As the holiday of Tu B'Shevat comes tomorrow, I know that I am wishing I was outside in warm weather celebrating trees by looking up at them instead of keeping my head down out of the cold wind!
This week I've spent so much time talking about green, thinking about how to save the earth, I hope it has made you think about it too! Tomorrow is Tu B'Shevat, so I leave you with this favorite story from Talmud (before the Tu B'Shevat Party here at my blog comes to a conclusion...)
R. Yochanan said: One day [Honi the Circle-maker] was journeying on the road and he saw a man planting a carob tree. He asked him: How long does it take for this tree to bear fruit? The man replied: Seventy years. He then further asked him: Are you sure you will live another seventy years? The man replied: I found [full-grown] carob trees in the world. As my ancestors planted them for me, so I will plan them for my children. —Babylonian Talmud, Taanit 23a
May we all find the way to do enough so that we can say to our children, I helped to make sure there were trees for you to sit under, my dears.
A final green giveaway...
In honor of Tu B'Shevat (the Birthday of the Trees) and the commitment to the earth that the holiday brings with it (read more here and here), I am so excited that b.happybags is giving away one of their gorgeous reusable shopping bags to one of my lucky readers!!! (Isn't it pretty???) All domestic materials and made right here in the U.S.A. Gotta love it.
How can you win?
1. Make a comment here or tomorrow's Tu B'Shevat posts. How are you "going green"? What is your green legacy...? This is your entry! You can enter each day - once per day. Come back and visit all week for this and other giveaways.
2. For an extra entry, post on your blog or tell a friend about this giveaway and b.happybags and link back to me.
Use my button:
<a href="http://imabima.blogspot.com"><img src="http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc126/imabima/tubshevatparty.jpg" border="0" alt="Birthday Party for the Trees at imabima.blogspot.com"></a>
3. Don't forget to give me a way to get in touch with you if you win!
4. This giveaway ends on Tuesday, January 22nd at 9pm Central Time. Winner will be announced Wednesday morning!
My Previous Tu B'Shevat Party Posts:
Go Vegetarian and be green?
For the Love of the Trees
Waste Not...
Facts About Trees
Tu B'Shevat Haiku
Sometimes, cold days are the prettiest.
ReplyDeleteAs for your question/challenge. I'm sort of at a crossroads; I've changed my bulbs to compact flourescents. I've dropped my thermostats. I recycle like mad. I use my recyclable shopping bag -- when I remember.
Okay, I can improve on that last one. But what ELSE can I do?
Right now, I'm focusing on my plants. Maybe they can clean a smidgen of air.
I love the wagon against the barn! Lots of kids looking out windows today!!! We're all wishing for warm weather!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely bag! My most recent green efforts focus on making sure the plastics we use in our home are not the kind that leach toxins into our food and drink. Now I'm pondering how to use fewer canned goods, as they also leach BPA.
ReplyDeleteHow are we going green?
ReplyDeleteRe-using those plastic bags from the grocery store, walking to ice skating/gymnastics instead of driving, changing out our bulbs, changing over to non-toxic cleaning supplies. My husband, who is in the engineering/construction biz, is investigating green building technology.
I was so glad to find your blog! Good friends of ours attend your synagogue, and speak very highly of you!!!
Brrr Chicago!
ReplyDeleteThings I'm doing to make the world greener...
Organic gardening.
Washing most my clothes in cold water.
Working on buying a house that will be eco friendly.
Driving a veggie car.
Recycling even though out town does not.
Use recycled bags and bio friendly house cleaning products.
Hopefully our garden will be our legacy when we find our home, I doubt the garden we keep in the apartment complex we share will remain organic, but we have no control over it.
I will eventually workout linking to your posts, but I'm kinda new to this format for now so I'm just going to sit back and see what happens next.
First of all, LOVE the picture.
ReplyDeleteSecond of all, LOVE the story. Have always been fascinated that after telling it all these years, not one person has EVER asked me what a circle-maker is...
Third, we do not have central heating/air. Just a few wall heaters which we very judiciously use when it is REALLY cold. And we are REALLY big on recycling everything here and now at shul too :)
aww, she's so sweet. i sense a theme here. :)
ReplyDeleteplease count me in for this cute bag! :) thx!
I just love how her hands are pressed on the glass and her fingers are spread.
ReplyDeleteI would love that bag! You know, I always say, get the kids out in nature cuz they will protect what they love. It may be cold so grab that one warmer day and go out (and bring your camera).
How dear that is, looking out the window, there's no way it can really be that cold out there, the world is waiting for her! Oh, but it is that cold.
ReplyDeleteH. will be walking with his preschool class to the local wilderness park on Friday for Shabbat. How cool.
hat is a really cool bag.
So cute! She is looking so big, pulling up and looking outside like that!
ReplyDeleteI am not very good at being green, although I did start recycling as one of my new year's resolutions, so that's something...right?
I love pictures of kids looking out the window, and that's a great one!
ReplyDeleteon cold days i look longingly out the window, too!
ReplyDeletemy "green" efforts (in addition to recycling) revolve around trying to remember to get my bags out of the trunk whenever i shop. i have them, i just don't always remember them :). maybe if i had a beautiful bag like yours ;)...
what a cute shot
ReplyDeleteSo sweet. Makes me want to go outside too.
ReplyDeletegiveaway...my green ideas for this year, well going organic and re-using items around the house. No plastic and if it comes my way, recycle. count me in for the giveaway! so cute!
Very nice photo. It looks like she has her eye on that wagon out there.
ReplyDeleteSuch a sweet shot. To see things through the eyes of a little one, huh?;-)
ReplyDelete"May we all find the way to do enough so that we can say to our children, I helped to make sure there were trees for you to sit under, my dears."
ReplyDeleteYes, I hope that we will.
I adore the photo of your little one at the window and the view beyond.
I really wish I had not missed your party. I've missed a lot in blog reading lately.