green is the new black.

everybody’s into going green these days. and that’s a good thing. our earth is a beautiful place to live, and somehow, we’ve got to get a handle on learning how to take better care of her. so, i’m all for all things green. and i do my part. i walk. i recycle. i turn off the water as i shower. i’m trying to leave light footprints wherever i go. i’m not so good at growing my own things, but i do buy locally & ecologically, when i can. but i am no where near perfect. i could do way much better.

as a part of the simplicity photo journey, i thought i’d take a few days to consider the earth. to focus on the simplicity and beauty found in nature, for she is one of the important things. and whether you believe in god or mother nature or whatever, nature reveals much to us about spirituality & interconnected-ness. simply being in the middle of nature, slowing down enough to observe the intricate beauty, can give us a connection to each other & the rest of creation. i call that spirit. and if that’s not spirituality, i don’t know what is.

in my opinion, living a green life is a way to take back some of the simplicity we are missing in our face-paced, fake, all-too-convenient world. now, don’t get me wrong, i love convenience, quick fixes, and the fast pace of the city energizes me. but, i also know that i i must balance it all. i must get back to nature in order to nurture my soul, and i must work hard to do my part to leave this world a better place…

today i had a staff luncheon… sort of a last hurrah before the summer begins – everything shuts down & slows down in sweden in the summer (speaking of simplicity…). however, we were not gonna just go to a restaurant in town for lunch. nope. we drove about 30 minutes out into the middle of the swedish countryside to visit an ostrich farm. that’s right. i said ostrich farm! i had no idea what an ostrich farm was doing in the middle of sweden, since they are native to africa. but, i soon found out that a man & his family read an article about the big birds and decided they wanted to raise them. soon i realized that they raised them for their meat. gaaaahhh. on the plus side, i guess, they were raised to be organic and free range. so that’s good, i guess.

anyway, aside from the whole poor ostriches thing, it was a fabulous day. the weather was outstanding. the landscape was the typical, eye-popping beautiful swedish landscape, and the company of ladies i was with was fun. on top of that, it was the perfect inspiration to get my head in gear for the next 5 days of the photo journey.

today’s word for the photo journey was grow, and i had tons of opportunities to snap pics of things growing. and here’s what i chose to be the official photo of the day:

and here are a few others from the day. you won’t believe the beauty of sweden. even after living here for almost 3 years now, i still can hardly believe my eyes…

it was the last time i’d see some of the staff today, so there were moments where i felt overwhelmed at the paradox of the beauty and peace, and the sadness and strangeness of embarking on something new. of course, seeing sweden in all of her natural glory today was both inspiring and difficult, for i will miss this country quite a bit.

but, i’m gonna soak up as much of it as i can over the next month. every single little minute. and for the next 4 days, i’m gonna do it by reminding myself what i have learned about living a simple and green life by living in sweden, a country that is serious about the environment. living here has made me a better person, a much more environmentally conscious person.

well, my friends, if you want to join in the photo journey fun, here are the simple words for the next 4 days:

• wednesday: solar/sun
• thursday: fruits & veggies
• friday: vintage
• saturday: recycle/reuse

take some pics, and spend the next few things thanking mother nature for being so amazing by going free. just let yourself float back to a time where things were much simpler & much more appreciated. and remember… green is the new black.

now go hug a tree. peace.