Thursday, January 11, 2007

"Where's the van???"



I wonder how long it's going to take us to get used to seeing the small, economy-sized, biodiesel-loving Golf outside instead of the gas-guzzling mommie van. (Which served us well, for as long as we needed it, until we realized we didn't actually need it at all!)

Snow Boots Made for Walking - and Talking

Today I am grateful for snow boots. They've been in the back of the closet, still in the box, since I bought them on sale at the end of last season... I had forgotten all about them until our Pacific Northwest snow "events" began in November. (We're having wind, snow, ice, and more wind - and in New York they're lying on the beach. But there's no such thing as global warming, no sirree.)

In the day-to-day sense, I'm glad to have warm, dry feet, and thick soles that don't slip on ice. I can walk the Giant Dog without being too afraid of falling. In a more global way, my boots provide an avenue to touch base with my adolescent son, who is sometimes fairly hard to reach.

I am so lucky that he still wants to talk to me about important things. Even on days when he's been snarly and impossible and I want to steer clear of him, he'll perk up around dinner time and say, "Are we going on our walk tonight?" and I find myself pulling on the boots.

Last night he and I walked around the lake just as the real snow was starting. The flakes were so fluffy and dry, they looked like cartoon snowflakes. Our neighborhood quickly became a fairyland. Nobody was out except for A. and me -- and the Giant Dog, who is made for snow and was ecstatic. We tromped around our usual route, making the only tracks in the fresh snow, and talked of this and that. It's our main connection as mom and teenager, and a routine I wouldn't trade for anything in the world. I am glad, though, to have dry feet while it's happening.

So, thanks for snow boots and a reason to walk in them.

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Taking a Golf Swing

As a family, we have grown increasingly concerned about carbon emissions. Last year we took a big step to reduce our use of fossil fuels by moving out of the suburbs and back into town. We chose a neighborhood where we can walk to almost all the daily errands, with our pharmacy, cleaners, vet, coffee shops, library, park, and small restaurants only minutes from our door. We're flanked by two bus lines that connect us to almost any neighborhood we need to get to. Our elder son, who is 16 and "should" be driving, actually prefers the bus.

But there are always times we need to drive: our neighborhood's former grocery store closed, and the next closest one is just a bit foo far to walk with several bags of groceries. (A folksy little neighborhood store is being built, but nobody knows when it will be finished.) The kids' pediatrician is five miles away and not on a convenient bus line. (And I always need to get there in a hurry, it seems.) It does pour bullfrogs here in the winter and some days I'm less noble than others. And so forth... I felt I was still putting too many miles on our aging mini-van. We put our heads together and decided to replace my car with a biodiesel car.

We had visited the Green Car Company last summer (thinking we might splurge on a Smart Car, the cutest thing we've ever seen on the road), and were impressed with the owners' commitment to the planet and their down-to-earth way of selling cars. So, who better to consult about a biodiesel car? Last night we traded the mommy van for a 2003 VW Golf.

When I went out the door this morning, my first thought was "Where's my van!?!" No green behemoth at the curb. Instead, just a cute little blue car, ready to take us to church without melting any arctic ice.

Gratitude list for today: Getting a great trade-in deal. Being fairly close to a biodiesel fueling station. The fact that my family is all of the same mind on this issue. Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth." (Watch it if you haven't already.)