Tag Archives: Earth

Ducklings

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Ducklings at the pond

Every time I walk to the ponds at Evergreen Cemetery there is some new life unfolding. Today it was these four ducklings swimming with their mother near the edges of the pond, almost out of sight. But I also saw turtles sunning themselves on a log or a rock, frogs laying in wait for breakfast, and some goslings who are now adolescents still under the watchful eyes of their parents.

I don’t have enough time for this particular walk every day, but when I do take the time, my heart is enlightened by such beauty and vitality. Thank you!

Ferns

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Fern One

Fern One

Today in my walk along Capisic Brook, I took photos of ferns, hoping to identify the different species I noticed.  When I got home, and tried to compare these with fern guides online, I realized it was much more complicated than I realized.  I don’t know the names of any of these yet.  If you do, let me know!  But here are three, four, or five different varieties I found. The differences between one and two and five are very clear to me, related to the shapes of the leaves, and how they are divided.  But the differences between two, three and four seem more subtle, and three and four may well be the same.  So much to learn about the plants of the natural world! Can anyone help me out by identifying any of these?

Fern Two

Fern Two

 

Fern Three

Fern Three

Fern Four

Fern Four

Fern Five

Fern Five

Solar Day Two

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Solar Optimizers 1

Today is day two of solar panel installation, and they’ve been working on setting up the optimizers. These will attach one to each panel, and enable it to function separately from the other panels, so that if one goes out or gets shaded they don’t all go out like a string of Christmas tree lights when one goes bad. We will be able to track the performance of each panel via a website. They are also creating the electrical wiring and its protective casing that will go from the roof to the basement inverter panel.

Solar Optimizer Close Up

Ready to Install

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Solar Panels ArriveToday is the day!  Our solar panel installation begins. It somehow seems fitting that it begins on a new moon day. A few days ago, the solar panels were delivered to our back yard.

Meters

Then Central Maine Power came to install a second meter–one records what we use and the other records what we send to the grid.

Yesterday afternoon, the scaffolding was set up so they are ready to go this morning.

The installation generally takes about three days, including putting framing and panels on the roof and the electrical work inside. It is hard to believe it is finally happening after all these months! I promise to post more pictures as the work progresses.Solar Panels ready to go

Falling Water

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Jewell Falls

Today I had an adventure, and instead of starting my morning walk from the door of my house, I drove across Brighton Avenue, over to a trailhead of the Fore River Sanctuary. Then I walked a short walk to Jewell Falls, which is Portland’s only natural waterfall. After finding its location, I now believe it actually might be doable for me as a walk from my house, via a small side path off Rowe Street.

Today was cloudy and cool, and everywhere the ground was damp. Someday when everything is dry, I will sit on the little bench next to the falls and just listen to the water falling. I walked a little farther down the path, and then came back. Someday, I might walk all the way along the path, until it leads me to my friend’s house on the other side of the sanctuary.

I am curious about my addiction to exploring this neighborhood where we now live. I seem to have an unrelenting need to create an inner map of my new surroundings, to fill my eyes and ears and even my feet with intimate knowledge of my patch of earth. I wonder if there is a common instinct that drives us to this exploration, or if it is just me who feels this way?

Trout Lilies

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These lovely small flowers were near the trail on Capisic Brook. A couple days after I took this photo, I went on a Nature Walk at our Ferry Beach retreat and I asked the person who was leading us about this little yellow flower with the mottled green and brown leaves, and she suggested the identification. These are buds that haven’t fully opened yet. I am getting to know my new neighborhood.

Trout Lilies

One Man Can Do So Much Harm

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Yesterday, the governor of Maine vetoed the compromise solar energy bill that the legislature worked so hard to pass.  I feel so angry.  This one man is destroying thousands of potential new solar installations, all the jobs that go with it, and ultimately, adding to thousands of tons of carbon emissions because of his attack on renewable energy. I read today that even the utility companies supported this compromise bill. It certainly wasn’t a great bill.  A great bill would have added incentives and support for increasing our shift to renewable energy.  But it did provide a modest way forward.

But one man can veto it all.  It makes my blood boil.

Tomorrow there is a rally at the state house, and I know that many people are writing to their legislators to attempt to gain nine more votes from Republicans who previously have voted against the bill.  My state rep and state senator were both in favor, and I wrote to thank them. And I am writing this post, because sometimes we just have to rail against the powers of destruction and hope that the fire in our voices will turn the wind.

Signing the contract for our own solar panels has made this political side of the struggle very personal to me.  I was just realizing today that it has been almost nine months since we began this journey, our search for greener housing. The length of a human pregnancy: and it has felt like being pregnant.  The sheer magnitude of doing it all required a focus and energy that limited the other work I could do for the transformation of our society toward earth community. But now we are here, and the solar panels are about to be installed, and the baby is almost born, and I feel like a mama bear about it. I know that solar panels are not the be-all and end-all of the work we must do.  But they have become a sign and symbol of it for me.

I have to remember the vows I took when I gathered with other earth lovers at the Work that Reconnects with Joanna Macy last summer.  They give me strength on days like today.

  • I vow to myself and to each of you:
  • To commit myself daily to the healing of our world and the welfare of all beings.
  • To live on Earth more lightly and less violently in the food, products, and energy I consume.
  • To draw strength and guidance from the living Earth, the ancestors, the future beings, and my siblings of all species.
  • To support others in their work for the world and to ask for help when I feel the need.
  • To pursue a daily practice that clarifies my mind, strengthens my heart, and supports me in observing these vows.

I have to remember that we will not complete the work, but neither can we abandon it.  This is the next part of this spiritual journey. Whatever the outcome, to be fierce like a mama bear about this earth we love.  To be connected to the real Mama Bear, the Earth herself.  We are part of a larger Life, larger than one destructive man, larger than the destructive forces that threaten everything we hold dear.  I have to remember to lift up my voice and my arms in life and hope with all the green living things who are waking up in this season of new life.

Lifting branches