Lois says hello, then talk about what we appreciate in Wildewood

Photo - bottlebrush tree near our place.

"The simplest way to begin finding each other again is to start talking about what we care about." - Margaret Wheatley, Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future.

Last week I was outside watering the garden when neighbor Lois peeks through the bottlebrush tree and says hello. We start talking about flowers and trees native to Central Florida. That leads to a mutual appreciation conversation about the Wildewood habitat and things we noticed this week, such as a large number of monarchs migrating through our neighborhood. 

Photo credit - Monarchs hibernate in oyamel fir trees in Mexico.

And a female yellow-bellied sapsucker on a palm tree.

Photo, Susan Michael Barrett. Pineneedle Drive, near the bed of blanket flowers.

Female, yellow-bellied sapsucker. 

Photo credit, Arthur Morris/VIREO. On the Audubon website.

So, on an early morning walk today, the day before Thanksgiving, I pass Lois and her husband, Walter. She notices that I'm carrying a couple of plastic soda bottles. "Oh, you're picking up litter! Did you see the pieces of trash at the entrance of Wildewood and on 34th Street?" Lois asks. Within a few minutes, we decide to meet and do a little clean up.

In one hour, we collect three bags of trash. 

 Lois with a found stick to pull trash under the fence.

The majority of the garbage is fast food and drink containers. Oh, and a pair of tennis shoes!

Three bags of trash. We empty one bag before we take this photo.

There's more to clean up, so we agree to meet again for an hour next month and invite anyone else who wants to join us. Lois suggests we post a note on the bulletin board. Look for it.

11.23.16