Your turn: did you do anything green for Mother's Day? Do you have tips for eco-friendly alternatives to the standard traditions?
Sunday, May 8, 2011
The Best Mother's Day Gift
This Mother's Day, as I have many times before, I chose not to buy a bouquet of flowers for my mom. Although I've always loved colourful blossoms, I've never understood humanity's fascination with chopping them off and taking them inside to wither and die within a week. It's also horribly wasteful to grow exotic flowers in foreign countries and ship them over here, again, only to last a week. For my mom this makes especially little sense, as she lives in a house with a gorgeous flower garden. At this time of year, every colour of the rainbow is represented right outside her door, and with a long list of gardening tasks, she's hardly indoors long enough to appreciate a bouquet if I got her one! My recommended alternative? A stroll through Toronto's High Park along the west hill by Grenadier Pond, where the cherry trees were in peak bloom this weekend. Beautiful flowers for beautiful mothers to enjoy, at no cost to us or the environment.
Your turn: did you do anything green for Mother's Day? Do you have tips for eco-friendly alternatives to the standard traditions?
Your turn: did you do anything green for Mother's Day? Do you have tips for eco-friendly alternatives to the standard traditions?
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Your photos are spectacular Andrea. What a nice way to spend Mother's Day with your mom. My sweet little guys made me breakfast in bed and then ended up eating it themselves!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you like the photos. I don't consider myself a good photographer, but when nature is so beautiful, you can't go wrong.
ReplyDeleteMy brother says the cherry trees were in bloom in Boston this past week: are there any near you, Lori?
I've never much cared for the "Hallmark Holidays"... Mother's Day, Father's Day, Valentine's Day, even Christmas to an extent... I think the concept of appreciating the people you love shouldn't be condensed into a single day (especially not one that encourages you to show said affection solely through the purchase of useless stuff).
ReplyDeleteThat stated, I do try to do something nice for my mom on Mother's Day, but normally it's something like making her a meal we share together or just talking on the phone for a few hours (well, she talks and I listen, but whatever). But again, I don't think these are necessarily "Mother's Day" things... these are just things you should do for your mother!
For sure! Bonding over a meal and conversation is lovely, and it doesn't involve unnecessary purchases.
ReplyDeleteIn reading your comments, I'm reminded of my similar feelings about condensing a year's worth of appreciation into a single day, only I'm thinking of Earth Hour, Earth Day, World Water Day, Clean Air Day, Buy Nothing Day... the list goes on. These represent a good start but a poor excuse to do too little the rest of the year. I can't think of a single mom out there who wouldn't love to be surprised with a loving gesture on other days of the year. I'm sure the planet (the ultimate mother, Mother Earth, yes?) would appreciate year-round kindness, too.
I just tried twice to leave a comment but it seemingly got eaten by blogger :(
ReplyDeleteanyway, looks like a great day.
As for the hallmark holidays discussion, while I do believe they are pretty arbitrary, and we should be appreciative all the time, I think it is nice to have the reminder and a little nudge- hopefully people remember more than once a year how meaningful these people/things are- but giving them a reason to think about it at least once a year seems like a good thing mostly. it may make it easier for some people to express their appreciation.
Hm, that's actually one way in which Mother's Day and Father's Day are distinct from Earth Day and the rest: many environmental appreciation days include tips on bringing sustainable living to the other 364 days of the year, whereas all the hype around M and F Days seems to focus entirely on single days. I wonder if there's a way around that?
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