Tammy Alverson

Sorry to miss this week's meeting but I chose to attend my neighborhood's first HOA, turnover (from the builder) and election of Board members meeting.  Wow!  A lot going on.  I was a member of an HOA Board years ago and while not interested in doing that again, I do want to be involved as a community member.

The management company representative went over some of the items that still need to be addressed by the developer, the responsibility of the Board and the release of the builder.  7 homeowners tossed their hats into the ring, so to speak, for 3 Board positions.  We had a question and answer session while votes were being counted and then announcement of the new Board members.  I felt a wave of nostalgia!  

We have 79 families in our community and most seemed to have the same concerns/interests.  The meeting went well, and long, and it seems we have a great community with a bunch of really nice people.  I met a couple of new neighbors so I guess I should find that in "Actions" and say I've completed it!  

The video on 2 day shipping was very interesting!  (she raises a guilty hand)  I had not even put any thought into how choosing that "fast and free" shipping could contribute so much to carbon emissions.  I know that when I'm home for the day I often see several Amazon vans (not to mention the USPS and UPS trucks) trundling through our neighborhood at various times.  I even thought, "Well, why don't they put all that stuff on just one truck???"  Now I understand why.  I think there are probably a lot of people who don't realize the impact of "fast and free".  I shared that video in hopes it might influence others to chose more eco-friendly shipping.   I know I will as often as I can.

Growing up, my street was a place.  We rode our bikes there, played baseball and tossed footballs, roller skated and jumped rope and "hula-hooped" the day away.  Someone would yell, "Car!" and we'd all move to the side until the car passed.  It was a playground as well as a road.  Our current neighborhood is a "loop" and kids play in the street in some areas but drivers get crazy about it, blow the horn and yell at the kids and post on the FB page that "these kids don't seem to have parents!"  It does seem that our roads, even the private streets like in my little neighborhood, "belong" to the drivers.  As a runner, I've even had a driver yell at me, "Hey, get outta the road.  We HAVE sidewalks, ya know!"  But the sidewalks around here don't extend all the way to Kroger or to the Sunoco station and quick mart.  I may have to look into doing something about that.  :)

First, reflecting back to Session One briefly, I'm continuing my journal and spend quality "nature time" each day even for a few minutes because sometimes it's hard to carve out that 10 minutes.  Ridiculous, I know, but in order to make sure I connect with nature I've decided it's ok to stare out the window or pull over in a park or just a parking lot to steal those few minutes away.  It works even from a building or car window!

And that kind of segways into Session Two which I missed (and thank you Jennifer for recording it!) where I chose to practice gratitude for the earth.  Feeling closer to nature does indeed cause one to think about it more and perhaps care about it more.  BTW, I would add Green Acres Foundation Farm Store in Indian Hill to that list we were making last week.  We get almost all our meat and eggs there and usually try to plan meals around the seasonal veggies they have available.  They have a CSA that's just a reloadable card that you use to purchase products and you then get a discount.  Also YES! magazine is an amazing nonprofit, reader supported publication.

On to Session 3 thoughts - Until I finish the reading (it's been a busy week!), I'll just share that I spent the morning making what I term, "Scrap soup" which is really all my appropriate kitchen scraps that I save in bags in the freezer over the course of a few months.  When I have enough, I have a sort of "recipe" for what turns out to be a fabulous veggie broth that I can put in reusable (of course) containers and freeze to use in recipes.  All it costs me is my time.  We continue to eat vegetarian and vegan meals every week and the bulk of our diet that contains some meat we still label, "plant slant" eating.  We didn't make that up.  I heard it somewhere a few years ago.  I think it's a great label for eating more veggies and less meat!

We are mindfully choosing non-meat meals and creating those that are vegan as well.  We eat very little meat so it hasn't been too much of a change but it does cause me to really THINK about it!  Also we always say no to plastic straws when we eat out but avoiding plastic bags (for veggies, etc) at the market is difficult.  So I purchased some lightweight fabric and cord to fashion as a drawstring and made some of my own produce bags.  The "say no to plastics" action is going well!

One action I chose was "Explore your area".  I did a little research and came up with a park not too far from me that I thought might be a nice, new place to take a hike.  It was indeed!  I went to Hisey Park located kind of between Lebanon and Middletown.  I did one of the two loops, choosing the one that was more wooded.  It began with quite an elevation change!  There were lots of woodpeckers, black walnut trees (which made for treacherous walking!) and I even saw a very large puff ball.  I made it up the hill and around to a beautiful overlook spot.  I'll definitely go back to walk the wetland trail.  

Great first session.  Thanks, Joyce, for sharing Cincinnati Recycle and Reuse Hub and for the peeps that shared the link.  

Excited to get this party started!  Thanks, Jenni, for organizing this!