Sustainable Flowers

August 20, 2007

I wanted to send my sister flowers and she is even more into making sure everything is sustainable and fair to workers and environmentally friendly than I am, so I did some research and I thought I would post it here in case anyone else wanted possibilities for sustainable flower sending. In case you wonder if regular flowers are all that problematic, you can go here to read about it. I’m not trying to be alarmist and make everything into “an issue” but just trying to be more aware of ways I can be more gentle on the earth and its people, while also keeping in mind that everyone doesn’t have the economic or time resources to be super-vigilant. It raises questions for me about how we can make sustainable practices not just something UUs or well-off do-gooding upper middle class people can do, but change systems so that a range of people can be aware of and do these things.  Just some thoughts. Onto the companies.

Organic Bouquet http://www.organicbouquet.com/Index.aspx

California Organic Flowers http://californiaorganicflowers.com/

Diamond Organics http://www.diamondorganics.com/prod_detail_list/84#524

Well, I thought there would be more, but that is it for online stuff. It, of course, goes without saying that buying local is best and local farms/farmer’s markets often have a good selection.

p.s. Another link about buying traditional flowers http://www.coopamerica.org/pubs/realmoney/articles/flowers.cfm

 http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-05-04-organic-flowers_x.htm

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Posted by Elizabeth

Times They Are a’ Changin’

August 14, 2007

So I am doing some research about how foundations can set up a system where letters of inquiries, proposals, and such can be submitted online. In my search I turned up this great article from 1997 – only 10 years ago. It is titled: “Why the W.M. Keck Foundation Went Online.” It is a whole article about the cutting edge decision of this foundation to – yes, that’s right – develop a web page. The question at the heart of the article is: What motivates a Foundation to venture out onto the Internet?” and we are told that “her candid responses offer a rare, behind-the-scenes glimpse of how this respected foundation established itself on the World Wide Web.” This was only ten years ago. Could you imagine having such a conversation today?

In a week when I had a computer crash and our internet stopped working at the same time, and I am highly annoyed that  my adobe acrobat isn’t working and that Mcafee won’t install correctly, it is amazing to see how much technology is a part of our lives (and how #*%@(#& difficult it is to fix stupid little things on a measly little computer) and how fast it has happened. I know. Not some sort of rare revelation, but I found the article amusing and food for thought.

I can’t believe how disruptive it is when my computer isn’t working well and web pages load too slowly (for some unexplained reason).

I need to go to the beach.

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Posted by Elizabeth

Nothing Profound or Even Semi-Profound to Say

August 11, 2007

This blog is mostly not about being update about how I am doing. But today it is. Interestingly, I seem most pulled to write a lot on it when I have other pressing things to do. And this summer, almost nothing has been pressing.

So, in a rare instance, I am just writing to say that I am still here and things are going fine. I am working part-time this summer, trying to get my German good enough to pass the language exam September 14th, so that I can have that out of the way before I start Latin (ugg) September 17th. What do these languages have to do with the course of my study you ask? Nada. You just have to get a high pass on two modern languages and a regular old pass on an ancient language and I thought Latin would be easier than Greek. (For those that don’t know, I start a doctoral program in religion in September. I finished my M.Div. in June. I’m still ordination track, just on the somewhat slower track.)

A friend was in town this weekend and it was a great visit. She is a fellow candidate for UU ministry and very wise. She is also adopting one of our kittens. We currently have seven foster kittens and one foster cat (who we’ve had since January – she is a tad difficult to adopt out). Who wants a lovely although not quite friendly but really good-at-heart seven toed kitty named Marisol? I will deliver anywhere in New England! For free! If you will love her and keep her for her whole life.

Hmm. This summer has been really laid back. It makes me feel lazy, but I try to tell myself it is about self-care. I can’t tell if it is really being lazy and tricking myself that it is about self-care, or if it really is about self-care and I just have a must-do-something-must-be-productive voice in my head.  Probably it is somewhere in between.

Well, that’s about it. I’m sure once I have papers to write, all of a sudden I will think of things that I just MUST post on my blog. Also, for some reason http://www.elizabethslittleblog.com still isn’t working, so you need to go to the wordpress address for it to work. Oh, and my computer got a virus, and they erased my whole computer and all my bookmarks and EVERYTHING in order to fix it. I backed up my main files, but – gosh – it sure takes a lot of work to get your computer back up and working with the right settings and bookmarks and cookies and such.

That’s all.  Elizabeth :)

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Posted by Elizabeth