Plays, phone calls, and a exciting book

This was a theater weekend. Friday was "The Rocky Horrow Show". Then yesterday, I served drinks at a performance of "Joseph" put on by the music and drama (MAD) club at Goddard Space Flight Center. (No, I never worked at Goddard, but they let other folks join the club.) The show is fun to watch and I think the group did a good job. We are all amateurs, of course, including the sound and light people and the musicians. I sometimes sing in the fall shows, but this year my fall was too busy - too much traveling - to even consider it. It was fun to see my friends performing.


Our balmy weather left us yesterday. It had been in the low 70s earlier in the week, but it turned windy and cold. Snow was predicted for Saturday, but it never happened. Today is sunny and lovely looking outside, but not exactly warm. Still a nice fall day. Snow tonight - maybe.


This morning I had an unexpected phone call from my niece Terry who lives in Wisconsin. We chatted about the election and the environment (she's an environmentalist and an artist) and where she and her husband are going this winter. They earn their living at many different jobs, such as: selling her paintings, fur trapping (he does this), teaching environmental programs, conducting loon studies, and so on. They often spend a month or two in the winter in some warm place, doing volunteer enviromental type work. They work for room and board and get to see various interesting places around the world. This winter they will be in Costa Rica for a month. It's always great to talk with Terry, partly because she and I think alike on most issues, although she is much more environmentally aware than I am.

That brings me to a book that I am reading. It is "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan. It's a wonderful book - very long, but fascinating. After reading the chapter on the beef industry, I am considering giving up beef altogether. Feedlot conditions are really gross. This book is full of information about sustenable farming, organic foods, and the way our food production has become industrialized. Did you know that the food industry in the US uses as much petroleum in a year as all the cars in the country? Who would have thought that? Kate and I discussed some of the issues from the book when we talked yesterday. She buys some of her food at a farmer's market or at 'pick your own' farms. This book hasn't made me decide to grow my own food, but it does make me want to find a good farmers' market where I can buy food produced in a sustainable (old-fashioned ) way. I highly recommend it to anyone concerned about how our food is produced, processed and delivered.