When we ski in Colorado and I admire the beauty of the white Aspen trees that fan across the mountains, I remember this fascinating fact. The Quaking Aspen Tree is the largest living organism on earth. Each individual tree is connected to the next by the root system underground, and each tree shares the same DNA. 
That fact just grounds me to the natural beauty of this landscape. The largest organism is an Aspen colony called Pando located in Utah.
The Chaval heated ski gloves came just in time. We were days away from our ski weekend in Stowe,Vermont where temperatures had been hovering below zero each time we checked all week. We were getting anxious because in the past few years my husband has developed Raynaud’s in his fingers. Raynaud’s is a painful cold induced condition that looks a lot like frostbite, where his fingertips turn white, and it alternately causes pain or numbness. It is tough to avoid in New England winter conditions, and can really put a damper on a family ski trip for him. He has been searching for heated ski gloves for the past few years since developing Raynaud’s, but heated ski gloves are pricey, and he had researched many pairs with poor to mixed reviews that did not seem worth the investment. This year a new product on the market, with a new technology, caught his eye. Read the rest of this entry
Photo Source ONE.org
Although more than 7 million tons of sweet potatoes are produced each year and are widely eaten in Africa, they’re not the kind that have essential nutrients. They’re white in color and low in vitamin A, a vitamin that helps prevent blindness and infant mortality. Read the rest of this entry
The Blizzard of 2013 swept through New England last night and has swaddled us in a thick blanket of snow. I love a good snowstorm when my family is warm and cozy together at home, a fire in the fireplace, and hot chocolate stocked in the pantry.
20″
We accumulated around 20 inches of snow in our area, so “Nemo”, the Blizzard of 2013 was not quite the “storm of the century” predicted by some, though still formidable. Absolute heaven for a New England girl like me. The kids were up at sunrise getting bundled up in their snow gear excited to go out and play. Snowy walks and snowmen are on our schedule for the weekend. How about you?
A Happy New England Girl : Photo by Rebecca Stearns
Photo by Rebecca Stearns
Love is another driving force in human nature, like water it has the ability to be pure and powerful, and we need to help each other like we need Love & Water. Water is the lifeblood of the world, and it is hard to appreciate how valuable it is unless you don’t have it.
Worldwide 800 million people do not have access to it and 2.5 billion have nowhere safe and clean to go to the toilet. As a result, 2,000 children die every day from easily prevented diarrheal diseases with countless more unable to attend school. Millions of women are unable to work because they spend so much time collecting water and caring for sick children.- Water Aid
Clean water and sanitation are two issues that I am passionate about. Read the rest of this entry
