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This week, I am getting over a bug (happens every year when the season changes to Spring) so my fingers are suffering as much as my voice is, but I am getting better and stronger.  Thanks to all of you who sent me notes, texts, Facebook messages, kind words, soup, flowers, juices, meds, and prayers and NO, I was not in the hospital :-)

If like me, you suffer from seasonal allergies, I hope you are not suffering as much as I am to the point of getting close to disliking the season.  Not a huge fan of meds, I am taking more natural remedies and doing everything I can to be able to drive with my windows down andreally enjoy the season -- I really want to!

With all the natural disasters, pollution and more going on, I know and you know that there is something terribly wrong with the Earth. I am therefore asking you to pay closer attention to the environment and do what you can to make the environment YOU can control more livable.  
Earth Day has been observed since 1970 but in recent years, more talks about saving the planet and concentrated efforts on "going green," hybrid cars, recycling and solar energy are commonplace. Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth (please watch this documentary) took things a little closer to home when he documented the effects of global warming, etc. What is mind boggling to me is that even though it has been over 4 decades since the first Earth Day, the planet is in a more perilous state -- even with all the technological advancements.

For the last few years, I have been making extra efforts to do environmentally-friendly things such as turning off lights when I am not using them (I actually prefer little or no light), closing the fridge after opening it to look for something, stop running the water when I am really not using it, etc.  Old habits die hard, but new ones can be created if we are consistent.  A huge fan of running, I would run to most places if it did not involve being on the highway and with the high gas prices, I really want to become more like Forrest Gump. Even though my acute sense of smell tends to go during Spring -- just seeing the flowers and plants make me smile at the thought of smelling them.  I am reminded of last year when a tornado passed through MD and blew trees down and I had no electricity for almost two days and how nice it was (well not all of it, but most of it) to be "in the dark."  I enjoyed lighting candles and getting a break from the TV but because everything in my house is electric, I was also starving.  Since I am from Paradise and have traveled to so many places, I am always blown away by the beauty of the Earth.  What can we do individually and collectively to preserve our Earth?  Ponder on that.

The world had changed drastically since 1970 when Earth Day was first observed (not necessarily for the better).  Maybe it will take "A Billion Acts of Green" as this year's theme says to make the Earth a better place.

If you have not done anything environmentally-friendly lately, try doing simple things to help yourself and the Earth: 

• use cloth napkins instead of paper ones
• take your own grocery bags to the store 
• recycle
• turn off lights and appliances when not in use
• take shorter showers
• walk or bike when possible
• start making your own healthy meals for yourself and your child(ren)
• make a commitment to a "green" lifestyle 
• pray for the Earth