Trees

Well I survived my little concussion! (thats what I'm calling it anyway) After one week of headaches and back aches, I finally felt "normal" again. See, who needs a doctor? If it would have went on another day or two, maybe I would've went....the dumb thing is (yes I know its dumb)...is that I pride myself on never getting sick, or worse yet having to go to the doctor. My dad teased me about using the internet and self-diagnosing (like mother like daughter?) ...but it worked. The only thing to do was rest and wait for it to go away. I did rest all week, didn't go to the gym once, and one night I even slept 14 hours. Needless to say by Saturday I was ready to do SOMETHING! Kate's friend Laura invited us to plant trees Saturday morning. Laura is the co-founder of an initiative called Climate Change Friendly. She works with companies who donate money for trees to be planted to offset your carbon emissions. After reading some different articles about this, Im not sure how significant the effects are, but every little bit counts...and trust me San Jose needs all the help it can get. (cough, cough) Anyhoo, Laura planned this event for about 20 people, including kids. We weren't too excited about getting up early, but the ride to Heredia was only about 30 minutes and once we got into the mountains it was so beautiful and the breeze was fresco.…it felt good. Not to mention that it was for a very good cause….so that felt good too. The planting site was on the side of a mountain, so we had a little hike to get there.
There were 500 saplings that needed to be planted and the holes (thank God) were already dug!! We got a little lesson on planting ……which I didn’t even need to concentrate on what he was saying due to my extensive gardening experience!

Everybody picked up as many trees as they could and covered a section, with all of us working, it only took about one hour.
It actually felt really nice to have my hands in the dirt, I miss having a garden, I must say. I kept thinking... I could grow so many tomatoes and chiles here...with absolutely NO effort. This dirt is so rich, a dark dark brown and easy to dig. (not like the clay I had to work with in GA) Plus there is always plenty of rain! (yes, still raining every day:) With all the awesome plants here, I wouldn't have to buy anything, I could transplant wild plants from along the highway and make a jungle.........hmmmmm someday!!

It looked pretty funny, everyones but in the air.......

Here is Kate with her friend Laura...and below everyone shows off their dirty hands in a group shot. Yes, an environmentalist too....I do it all!!!