jeromemartin.ca

Living Green

My last blog entry dealt with saying goodbye to winter. I should know better.

We've had snow and blizzard conditions throughout Alberta for the past two days and we expect more of the same. I've been clearing snow from my sidewalks and driveway this morning and have no intention of going anywhere today.

It's late morning. I've poured my second cup of coffee and am now reading The New York Times Magazine on my computer. Today's magazine is The Green Issue: Some bold ways to make your carbon footprint smaller. It's divided into major sections: Act; Eat; Invent; Learn; Live; Move; Build.

Each section covers a variety of interesting subjects ranging from the ECO TV in the Invent section to how to use a hay-box cooker in the Eat section. Other topics include Green Campuses, Urban Farming, The Compressed Air Car and Learning from Kansas. It's a great magazine, and the articles today are important to all of us.

In the time it took me to write this short note and drink half a cup of coffee enough snow has fallen so that one can hardly tell where I've shovelled. I'll wait a few hours before going out again.

I know the planet is getting warmer and drier, but that's not obvious here today.

Saying Goodbye to Winter

Photographs for My Mother

My wife Merle and I scanned and assembled 173 photographs for a presentation at my mother's funeral last week. The photographs spanned most of her 93 years and included images of her immediate and distant family members as well as some of her own photographs. I recorded a music track for the iPhoto presentation and later created a QuickTime movie of the presentation for family members.

Working with these very special photographs reminded me of how important such images are to families and individuals.

Save, organize and preserve your photographs: they're priceless and irreplaceable.