Does my bum look big in this?

Being out here on the island, away from the rapid pace of life in London where it is easy to get caught short, I am putting Senan in washable nappies. I have been using eco-friendly disposables (ie: those that are marketed to busy mums with a desire for a greener lifestyle), but now that I am not so busy, i have no excuse not to go washable. Here are my observations:

A washable nappy...

• provides a softer landing to a baby who is learning to walk and keeps falling on his bum
• makes a baby look like he has a fat ass even when he doesn't
• is not the easiest thing to deal with when out and about - think large scale pooperscooping
• requires at least one full change of clothes a day - making yet more washing...

I'm glad I'm not adding yet more crap (fnar fnar) to landfill, but there is a fair amount of water and electricity in this washable thing. I'd say so far I have averted 40 nappies to landfill and run probably 15 washes (with other stuff obviously), I need someone clever to run the numbers on that one to find out which has the larger overall impact.

Today is Senan’s first birthday – what a difference a year makes. This time last year he had black hair, bold eyebrows and a nose too big for his face. Somehow in a year he transformed into an angelic-looking blond toddler. Happy Birthday Senan!

Senan today in PEI

Uncomfortable reading

From my outpost in the middle of nowhere, Canada (as my facebook friends will know, we are so rural here that the village liquor store's opening hours made the headline news the other day), I have been reading while Senan sleeps and Brendan chugs by on a tractor or is up on a ladder fixing things. So I thought I'd share...

I have just finished "Hell and High Water, Climate Change, Hope and the Human Condition" by Alastair McIntosh (of Soil and Soul fame) and I felt compelled to suggest it as a good read as it looks at climate change issues head on (in a similar vein to Monbiot and Lovelock), but then addresses the internal work of the human condition that we will need to undertake beyond the government cuts and sustainable lifestyle choices.

I loved Soil and Soul so much that I dived into this book with zeal, and it was not quite the joyous read that I expected, sometimes it is very very poignantly sad, but there is a chapter which could make a great reading on consumption and marketing. I would highly recommend it and of course if you haven't read S and S yet - start with that - it is the daddy (or should I say mother) of all them enviro-books.

I am now reading the Power of Now and struggling with "surrendering" which is an illuminating challenge. Bren has taken the baby down the beach to give him a dunkin' and I am practicing not worrying about it at all. er... I'll let you know how long this zen buzz lasts.

Day 6 in Country House

This is a test more than anything - I am starting to write down my emerging thoughts about how to live within my own ecological means... I really should do some thinking about it before I start telling the world what to do!