight went to my brother who updated me on the polls and on the local races. My second phone call went to my grandmother, as four years ago she and I spent this evening together and watched in stunned silence as the nation was overcome in red. Both of us were overjoyed tonight and any tears this time around were ones of happiness and not of sorrow. My final phone call this evening was to my father-who reminded me of how honorable both men are who ran for office and just how incredible this change is especially for the young in America.

In watching McCain's speech this evening, I was proud of the man who quieted booing crowds at the mention of Obama's name and who encouraged all individuals in this nation to come together to truly change the tide of what the United States has become. This theme was evident in Obama's own speech as he called for the coming together of the nation--to repair the incredible division that exists among individuals within this country, to re-establish the care that we must feel toward one another and toward our nation. Obama's success could in fact be due to his experience as a community organizer, as no other race has been built upon the techniques which he utilized and which served him so well.

It has not escaped me just how divided this nation truly has become. These divisions exist within my family and between myself and some of my longest standing friends. Yet I can't help but hope that we, as a society, truly can look beyond the differences and see how similar all of us in this world truly are-that when it comes down to it we all have the same needs and often the same desires. That more than anything else we should be extending our hand to our fellow countrymen and to the world.

Yet again, what a monumental night in this nation's history and for the first time in a long time....I am proud to be an American.