October?

It's October, we're listening to baseball on the radio and it's too hot to bake cookies-my planned evening activity. What is up? My body doesn't like it. My body thinks it's time to settle in for fall, what with the fall colored M&Ms around the house and all...
I don't think we can deny that some of this is due to the messed up things that we're doing to our environment. The more I read, the more freaked out I get.
Here is a totally un-staged look at my current bedside reading:
Stack one shows the cute Little Big Book of Pregnancy that I sometimes flip through for a short read, The Mists of Avalon, which I'm reading again for my fantasy/fiction fix and Last Child in the Woods and The World Without Us- two books I picked up at Prairie Lights last time I was home. I talk about that last book more in a moment. Here's stack two, further reflecting my life. Buddhism for Mothers and Unconditional Parenting, both of which I read when I need a little reminder about how to be a sane and calm mother. Breakfast of Champions, which I picked up in honor of the late Mr. Vonnegut because I haven't read it since jr. high? high school? Tender is the Night, which I thought would be my last gasp 'classic' of the summer, The Best of Roald Dahl and Old Turtle. The latter because Henry and I have been having some conversations lately about just what exactly Mother Nature is, and what 'God' might mean (a concept he has picked up somewhere). I've been struggling with how I want to teach him about these things, well, no- that's not true. I've been struggling with finding an explanation that he can grasp at this point. I also like Will's response, eschewing both Mother Nature and God (one and the same to a pagan like me), of "that's how it evolved". In my mind these are all the same answer to questions of "why why why". I can understand how it's easiest to say "God made it that way". It's short. Three letters. But easiest isn't always what's best for a young mind- no matter what many people will say. If any of my child-experienced readers out there have any insights, I would be glad to have a conversation about this! If y'all weren't spread from North Carolina to France I'd want to get together for tea!
Enough of that issue- on to another weighty one that's been on my mind; The World Without Us. I am fascinated by this book! I highly encourage every single person to pick it up and read it immediately. You can click here to get a little synopsis. Here's a part I found especially gripping. It convinced me to ask my husband to not buy me flowers anymore- unless they're locally grown.
It's talking about how "Kenya passed Israel to become Europe's biggest provider of cut flowers, which now exceed coffee as its main source of export income." Here's what it says: "A flower, like a human, is two-thirds water. The amount of water a typical floral exporter therefore ships to Europe each year equals the annual needs of a town of 20,000 people. During droughts, flower factories with production quotas stick siphons into Lake Naivasha, a papyrus-lined, freshwater bird and hippo sanctuary just downstream from the Aberdares. Along with water, they suck up entire generations of fish eggs. What trickles back whiffs of the chemical trade-off that keeps the bloom on a rose flawless all the way to Paris. Lake Naivasha, however, doesn't look quite so alluring...The rotting tissues of hippo carcasses reveal the secret to perfect bouquets: DDT and, 40 times more toxic, Dieldrin- pesticides banned in countries whose markets have made Kenya the world's number-one rose exporter. Long after humans and even animals or roses go, Dieldrin, an ingeniously stable, manufactured molecule, may still be around." The italics are mine- those are the parts I find most appalling.
Anyway. This is what's on my mind as I prepare to bring another human being into the world.
And if you've stuck with me through all of that, here's a little treat. Henry is writing his name! Check it out:
That's a Halloween picture he sent to Chloe earlier today. See her name at the top? And then I didn't even coach him in writing his own name at the bottom. You know what this means? The one day I've been planning since before Henry was born is getting closer and closer.....Library Card Day! Hooray!