Save a Dollar Now...Eschew Plastic

                                              Jeannette's three dollars  worth....

It is often true of me that I don't bother to look further into many issues of life.  This  morning  Nature ID  featured a "California Sand Dollar."   As she says,  " I'm assuming most people are okay simply knowing it's a sand dollar and don't bother to look any further as to what kind of animal this is. I've included the best links I could find..." 

So for me, as for many people, a sand dollar is a sand dollar by any other name, but today I  read further and learned that the diet of Dendraster excentricus, aka, the Pacific sand dollar, includes "particulate detritus. "

Thinking of the mineral rich soup of the ocean  reminded me of reading I have done off and on about plastic. What happens to plastic when its short life of convenience to us is over and its long life of degradation begins?  One place plastic keeps showing up is in the ocean; not only in visible floating pieces that beach combers can pop back into the garbage when bottles and bags and plastic parts wash up....but in teeny tiny confetti, alphabet soup down to microscopic molecular goo size pieces that ocean life ingests when they are after the mineral rich organic detritus that is their right fare.


So I have been trying to eschew plastic.  You know, eschew as in abstain from, refrain from, give up, forgo, shun, renounce, steer clear of, have nothing to do with, relinquish, reject, forswear...
( aren't dictionaries fun books?) 


It isn't easy, and all I can claim is to have made some progress...but  I keep having experiences that remind to be more careful what I create a demand for by being careful what I purchase. 

   This trip to the local dump...it was a good reminder.
As their common name implies  Pacific sand dollars can be found from  Baja California to Alaska.   

  For many people it is a bit of thrill, a touchstone, a reminder of creation's beauty and mystery to find a fragile ornate exoskeleton  in the tide line on a sandy beach.  


 So think about saving a dollar...I don't have any gold dollars to photograph for you, but I have many golden moments in life courtesy of nature's beauty and bounty.
From land's perspective we see only a hint of all the life in the sea.  When I think of how ubiquitous  plastic is  becoming in the world's waters, it spurs me on to keep on reducing my use of vessels and objects that I'll some day have to throw away.

And by the way...where is "away" anyway?  

Butterflies and Bees in the Flowers all the Live Long Day

It was, after five days of many people enjoying the place, a quiet day and the sun was out.  

I was glad to see Monarch Butterflies feeding in the flowers in the morning

and the waves crashing on the cliffs.

 The bees were also on the last of this year's Pride of Madeira flowers and neither the bees nor the butterflies seemed to mind me right in their midst... unlike 

this little green hued  hummingbird ( it is sipping from the flower on the right, if you enlarge you can see how much its light reflections match the sun on the green plants) who sensed me hiding behind a tree and flew off after one sip and my one photo when I walked down near the end of the day to see if the Monarchs were still feeding.

The afternoon  light wasn't right for talking this picture...but I did.

                                 
  And they still were, the butterflies, fluttering in the flowers...

                                             

as the last of the sun's rays lit the shore.

and then....

A Peek Behind the Garden Gate Part III

Where were we?

If you are just joining me now... Part I and Part II might be fun to see first....if you'd like.

Here's that path in the sunshine in the morning....but you see the line of shadow...that's baby tears territory. Plants either fail to thrive here, or they want to jump over and cover the wall...so it is going to be ground cover from now on.

This photo is for those who seek to source bed rock ideas and foundational realities...
 This is a corner of the  main house.

 

                                             I told you you might get lost wandering around...that isn't the neighbor's, it is a room of the greenhouse.

                                                   

That rock, frosted with ice plant, has been  a hotly contested nesting site.  Canada geese pick it, seagulls raid it and the neighbor in the curve of the cove begs anyone else who might disturb the birds to resist the temptation of climbing up there.

                                                           
Workmanship...not technology...vision, natural resources, hard work, an understanding of  the laws of mathematics  and physics...  the road wasn't even paved when this was built.

                           Of course the greenhouse is a good reminder that a little technology isn't bad either...

                                         
                                                          but simple is a favorite for many

   the trees that have fallen have their own tales to tell

                                             It's already sunset again...and October now too.

                                            Life is full of changing seasons and good-byes.
                                             
                                           

It has been a lovely Saturday.... when I let a kitty out this morn, I followed her out and wound up perching on the edge of this hammock, rocking myself awake and watching the humming birds... but there's been no napping and both kitties are in where they belong, safe for the night ( if you have never read why kitties coming home at night is an issue, you might enjoy reading this post) so time for me to take my rest too.  I hope you've enjoyed peeking here and there in the garden...

I always appreciate your visits here to me.