Quaker Pagan Reflections

Things I am in need of, to restore my spirit: Solitude.  Lots of it. Mornings (plural!) of sunlight, coffee and home. Meeting for worship, and an encounter there with God. The smell of an old book. Baking bread and hanging laundry in the sun. The sound of birdsong. Rushing water. The smell of clean earth, and the living light of the forest. The sight of a deer through trees, a hawk in the sky, and an indignant red squirrel, tail thrashing at my impertinence. (Soon.  Please, Lady, soon.) Photo: Jarle Nystuen

Over the past three weeks, since March 5, we have generated 7 oz. of plastic waste (trash and recycling combined) between the two of us. Now we're talking.  That's getting somewhere! Things I have yet to find a way to work around or do without in the world of plastic: Cooking oil bottles.  I can't convince myself that using more imported olive oil is actually better for the planet than the plastic ubiquitous to vegetable oil bottles.  And gallon bottles are so much thicker than the smaller ones that there is no appreciable reduction in plastic waste to buying in bulk.  Alas.  I'm still waiting for inspiration to strike on that one. Hand lotion.  I don't use much--the extra large bottles I bought two years ago, before moving into Chestnut House, just ran out this winter.  And I do use lotions and salves packed in metal (Bag Balm, Burt's Bees, and so on) on my hands.  But my face, too, gets very dry in the New England winter, and I can't use those...