Sowing the Seeds

This past week was one of "sowing seeds".

It started with the devastation in Haiti. It's so heartbreaking that the poorest country in the world, one that is just a few hundred miles from our borders is going through such horror.

In these times, most of us, myself included, wish we could just fly there in an instant and help everyone. But even just donating cash or goods can help the people of Haiti sow seeds for the future, a future that hopefully will be brighter, safer and full of hope. So donate we do, clothing, blankets and money and send prayers on wings of love.

Closer to home, my quest to create a sustainable, organic lifestyle continues with the first seeds being planted. Finally, the fine Florida weather cooperated and I was able to sow Chives and Squash. In addition, I sowed a bountiful of blue flowers: Forget-me-not, Bachelor Button and of course, my favorite morning glory: The Heavenly Blue

I was lucky enough to have two years of these amazing blooms and can't imagine my garden now without them. I also paired the white, large Moon Flower with the Heavenly Blue. I've had good luck growing the Moon Flower before and hope I'll be blessed with it's night opening blooms again.

To help my garden along, we have begun our own Composting. I have a stylish stainless steel kitchen compost container. Here, kitchen waste such as vegetable peelings, paper towels, tea leaves and other organic material are stored until a trip out to the patio compost bin, a green plastic drum that sits up on a black bar. This is where lawn and garden trimmings are tossed as

well as feathers from the ducks and birds, shells and any other organic material I find while gardening. The kitchen waste is dumped in and a few times a week the drum gets turned to mix the materials and help the rotting along. I find the whole process completely and utterly fascinating. Not only will I be making rich organic soil, but our trash output to the landfill will decrease by 35%!! Imagine if everyone did the same thing? That would make a huge impact on our planet. Sowing seeds for the future. :)

This week also included sowing seeds for my health. Loran and I signed up for Disney World's Half Marathon: http://disneyworldsports.disney.go.com/dwws/en_US/events/eventDetail/detail?name=PrincessHalfMarathonDetailPage

I started training this week, running up to 5 miles. Next week will be up to 7 miles, the third up to 9 and so on until I am up to the 13.1 miles needed in order to finish in the allotted time of 3.5hrs. Loran is a perfect partner for this challenge. We've been together during other strenuous challenges and know that we can count on each other for support, motivation and encouragement.

The training this week has been going great, my miles have been under 12 minutes but a headache has followed the workout which concerns me some. Hopefully, it will subside as my cardiovascular health improves but I will keep a close eye on it and see my doctor if necessary.

Speaking of doctors, today my cat Pi Ling had to go see her doctor after one of her anal glands ruptured through the skin. It's one of the most painful looking things I have ever seen and I feel so bad for her. She seems to be doing good now that she is home but the wound is open because it has to heal from the inside out, so it can't be stitched up. I have to keep it clean and give her medicine orally. She should be back to normal in no time and hopefully she won't have to deal with this again.

So much seemed to be going on this week, but I still managed to work a bit on my photography and in my art journal which I'll be posting pictures of soon. I also was able to spend some time with my beautiful friend Loraine and my lovely Lita who moved closer to me! yay! In fact, she's about the distance of a half-marathon...in a few weeks maybe I'll run over to her apartment instead of driving!