Weekend Reflection

We had a long weekend traveling to Albany for a family gathering. It was more fun because we drove some friends to Syracuse, where they met their ride for their own family event, and then we picked them up again on the way back. Bonus points for carpooling!

We've been talking about cutting down vines in our backyard that have grown over the neighbor's fence, just to tidy up a bit. We thought this was one of the easier projects, which is why we decided to do it now. I even thought I could do it myself. So I went out this afternoon to tackle it. Well, it turns out that it's not our neighbor's plant, it's ours. And it's huge. I'm not sure what it is, but it's spreading and invasive like the ivy.

So I pulled some of the vines from over the fence to get them off the neighbor's side, clipped off a portion, and discovered the huge stem and all the dead branches underneath. It's still very much alive but as it spreads, the stuff on top is the only part that gets sunlight. This is not a job that I can handle on my own. We'll probably remove the whole plant, because we're not interested in high-maintenance shrubbery.

I discovered also that the plant is growing between the planks of the fence. So the green in this project is that when we take it out, it will prevent our neighbors from having to repair, or even replace, the fence, which is a big cost & labor expense, plus not very environmentally friendly.

One other note: I recently purchased a gift for my mother-in-law, and that's all the details I'll give to prevent spoiling the surprise in case anyone in the family reads this! It was a specific item, so I Googled the item to find places to buy it online, and came across this site. Ryan & I picked out what we wanted and purchased it, and it arrived last week. I was delighted when I opened the package to discover that they used all paper packing to keep it from breaking. No plastic, no styrofoam.

So today's environmentally friendly website recommendation is Classy Option. It's a unique site where you can find really great products. They act as a personal shopper but they feature vintage items so you can get one-of-a-kind presents for yourself or someone else. Check it out!