Water

I'm seated in our breakfast nook, munching on raw sunflower seeds and sipping cranberry Kombucha, waiting for Johnny to arrive home so I can bake salmon (with lemon-ginger butter) and make both of us a large salad. Hey, I'm no longer the only one in this household who likes that odd beverage. Johnny tried grape Kombucha this week - his own choice - and he drank the whole bottle.

So, I'm watching a thunderstorm brew outside which is lovely since I'm nestled inside our house, but normally I'd be watching the tail end of Get Fresh With Sara Snow which did not air tonight. I was looking forward to the show more than usual because I interviewed Sara Snow for The Sustainable Scoop. I was also anticipating a walk around the neighborhood, but it looks like yoga is more likely tonight (maybe). All is well despite a change of routine. Clothes are tumbling with the dryer balls Johnny purchased - ours are circle-shaped since he found them at Linens-N-Things. He also surprised me with a chlorine filter for our shower. Is my husband becoming more enthusiastic about natural living? He would never admit it with a straight face, but I think he's warming up.

Now rain is splattering the window sun screens and and the sky is dark, slate gray. Speaking of water, I've pondered on that word this week. On Tuesday, we had a new water heater installed, so we woke up early to wash towels, run the dishwasher, fill the Brita pitcher, and enjoy the luxury of water before it was turned off. A friend of mine stands by the mantra, "If it's yellow, let it mellow," and we, too, chanted her mantra as we used the facilities and could not flush. I don't think her mantra is for us, but my green side felt good about conserving some extra water for a day. The plumber and his assistant worked literally all day long and right at day's end, they realized that they needed a certain valve. Wouldn't you know, the hardware store was closed for the day. Johnny bravely walked into my writing room to tell me that cold water was available, but no hot water for the night. I didn't handle the news well. I was greasy and needed a shower badly. If we were in the midst of a hurricane or some other national (or even state-wide) tragedy I could see trying to tough it out in an ice cold shower, but that day I decided, "No sir. No cold shower."

We set out to the gym for a little exercise, but mostly we used them for their showers. That was an experience. I had no gym bag, so I loaded up a farmers' market tote bag: shampoo, conditioner, travel-sized almond-scented Dr. Bronner's soap, deodorant, Pangea Organics facial mist, comb, towel, and an extra set of clothes. And did you know I'm ultra-modest? I was not about to walk around the locker room in my birthday suit. I inserted quarters into a locker to secure my iPod and other clothes, slung my workout clothes over the shower stall (very paranoid a stranger would take them which seemed legitimate at the time) and what a surprise, my clothes were damp! Somehow my towel stayed dry and thank God I had the extra set of clothes. I think my Mom would understand such prissiness in a locker room, but I don't think my Dad the Coach would understand. Nope, not at all.


In all seriousness, since that day, as I've enjoyed glass upon glass of filtered water, hot showers, clean dishes, and flushing toilets, my mind has been on an article I read in GOOD about water. That is exactly the kind of information (and the creative way it's depicted) that make me love GOOD heart and soul. I don't always agree with every article, but regardless, the magazine always sets my brain to rumination. I'll see something like that and think about it for days. #5 stuck with me in particular this week, I guess because of our mellow yellow toilet experiment. Every time we normally flush the toilet, someone in Mozambique uses less than that amount for the entire day. Or how about picture #1? Can you believe there is that little drinkable water compared to the world's water supply? Add to that a statistic Sara Snow gave me in the interview: "If we as Americans could start buying 10% organic by the year 2010 (that's the goal of Mission Organic 2010), we would guarantee that 98 million servings of water every single day would be pesticide-free." Surely most Americans can afford to buy 10% organic, but what about places like Mozambique? Thankfully, great organizations such as Blood:Water Mission and the Mocha Club are working hard to provide Africans with clean water (and many other needs), too.