Think Green this Earth Day!

Think Green!

Earth Day is Thursday, April 22nd… and we can think of no better time to start doing what we can to protect the environment and make the world a better place for future generations. With that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of eco-friendly tips for better health and sustainable living. We’d love to hear more ideas from you, so please share!

• Instead of driving everywhere, consider walking, biking or using public transit when you can.

• Carpool whenever possible.

• Keep your tires inflated. It saves fuel and tires, and it lowers emissions.

• Doing lots of traveling and commuting? Offset your carbon footprint at www.carbonfund.org.

• Plant a tree! They absorb carbon dioxide, provide shade, help control water run off and are a natural habitat for animals.

• Let your grass grow longer. Don’t over-water your lawn. Plant native or drought-tolerant plants.

• When gardening, use natural predators instead of pesticides, which are harmful to the environment.

• Get a push mower for your lawn. Traditional gas mowers are terrible for air quality and the environment. If a push mower isn’t a feasible option for you, consider purchasing a plug-in electric model.

• When you’re done mowing, keep your clippings. They make great mulch.

• Get rid of your leaf blower. These too are awful for the environment. Try a broom, or a rake, instead. (Plus, it’s great exercise!)

• Be particular about the fish that you eat. Many species are over-fished, which can have a devastating impact on the ecosystem. Visit www.seafoodwatch.org to learn about sustainably harvested fish. Also, learn more about high mercury content in some seafood species.

• Buy shade-grown coffee to protect bird habitats.

• Think globally, shop locally. Try to buy organic, locally grown food rather than food that has been transported across long distances.

• Shut your blinds or curtains during the day to keep your house cool, reducing the use of air conditioning

• Lower your thermostat in winter; raise it in the summer.

• Turn the lights off when you leave a room.

• Replace your light bulbs with LEDs. They have a much higher lifespan than ordinary bulbs and reduce energy consumption

• Conserve water. Don’t let your faucets run. Run the dishwasher only when it’s full. Collect rain water in barrels and use it for your plants.

• Switch from disposable to reusable products: cups, plates, shopping bags, storage containers.

• Switch from paper napkins to cloth napkins.

• Donate, barter or re-sell items that you no longer use.

• Use environmentally friendly cleansers in your home.

• Reduce, reuse, recycle!

• Avoid buying products that are packaged for single use—such as drinks, candy, etc). Buy in bulk and keep things in reusable containers.

• When purchasing new appliances, make sure that they are Energy Star efficient.

• At the office, use bleach-free, recycled paper and environmentally friendly soy-based ink.

• Volunteer for the environment. Work locally and globally to save natural spaces, reduce pollution and prevent urban sprawl.

• Buy clothes that utilize natural, sustainable and earth-friendly resources.

• Hand wash rather than dry clean whenever possible. If you must dry clean your clothes, go to a dry cleaner that uses nontoxic chemicals and cleaning techniques.

• Do laundry only when you have a full load. Washing requires lots of water and energy, so only do it when necessary. Use the lowest possible temperature possible. Choose phosphate-free and biodegradable detergents. And line-dry as much as possible.

• Teach your children to love and care for the planet.

Cold Weather Gardening -- Guest Blogger, Jenna Strain

Gardening in Wyoming?  

You are probably laughing right off your chair -- most people here even do when I mention my plans.

It's too cold.

It's too windy.

Poor soil quality.

Too few growing days.

Lean your head over to the right to check our soon-to-be plants...

I hear all these things, yet I have decided to keep on keeping on.  Armed with styrofoam cups, crappy soil and various seed packets I have decided to give this gardening gig a whirl.  Who knows what will happen.  Yesterday (later than planned) we decided to plant our seeds.  We have garden beans, beats, tomatoes, lettuce, radishes, cucumbers and squash.  We chose seeds with a growing period of 60 days or less.  We planted them in cups and have set them on our kitchen table next to the window.  We are hoping to see some sprouts in the coming weeks.  We also got onions and strawberries (frost tolerant variety), which we will plant in a month or so directly into the garden.  We are cleaning out a large planter in our backyard.  Clearing our years (and years) of neglect.  

There is a chance that nothing will grow, but we are hoping to at least have a few fresh veggies on our plates this summer.  Wish us luck!

And then it happened…

I read a passage in “The Time Traveler’s Wife” that shook me out of the negative state I was in. It said:

“Everything happens the way it happens. Once and only once.”

Hopefully this helps you this morning like it has helped me.  The Time Traveler’s Wife is easily one of the best books I’ve ever read. And I’ve read a lot of books. In fact, I was so impressed by this book that I was completely floored to learn that it was Niffenegger’s first novel. For starters, it’s hugely ambitious. Her plot involves not only an extremely imaginative premise, but also a complex chronology that is executed not only flawlessly, but in a way that is surprisingly easy to follow. And yet, she doesn’t take the easy way out—we don’t follow either of the two protagonists’ story in complete chronological order.

That alone would be impressive, especially from a first-time author, but the success of The Time Traveler’s Wife goes much further. To begin, it’s a beautiful love story — the story of two very real people coming together, all be it in a fantastical way, and building a surprisingly recognizable life and relationship. There is a spark and a life to her characters that is, to me, the hook of successful fiction.

Possibly My Favorite Place in Loomis...

Ok, so it's hard to pick a favorite, but High Hand Nursery -- with the company of good friends --  really may be my favorite place in Loomis.  

I know I've said this before, but if you haven't been to High Hand Nursery before GO!  Grab a bite to eat and walk around the amazing grounds!  Truly an amazing place to visit!

http://www.highhandgallery.com/

Knit and Feel Insipered

I love the look of hand knit accessories.  I began knitting in the 7th grade.  At that time in Junior high you could go to summer school and take a "fun" class.  I chose knitting and never regretted it.  Every winter I browse through the stores checking out what is new and exciting for scarfs.  In truth I have never taken on one project larger than a scarf.  I make a new one every year as a tradition, and sometimes I make several.  And yes I even have a wonderful scarf project that stumped me and is unfinished at this time.  I guess that gives me the idea of sharing with you some hard earned "purls" of wisdom as to what to keep in mind when contemplating a knitting project as a beginner.

Beginner Knitting Tips:

 1: Make a scarf. A scarf is a practical first choice because one size fits all and it’s useful. I believe we can never have enough scarf’s. And go ahead and splurge on the best yarn you can buy, one you think is incredible, after all you will be devoting many hours to this project. It's a low-risk way to hone basic stitches and experiment with new ones as you develop your skill.

2: Knit something for yourself first. It's inspiring to wear your own handiwork. Once you're hooked, you'll produce more than enough scarves (or hats, or socks) for your friends and relatives.

3: Choose yarn you love. You'll be looking at it for a long time. Buying cheap yarn is a waste even to "practice" Choose spectacular yarn for your project and you will stay motivated and actually wear what you make.

4: Heed this cautionary tale. It can get expensive, and the yarn store clerk will steer you to some incredible and lovely yarns.  I have bought $35.00 skeins and $5.00 skeins, and there IS a difference.  I use my Joann's and Michael's coupons as well as Knitting store sales.  Again back to my first point, knit a scarf, two skeins and your set.

**for beginners type “knitting” into youtube and hundreds of tutorials appear for your assistance

Where do I get my inspiration?

http://www.peruvianconnection.com/

http://www.shopmayu.com/

http://www.etsy.com/

What have you knit?

Don't be a Dinasour

I get asked this question all the time "Which is better LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter."  I have to ask, what are you looking for this social networking to do for you?

It's like comparing oranges to apples to bananas...

While linkedIn is mainly for professional networking, Facebook is more of an informal friends and family site and Twitter is for real-time quick messaging/microblogging. I guess each serves its own purpose in a profound and different way.

Try these networks out, learn about each or you are likely to get behind in some very important social skills.

Join in on the conversation...add me to YOUR network

You never know when you might run into a "someone" and want to tell all your friends (tweet) about it.

http://www.twitter.com/jonelle3

http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonelle3

http://www.jotraveler.blogspot.com/

Learn something new about where you live

I live in the Sacramento area, and most weeks take moments to really look around and discover the destination that is right under my nose. I am finishing a great historical fiction "Rhett Butler's People", a sequel to "Gone with the Wind" authorized by the Margaret Mitchell estate. The book by Donald McCaig set around the Civil War and who can miss that it is Rhett's side of the story "Gone with the Wind" Reading this book has made me wish to see the South and to learn more about the area today and visit some of the spots the book took place in. Autho of Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchel lived in Atlanta and used her first hand knowledge to write this book.

Today I don't have plans to visit the South. I'll definatly add it to my bucket list of places I want to visit. Next I started to wonder if there are books that might take place here in Sacramento.

Notable writers with ties to Sacramento, California include:

Ann Bannon, pulp fiction author
Barbara Bitela, short story award winner and self-published novelist

Deborah Blum, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author

Marcos Breton, author of books on baseball, winner of Guillermo Martinez-Marquez Award

Dale Brown, adventure-suspense novelist

Buck Busfield, playwright

Timothy Busfield, children's playwright

Herb Caen, legendary and longtime columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle

Raymond Carver, short-story master lived in Sacramento, set several works there
Gregg Coffin, playwright
John D. Cox, author of general-audience books about weather, storms, meteorology
Pete Dexter, National Book Award-winning novelist and screenwriter
Joan Didion, essayist, novelist, and screenwriter

William Everson, aka Brother Antoninus, poet

Shaka Ford, science fiction writer

Eric Hansen, travel writer

Richard Hellesen, playwright

Bob Devin Jones, playwright

Karen Kijewski, mystery novelist

Joyce Krieg, mystery novelist

Philip Levine, poet
Dale Maharidge, Pulitzer Prize-winning author
Reneau Z. Peurifoy - author of self-help books
Richard Rodriguez, essayist
Nicholas Sparks, novelist

Lincoln Steffens, investigative journalist, muckraker

Anthony Swofford, novelist and Marine veteran

Mark Twain, novelist and humorist

William T. Vollmann - author

Kenneth Walton, memoirist
Cornel West, scholar on issues of religion, Marxism, American philosophy, racial matters

So now I want to read something from a few of these authors to learn more about my area and the possibilities. For more information on local writers http://www.cwcsacramentowriters.org/

Feeling so Austen, Jane Austen

What a great author and woman Jane Austen was, years before her time -- so strong and creative. I am having a Jane Austen month.  Time to sit back and watch a shining example of a strong and fabulous woman. On these cold days it's nice to have an excuse to stay inside and watch a good movie.

Austen's novels have been adapted in a number of film and television series, varying greatly in their faithfulness to the originals. Here is a list of Her inspired films. Did I miss any??

Pride & Prejudice

Films:

• Pride and Prejudice (1940 film), starring Greer Garson as Elizabeth Bennet and Laurence Olivier as Mr. Darcy.

• Pride and Prejudice: A Latter-Day Comedy (2003), a modern-day independent film adaptation.

• Pride & Prejudice (2005 film), starring Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet and Matthew Macfadyen as Mr. Darcy.

Television

• Pride and Prejudice (1952 TV serial), starring Ann Baskett as Elizabeth Bennet and Peter Cushing as Mr. Darcy.

• Pride and Prejudice (1980 TV serial) (1980), BBC miniseries starring Elizabeth Garvie as Elizabeth Bennet and David Rintoul as Mr. Darcy.

• Pride and Prejudice (1995 TV serial), BBC miniseries starring Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet and Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy.

Adaptations:

• Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), a loose adaptation by Helen Fielding based on her book of the same name. The movie stars Renée Zellweger in the Elizabeth Bennet-inspired role of Bridget; Colin Firth, literally as Mr. (Mark) Darcy; and Hugh Grant as the Wickham-inspired Daniel. The 1995 TV serial is specifically referenced in the book and subsequent movie, intentionally naming Mr. Darcy after the Pride and Prejudice character.

• Bride & Prejudice(2004), a Bollywood style adaptation directed by Gurinder Chadha and starring Aishwarya Rai and Martin Henderson.

Emma

Films:

• Emma (1948 film), starring Judy Campbell as Emma.

• Emma (1996 film), 1996 film directed by Douglas MacGrath and starring Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma and Jeremy Northam as Knightley.

Television

• Emma (1960 TV serial), starring Diana Fairfax as Emma.
• Emma (1972 TV serial), 1972 UK TV film starring Doran Godwin as Emma.

• Emma (1996 TV drama), 1996 UK TV film starring Kate Beckinsale as Emma.

Adaptations:

• Clueless (1995 film), a modernization of the novel set in a Beverly Hills high school. The film was directed by Amy Heckerling and stars Alicia Silverstone.

Sense and Sensibility

Films:

• Sense and Sensibility (1995 film), film starring Emma Thompson as Elinor Dashwood, Kate Winslet as Marianne Dashwood, with Hugh Grant as Edward Ferrars and Alan Rickman as Colonel Brandon. Directed by Ang Lee.

Television:
• Sense and Sensibility (1971 TV serial), BBC series starring Joanna David as Elinor Dashwood and Ciaran Madden as Marianne Dashwood
• Sense and Sensibility (1981 TV serial), BBC series starring Irene Richard as Elinor Dashwood and Tracey Childs as Marianne Dashwood
• Sense and Sensibility (2007 TV serial), BBC series starring as Hattie Morahan as Elinor Dashwood and Charity Wakefield as Marianne Dashwood

Adaptations:
• Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000), a contemporary Kollywood (Tamil) film set in the present, based on the same plot, starring Tabu as Sowmya (Elinor Dashwood), Aishwarya Rai as Meenakshi (Marianne Dashwood), with Ajit as Manohar (Edward Ferrars), Abbas as Srikanth (Willoughby) and Mammootty as Captain Bala (Colonel Brandon).

Persuasion
Films:
• Persuasion (1995 film), made-for-television film which was released in US theatres by Sony Pictures Classics, starring Amanda Root as Anne and Ciarán Hinds as Captain Wentworth.
Television
• Persuasion (1960 series), BBC miniseries starring Daphne Slater as Anne and Paul Daneman as Captain Wentworth.
• Persuasion (1971 series), BBC miniseries starring Anne Firbank as Anne and Bryan Marshall as Captain Wentworth.
• Persuasion (2007 TV drama), miniseries filmed in Bath in September 2006 for ITV, with Sally Hawkins as Anne, Rupert Penry-Jones as Wentworth, and Anthony Stewart Head as Sir Walter Elliot, and Julia Davis.

Mansfield Park
Films:
• Mansfield Park (film) 1999 film directed by the Canadian Patricia Rozema, and starring Frances O'Connor, Embeth Davidtz, Sheila Gish and Harold Pinter.

Television:
• Mansfield Park (1983 TV serial) miniseries starring Sylvestra Le Touzel, Nicholas Farrell, and Anna Massey
• Mansfield Park (2007 TV drama), miniseries directed by Iain B. MacDonald. With Billie Piper as Fanny

Adaptations:
• Metropolitan (1990 film) a loose adaptation set in modern day Manhattan and Long Island. Written and directed by Whit Stillman, and starring Edward Clements, Carolyn Farina, Taylor Nichols, and Chris Eigeman (Jane Austen is also mentioned throughout the film.)
[edit] Northanger Abbey

Northanger Abbey
Films:
• Northanger Abbey (1986 film), directed by Giles Foster and released in 1986, starring Peter Firth in the role of Henry Tilney.

Television:
• Northanger Abbey (2007 TV drama), directed by Jon Jones and released in 2007, starring Felicity Jones as Catherine Morland and JJ Fields as Henry Tilney.

Non-book based
• The 1980 film Jane Austen in Manhattan is about rival stage companies who wish to produce the only complete Austen play "Sir Charles Grandison" (from the Richardson novel of the same title), which was rediscovered in 1980.[11]
• A semi-biographical 2007 film Becoming Jane, was directed by Julian Jarrold and stars Anne Hathaway as Jane. The film centers around her purported romance with young Tom Lefroy, played by James McAvoy. It is very loosely based on brief mentions of him in two of her letters to her only sister Cassandra.

• Another 2007 semi-biographical film, this one produced by the BBC for television, Miss Austen Regrets. It focuses on the last few years of Austen's life, in which she looks back on her life and loves. Jane Austen is played by Olivia Williams

The last movie I watched was The Jane Austen Book Club (2007)  This movie explores Austen's adage that general incivility is at love's essence. Sylvia's husband dumps her for another woman, so Bernadette and Jocelyn organize a book club to distract her. They recruit Sylvia's daughter Allegra; Prudie, a young teacher whose marriage may be on the rocks; and Grigg, a sci-fi fan who joins out of attraction to Jocelyn. The six read and discuss one Austen novel per month. Jocelyn tries to interest Grigg in Sylvia; Allegra falls in love with a woman she meets skydiving; Prudie contemplates an affair with a student; Sylvia's ex keeps popping up. In the discussions, characters reveal themselves in their comments. By the end, are truths universally acknowledged?