Sunday, December 16, 2007

Mom's travels

Mom's going to be in India for three weeks, and she's started a blog to tell you about it.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

DQed

The sunlight came through the window and hit the little statue of Don Quixote that I keep on the bookshelf in what struck me as an interesting way today, so, for no particular reason:

Sunday, December 09, 2007

Compost bin

I intend for this space to be non-political, but some of our environmental commitments are hard to avoid. And there shouldn't be anything controvertial about not taking risks with our future. So while I'm distressed by how little I can do, it does please me to take a few steps in the right direction whenever possible. In that spirit, Nicole and I recently purchased a compost bin for our condo association - pictured here under a pleasant pile of recent snow. Chicago, which has a long way to go before it deserves its green reputation, also seems to be taking little steps that make me feel better about living here as the months pass. For one, they offered these compost bins (and rainwater barrels, which we couldn't use) at highly subsidized prices at their Center for Green Technology. (See also this article about our alleys.) Composting our kitchen waste seems to reduce our personal trash by 40-50%. When spring arrives, the pile of leaves and scraps will decompose quickly, and we'll be able to use it to improve the soil in our common backyard.