Starting with my early writing, I decided to avoid using brand names if possible. To me it seemed to cheapen fiction. “She put on her tightest Levis, got into her Kia, and drove to the nearest Olive Garden.” See what I mean? Brands are just too pop. Would Dickens or Twain ever write a sentenceContinue reading “Post 35: Don’t Shop. Repair Shop!”
Tag Archives: Recycling
Post 34: Loving Your Before and After
I. INTRO: FOUR DECADES I’ve lived at this property for nearly 41 years. It should be looking a little bit different by now, right? At the time we bought the house, I didn’t know anything about fixing up a home interior, and not much about gardening or landscaping in the desert, either. We had littleContinue reading “Post 34: Loving Your Before and After”
Post 32: I Failed. My Own Kid Buys New Stuff
My daughter’s house used to be trashed. I think she’d be the first to admit it. I mostly refrained from saying anything. It had a sort of “punk” look. You know, something like what my generation was hoping to convey with threadbare shirts, jeans that dragged in the dust, and—if we were old enough toContinue reading “Post 32: I Failed. My Own Kid Buys New Stuff”
Post 31: Quest to Divest
This week’s post is by my dear friend of more than 30 years, Marge Pellegrino. Not long ago, she participated in the task of moving her mother to Michigan from her apartment in Tuckahoe, New York, where she had lived most of her life. For Marge, the move meant finding new lives for all theContinue reading “Post 31: Quest to Divest“
Post 29: The Compost Post
I’ve published a couple of teasers, here on this site, about composting. There was the ribbon that lasted for years, unchanged, at the bottom of the bin (Post 22, “Ribbons Are Forever”), and then the little sheets of plastic coating shed by a milk carton (Post 10, “To See the World in a Plastic Cap”).Continue reading “Post 29: The Compost Post“
Post 28: The Curbside Mall
This week’s post is a short photo essay, with notes. Lately I’ve been noticing an increasing number of people taking pictures of discarded stuff, both curbside and in alleyways. I suppose it’s because most of us are carrying a camera around in our phones these days, and it’s an easy way to record things—for laterContinue reading “Post 28: The Curbside Mall”
Post 24: Oprah Was Wrong
I might not remember this exactly, because I haven’t tuned in to hear Oprah talk about anything in many years. It was one of her “etiquette” shows, I think, all about what’s polite and what’s rude, the things you should never do. Re-gifting—passing along a gift you didn’t want to someone else—was on the listContinue reading “Post 24: Oprah Was Wrong”
23. Shirts from Shower Curtains
Guest Contributor: Barbara Rose I met Barbara Rose when she started teaching permaculture classes here in Tucson, and a friend signed up. My friend loved it, so the following year I made sure to get in. I didn’t know it then, but Barbara was more than our teacher—she essentially helped bring permaculture forward into Tucson’s consciousness, after readingContinue reading “23. Shirts from Shower Curtains”
4. What I Did During My COVID Vacation, Part 1
In short: I built a chicken coop without leaving home. It’s embarrassing how long I’d been thinking about it and talking about doing it. But it wasn’t procrastination that kept me from it—it was caution. A big ogre owned the place next door, next to the side yard where the coop would have to go.Continue reading “4. What I Did During My COVID Vacation, Part 1”
New Stuff Sucks 