Mentor Headlands Beach Cleanup Report

Mentor Headlands Beach
Photo: ODNR website, http://parks.ohiodnr.gov/headlandsbeach#

May 24 was our ninth Mentor Headlands Beach cleanup and it was a big success! The Universe blessed us with gorgeous weather.

Thirty four adults and 4 children participated plus Kristine Bowers and Maureen Burk who were with us in spirit, picking up trash on Barcelona beach in New York . That is a total of 40 people who picked up well over 60 pounds of tiny pieces of all sorts of trash, mostly plastic and smoking paraphernalia. That trash would have further polluted the waters and probably killed fish, birds and other wildlife who would have mistaken it for food and eaten it.

This is a story well worth telling: Maureen Burk and Kristine Bowers were “with” us May 24th and picked up a bag of trash ON THEIR WEDDING DAY - on the very beach they were married on!!!!!!!!  Wedding first – pick up trash afterwards they say!! Can you believe the dedication? I loved it!!!! May their marriage be blessed by the Clean Blue Water Spirits.

Additionally, Becca Ray picked up trash at Mentor Headlands Beach with the Leadership Lake County organization in April.

The cleanup was presented by the Green Sanctuary Planning Team: Judy Willour and Cara Battaglia co-

chairs, Ron Prosek, Jim Rittenhouse, Ann Jacobson, Frank Jacobson, Emily Murphy, Marten Schreiber,

Linda Alexander, Leslie Iosue and Jerol Kennedy. - Jerol Kennedy, Coordinator, Mentor Headlands Beach Cleanups

Meatless Monday: Creamy Asparagus Soup

According to the global organization Meatless Monday, going meatless for at least one day a week is "good for you, great for your nation’s health, and fantastic for the planet." The initiative was launched in 2003 in association with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

This recipe is just in time for the local seasonal asparagus starting very soon.

Enjoy!

Creamy Asparagus Soup

2 teaspoons Earth Balance (or other ghee or butter alternative)
2 large leeks, chopped
1 teaspoon black pepper (or less if you don’t want it very spicey)
1 teaspoon Braggs Liquid Amino Acid or tamari sauce
¼ pound white potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 tablespoon tarragon
¾ pound asparagus, discard bottom 1 and ½ inch and cut into 1 inch pieces
4-6 cups vegetable stock to cover potatoes in pot
½ teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped

In a large soup pot heat the Earth Balance. Sauté the leeks and add pepper and Braggs. Continue to simmer the leeks. Add the potatoes, tarragon, and thyme. Saute until the potatoes are browned. Add the asparagus pieces and cover the vegetables with vegetable stock. Simmer until the potatoes are tender. Puree the soup into a smooth consistency by using either a handheld blender, standard blender or food processor. Garnish soup with nutmeg and parsley.

This soup is so good I double the recipe.

The recipe is adapted from the book Grow Younger, Live Longer by Depak Chokra.

This week's Meatless Monday recipe shared by Jerol Kennedy. To learn more about Meatless Monday including recipes, global events, health studies and more, visit the website http://www.meatlessmonday.com.

Ready to March: 350.org march for climate change in New York City

Climate Change is by far the most important crisis facing the planet right now – nothing else comes close. Below is an article by Bill McKibben of 350.org based on a story he wrote for Rolling Stone magazine that is a call to action. Because I am active in the climate change movement the below content was emailed to me and I want to share it with our community at East Shore.

Bill McKibben is a multiple award winning environmental journalist who is a leader in the climate change movement

- Jerol Kennedy

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Dear Friends,

Earlier this spring the chaplain at Harvard joined students sitting-in outside the Harvard president’s office to demand climate action. He took the bullhorn for a minute, and thanked the organizers for “giving me the chance to be the person who I purport to be—a person who gives a damn.”

Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org

We’re all going to get that chance Sept. 20 and 21, when the biggest demonstration in the history of the climate movement takes place in New York City. We need you there, you and everyone you can think of to bring. Here’s the somewhat more formal invitation that I wrote out, for the current issue of Rolling Stone. Please share it—it’s the most important call we’ll send you this year. And if you're ready to say you'll be there, RSVP on Facebook here.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has summoned the world’s leaders to the city in late September to consult about climate change. Because we think those leaders have done a lousy job, and because we’re tired of fancy words and ready for real action, we’re going to go to New York too, in our thousands and tens of thousands.

Marching doesn’t solve anything by itself. But movements can shift political power—in fact, little else ever does.

We need to show just how big and unified our movement has grown, from the environmental justice advocates fighting fossil fuel pollution in our communities to the students demanding divestment on our campuses, from the scientists who have seen their warnings so far ignored to the clergy now showing real moral leadership.

If you’re wondering how to react to the devastating news that the Antarctic is melting out of control: New York. If you’re scared like I am by the pictures of the fire and drought across the West: New York. If you’re feeling like it’s time to change the trajectory of this planet: we’ll see you in New York.

Sept. 20/21. Tell everyone.

East Shore Spring Fling Auction 2014

Here is something to put on blog

East Shore Spring Fling Auction 2014

What:            East Shore’s annual fundraising auction

Who:              Expected attendance of 50-80 bidders.

When:           May 31, 2014 at 6p to 9p

The Auction committee wants to thank those who have donated so far, there is truth to, “We are the church.”  Please put in your calendar our May 31, 2014 at 6p Auction 2014.  Bring your children, a dish to serve and share a fun evening with our church family. 

A Work in Progress ... But Aren't We All?

Hello East Shore and beyond.  This is Dale, your Beacon editor, and I thought I would kick off East Shore's member blog. If you're new to Beyond the Beacon, make sure you check out the What Is Beyond the Beacon? page, found at the tab at the top of the page.

I've been thinking about purpose, functionality and ultimately service. An old Remington typewriter once used to write sermons has prompted a number of thoughts.

I enjoy typewriters, particularly manual ones -- both for the nostalgia (having learned to type on a manual typewriter) and aesthetics. I sold this typewriter recently on eBay.

As much as I love typewriters, I'm not a collector type (or typist, if you will). I almost kept this one, though, finding out it once belonged to a minister who wrote his sermons on it and continued to use it up through the 90s. That's good history.

Ultimately, I sold it, which was fine, but the snag came when a potential buyer asked if I would send only the keys. She was an artist, and used them for projects.

I sell antiques on the side, and it isn't for me to determine what the buyer does with items, but in this case, I would need to dismantle this beautiful machine. It felt wrong and invoked a lot of guilt, particularly since I agreed.

So here was the crux. The time of this machine had passed. It would not be used as a functional piece again, only a display item, at most. In becoming art, it would go out into the world, hopefully bringing joy. I had to accept it would transform into something new.

I've wrestled with with my own identity recently, and as I've grown older I've challenged myself to move past the confines of the person I've always seen myself  as to morph into something new. In a way, some of my old ways of thinking, like that typewriter, are being dismantled, and it's upsetting. The challenge, I think, is to accept and celebrate the changes and growth without mourning the past too much.

I felt a kinship with this typewriter and understood something I can't put into words or even fully understand when taking it apart. I felt a sense of things passed, things changing, and service not yet given.

I do know I am happy the next phase of existence for the typewriter is to become art that will bring joy to many people as its primary function. That might not be such a bad service after all.

- Dale L.