Azalea Trail

About The Azalea

The name given to the various spectacular flowering shrubs (genus Rhododendron) of the Heath family that are in full bloom each Spring in Houston, Texas.
These showy flowers flourish at six Houston locations in varying shades of pink, purple, white, red and yellow and are a magnificent sight to behold.

Read more...

Note - Summarized Tid-bits

from the Garden Club Webpage:

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Conservation and Environmental Information

"You must teach your children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of our grandfathers. So that they will respect the land tell your children that the earth is rich with the lives of our kin. Teach your children that the earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life.

He is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web he does to himself."

Chief Seattle 1854

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Organic Landscaping Resources in Houston...2007

Bering’s Hardware on Westheimer and Bissonnet
Buchanan’s Nursery in the Heights
Condon Gardens on Hammerly in Spring Valley
Nature’s Way Resources in the Woodlands
Southwest Fertilizer on Bissonnet
Vaughan’s Nursery in Channelview
Wabash Antiques and Feedstore on Washington Avenue

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WEEDING

A weed is a plant growing in the wrong place. Weeding eliminates competition for space, nutrients and water. Air circulation is improved with weeding which reduces risk of diseases.
1) Hand picking before going to seed is the best control environmentally, but most labor intensive.
2) Mulching is very effective.
3) Spray weeds with white vinegar. Use weed removal products with low toxicity and rapid decomposition. Always read labels and follow instructions.
4) Spot spray rather than broadcast.
5) Spray at dusk after bees have returned to their hives.

Garden Club Link: www.riveroaksgardenclub.org/AzaleaTrail.cfm

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The 73rd Annual Azalea Trail

Sponsored by the

River Oaks Garden Club

Dates: March 7, 8 & 9, 2008

Hours: 11 AM to 6 PM

Tickets:

Seven Admissions: $20.00

Single Site Admissions $5.00

(available at each entrance)

Charity: Water

Charity: water is a non-profit initiative bringing clean water and basic sanitation into impoverished communities. Since charity: was founded and began activity in August 2006, we have funded the construction of more than 250 wells that, when completed, will provide clean drinking water to 150,000 people. We're just getting started.

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You can help, a $2o bottle of charity: water can give a person in Africa clean, safe drinking water for 20 years. 100% goes to direct project costs.

Buy water... (go to link below)
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Why water?

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Right now, 1.1 Billion people on the planet don't have access to safe, clean drinking water.

That's one in six of us.
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Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation causes 80% of all sickness and disease, and kills more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Many people in the developing world, usually women and children, walk more than three hours every day to fetch water that is likely to make them sick. Those hours are crucial, preventing many from working or attending school. Additionally, collecting water puts them at greater risk of sexual harassment and assault. Children are especially vulnerable to the consequences of unsafe water. Of the 42,000 deaths that occur every week from unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation, 90% are children under 5 years old.

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Give a $20 bottle of charity: water to a friend or loved one, and provide clean water to a person you've never met for 20 years. 100 % goes to water and sanitation projects on the ground. The bottle comes packaged in a gift tube with a personal note and information about the charity: water initiative.
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WHERE DOES THE MONEY GO? Your $20 donations are combined. Depending on varying project and mateiral costs in the countries we work, it can take anywhere from 200 to 600 bottles to build a well. charity: pools the $20’s together, and uses 100 % of the money to build freshwater wells in developing nations.
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Don't want the bottle? Buy a virtual bottle and give a person clean water for 20 years.
Buy a virtual bottle $20
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Buy a case of water (24) $480
$480, put towards the construction or rehabilitation of a freshwater well can produce the equivalent of more than 7 million bottles of water in Africa.

Buy a case to sell at your school or business...
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Give another amount

Charity: is currently funding the construction of more than 268 wells, spring protections and biosand filters in 11 developing nations that range from $3,500 to $12,000. Also included are training programs where our partners teach well maintenance, basic hygiene and sanitation to maximize lifespan and impact of the new water sources. 100 % of your donation will directly fund clean water projects in Africa, India and Bangladesh
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Link: www.charitywater.org/

Note: on webpage you can also buy tee shirts & hats & the bracelets & the water or the virtual water bottle - plus there are gift baskets you can order, read more on their webpage...

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More Local Info:

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From March 9 to 27, Ten Thousand Villages, will partner with charity:water to sell $20 bottles of charity:water. That $20 sale can give a person in Africa clean, safe drinking water for 20 years. TTV will also sell charity:water bracelets.

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Our charity:water bottle and bracelet sale event is timed to accompany a photography display at Gremillion Gallery (2501 Sunset Blvd.) that depicts the transformative power of these water wells in impoverished areas. The Gremillion Gallery display runs from March 13 to 27.
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And, in 6-8 months, Ten Thousand Villages will receive photos and information about how the money we raised in Houston was spent and the direct quality-of-life impact we had the opportunity to provide

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Store Link: www.tenthousandvillages.com/home.php

Ten Thousand Villages - Houston 2424A Rice Boulevard Houston TX 77005

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Gallery Show Link: www.gremillion.com/

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Dates: March 13 - March 27, 2008
Artist: FOTOFEST - Scott Harrison, charity:water
Medium: Photography and multimedia exhibit
Reception: Thursday, March 13, 7-9 pm

Location: 2501 Sunset Blvd., Houston, TX 77005

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Bottle Your Style with SIGG

1% For The Planet



SIGG is a proud member of this organization committing 1% of all sales to environmental causes. "1% For The Planet" is an alliance of businesses committed to leveraging our resources to create a healthier planet. "Being environmentally responsible is at the heart of the SIGG brand", states Steve Wasik, President SIGG USA.


Non toxic, eco-friendly

Bottle Your Style

144 bottle designs, 22 interchangeable lids, 1 you.


SIGG LIFESTYLE WATER BOTTLES


SIGGnificantly Better BottlesChoose the SIGG style which matches your style. Express your originality and enjoy the functionality and quality of Swiss design with our SIGG Lifestyle Water Bottle collection! Designed to fit your on-the-go lifestyle, our ultra lightweight water bottles are available in a wide array of colors and designs, allowing you to choose the one that best fits your personality. Extruded from a single piece of aluminum, our innovative SIGG Lifestyle Water Bottles is surprisingly rugged, crack-resistant and completely reusable and recyclable. A ground-breaking interior lining is 100% effective against leaching and combats residue build-up, so your SIGG Lifestyle Bottle is easy to clean and ensures that all you taste is the water, juice or the energy drink that you just poured into the bottle, even after its been sitting in the Sun! Customize your bottle with our selection of SIGG Gear and SIGG Accessories! Don't forget to buy SIGG cleaning tablets and SIGG cleaning brushes to maintain your bottle!


Links: http://www.mysigg.com/
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www.sigg.ch/ (Sigg Switerzerland, click on English)

P P P
www.onepercentfortheplanet.org/

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US Retailers: Whole Foods, Whole Earth Provision,
REI & more...

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Happy Heart Day

HAPPY VALENTINES EVERYBODY===

A PUPPY has been born in Japan with a large, clear, love-heart-shaped pattern in his coat. The Chihuahua was born in May as one of a litter to a breeder.


Shop owner Emiko Sakurada said it was the first time a puppy with the marks had been born out of a thousand she had bred .


She had no plans to sell the puppy, which has been named 'Heart-kun'.


The long-coated male Chihuahua puppy was born in Odate, northern Japan


Happy Valentines Day... TOO PRECIOUS NOT TO SHARE ===

Note: Received this today for Valentine's & it is too precious not to share...know though the puppy is grown up now & I hear the owner keeps a Blog going with photo updates too--Enjoy!!(but watch out, if you go to look for the owner & her Blog - it may all be in Japanese?!)

Buy One Give One

What is OLPC?

The mission of this non-profit association (One Laptop Per Child) is to develop a low-cost laptop - the "$100 Laptop" - a technology that could revolutionize how we educate the world's children. Their goal is to provide children around the world with new opportunities to explore, experiment, and express themselves.

The first notebook model, the OLPC XO, has started to be rolled out to the first third-world countries in November last year. In the US and Canada, the first OLPC laptops could be ordered via XO Giving until December 31, 2007. You can have a look at Sugar, the machine's user interface...on You Tube (see the links below)

OLPC Sugar video 1 - synthLab demo hosted on YouTube
OLPC Sugar video 2 - mini Tam Tam demo hosted on YouTube
OLPC Sugar video 3 - social features demo hosted on YouTube
OLPC Sugar video 4 - interface emulation demo hosted on YouTube

Webpage: http://www.olpc.com/
Orders: xogiving.org - Buy your own OLPC XO laptop (& give one - Buy One Give One! And it looks like you can still place orders on this webpage, but the price to pay using Pay Pal shows up costing $200 for one laptop to be donated - maybe back in 2007 they were $100? must read more...)

Note: Hits Australia soon first & then sometime 2008 is suppose to hit the USA too!

Hungry Planet, What the World Eats

Food Expenditures from around the World...

Italy: The Manzo family of Sicily
Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11
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Germany: The Melander family of Bargteheide
Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07
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United States: The Revis family of North Carolina
Food expenditure for one week $341.98
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Mexico: The Casales family of Cuerna Vaca
Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09
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Poland: The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna
Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27
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Egypt: The Ahmed family of Cairo
Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53
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Ecuador: The Ayme family of Tingo
Food expenditure for one week: $31.55
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Bhutan: The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village
Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03
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Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp
Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23
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Note: this came as an e-mail forward, do not know where it originally came from, but if I find out will post as soon as I do...

Here then are the Credits for the Photos & the Book:

Hungry Planet
What the World Eats
by Peter Menzel, Faith D'Aluisio
http://www.tenspeed.com/store/index.php?main_page=pubs_product_book_jph1_info&cPath=4_103&products_id=2105

What the World Eats, Part I
What's on family dinner tables in fifteen different homes around the globe?
Photographs by Peter Menzel from the book "Hungry Planet"
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519_1373675,00.html

Happy Mardi Gras!!

Happy Mardi Gras!!
(aka Fat Tuesday!!)

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The History of Mardi Gras
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A French term meaning Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras arouses from the custom of parading a fat ox through the streets of Paris on Shrove Tuesday. Mardi Gras is always 47 days before Easter Sunday.

Mardi Gras came to New Orleans through its French heritage in 1699. Early explorers celebrated this French Holiday on the banks of the Mississippi River. Masked balls and street masking took place in colonial New Orleans, but it was not until 1857 that the street pageants began to assume their present day shape. That year, the Mystic Krewe of Comus held the first night parade and Rex held the first daytime parade. Throughout the years, Orleanians have added to the celebrating by establising krewes (organizations) which host parades and balls. The ranking structure of a Mardi Gras Krewe is a parody of royalty: King, Queen, Dukes, Knights, and Captains. Most Krewe's get their names from Greek, Roman or Egyptian Mythology. Some examples of Krewe names are Pegasus, Atlas, Hermes, Orpheus, and Zulu.

The official colors for Mardi Gras are purple, green, and gold. These colors were chosen in 1872 by the King of Carnival, Rex. He chose these colors to stand for the following: Purple - Justice, Green - Faith, Gold - Power.

During Carnival Season thousands of King Cakes are consumed. The original King Cake contained a small concealed bean inside. A tiny plastic novelty baby has replaced the bean. When a King Cake is cut, the person who finds the baby is obligated to provide the King Cake at the next festive occasion.

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Note: borrowed this little history from a flyer picked up at Copeland's Famous New Orleans Restaurant & Bar - in Lafayette, LA while visiting (eating catfish) for the Mardi Gras this year...

And borrowed "fat cow" drawings from http://www.carnavaldeparis.org/

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