The adventures continue this month – and are going to be fantastic the end of the month. I am going to have a crazy, true adventure, but as I don’t want to freak my Dad out by talking about it too much right now, you will have to wait til it is over, and I post about it.
As for my monthly volunteer adventure and my monthly food adventure, time was limited, and, well, they were kindof sedate. Good, but sedate.
First – quickly, I ate a Korean melon. I immediately thought it tasted like a cross between a cucumber (which it is a relative of) and a honey dew melon – but much better! Then, going to Wikipedia, I noticed that it is often described like that. Anyway, it is a fruit I would definitely buy again, though so far I’ve only seen it in “international” markets.
incheon food market/melons, By D Hutch, License Creative Commons Attribution 2.0. https://www.flickr.com/photos/dhutchman/480019566
Second, as I was very time crunched and missed my opportunity to sign up for a particular volunteer activity, I decided to do something that I’ve been thinking about for a while – become a little lady with a push cart and a grab stick, and walk through my neighborhood and pick up trash. I’ve cleaned up neighborhoods and roadsides before as part of groups, but not just go out and clean by myself, it always seemed a bit too extreme. But my neighborhood Petworth, which is an old rowhouse neighborhood in DC, did kindof need some TLC. Every time I go for a walk or run, I see random candy bar wrappers, potato chip bags, plastic water bottles, and soda beer cans. The last two can be recycled, including the healthier but why-in-the-world-do-we-need-to-use-so-much-plastic-for-water containers. All of this just winds up in the sewer systems and the Anacostia river – unless a Good Samaritan steps in.
So here, I am, Good Samaritan, albeit embarrassed by the trappings that come with it: push cart, grab stick, and a full bag of aluminum cans. I didn’t want to be considered a strange, potentially homeless, or a little old lady bottle collector. Crazy how our society has that stigma, and how I let it influence me. I got up early on a Sunday morning so neighbors and friends wouldn’t see me. But the great thing about my timing, is that the one morning I could do it was July 5th. And in my neighborhood, massive numbers of bottle rockets, starbursts, noise cannons are shot on July 4th on every single block go off from dusk until 3 am. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co8ydWzdp1A. Yes, illegally – but very impressively. It is tradition here and a way cool thing to see, until one needs to sleep in the basement to muffle the noise. Also, thank goodness for the rain we’ve been having, so all houses and yards were well protected.
Anyway, here is the trash and recycling that I saved from being washed into the Anacostia river.
That’s it…., for now.
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AdventuresAcross2015 