How did you celebrate Earth Day?

I remember the first Earth Day, April 22, 1970. Our youth group volunteered to clean up a vacant lot, and in the process, I knelt on a piece of broken glass. It sliced right through my jeans and made a deep cut. I didn't notice it till I realized my pant leg was soaked with blood. My mother, a nurse, cleaned and disinfected my wound, and closed the cut with tape "butterflies." I still have the scar on my knee to help remind me of my first Earth Day. Since that day, I have tried to celebrate the earth in some small way each April 22.


Today, I took a walk at the Cincinnati Nature Center at lunch time, with my best hiking buddy, Holly. Since her knee surgery, and honestly, even before she ruptured her ACL, Grace has been dragging on our walks, but Hol is always full of energy and ready to go.


For Holly, walks are about what's around the next bend. I can never get her to slow down and enjoy what's right in front of her.

We saw some lovely daffodils.

We found a morel mushroom right along the path. Unfortunately, somebody had knocked it off its stem, so it had dried out.


For my "service," I pulled a lot of Garlic Mustard, another invasive plant. I didn't make a dent in the overgrowth, but pulling even a dozen plants makes me feel like I'm helping a little bit.

I could have chosen a lot of images to leave you with this Earth Day.

Like, this blooming redbud tree.

Or, this odd couple we found basking on a log at Lotus Pond.

"C'mon, baby. I know our friends say we're too different,
that it won't last.
But just because you have scales and I have feathers,
that don't mean we're not meant for each other."

But, I thought this image said it all.

Worm castings.

When you care enough to send the very best.

Happy Earth Day, everybody!