The Many Colors of Green

If you found this blog posting because you are interest in the growing trend towards environmental responsibility, sorry. It's not that I don't believe in conserving energy and working with natural materials. I do.

When we built our house over twenty years ago, we incorporated many of what now is being called "green" concepts into the construction.
At work as well as at home we recycle everything, paper, glass, plastic, and we compost. We use recycled and biodegradable office and cleaning supplies.

At Laurel Mountain Gift Baskets we purchase many of the items we use in our gift baskets from local vendors which means we use less fuel in transport, as well as support our local community. We use paper rather than floral foam or Styrofoam as a base in our gift baskets because paper is biodegradable and we use raffia or paper ribbon in many of our bows for the same reason.

But no, when I refer to the many colors of green in this blog, I really am talking about the color. Color is so important to good gift basket design. A beautifully crafted gift basket just isn't finished until it is topped with a fanciful bow using several contrasting colors or several shades from the same color family. For Spring and Summer the greens come in soft sea foam, apple and hot lime, for Fall and Winter there's new moss, hunter, and emerald and celadon is a perfect year round green. Even the names are beautiful!

When blue and green are used together, they echo nature and the effect is very calming. When I want to be wild and make a bold statement, deep purple and hot lime green still works for me!

Green is the color of life and renewal. It signifies growth and health as well as balance and harmony. In Feng Shui, it is important to use several different shades of green in order to maximize the energy effort.

Gardeners get it when they plant lots of natural greens among the colorful flowers to keep everything in balance. So the next time you hear someone talking about going green, shut your eyes and imagine a burst of energizing color! But don't forget to shut off your computer and the lights when you leave the room. That's important too.

Home Town 4th of July

I live in a small New England town. Our current police station consists of a couple of rooms in the basement of what used to be a school house. Luckily, we have a great group of officers, little serious crime and the State Police barracks only a few miles up the road. Still, the town needed a new facility and one was appropriated. Unfortunately, there was little money left over to furnish and supply the space.
The problem was solved in true small town fashion... have a bake sale... well, actually the bake sale was a small part of the event that took place in Whately, MA on the Sunday after the 4th of July. A small group of town folk conceived an idea for a fund raiser. A triathlon. The First Annual Whately Police Triathlon. My company Laurel Mountain Gift Basket Company was proud to be a sponsor and my husband and I volunteered to help work the event. It was a blast!
I try to stay in shape. I work out three of four times a week, but I could never do what these 120 plus individuals did. Start out by swimming 1/2 mile, then run or walk the bike to the starting point to ride for 14 miles, up and down several hills, then run or walk the bike from the end of the bike course to the starting point to change shoes and run for three miles! I got tired just watching!
The participants were amazing but what was really amazing was that a group of people came together to accomplish so much. Two women, got an idea and rallied hundreds to their cause. The participants who registered and paid an entry fee. The volunteers who woke at dawn in order to be at the town beach at 5:45 a.m. to help get the courses and participants ready. I overheard more than one volunteer laugh about how little they slept the night before, afraid they would sleep thru the alarm. Most of the volunteers had never even seen a triathlon before that Sunday, never mind participate in one, yet the event went without a hitch.
As in any USAT sanctioned event, safety is the number one priority. Which made another group of individuals that needed to be recruited. The town ambulance with emergency personnel was standing by, the regional dive team was on site, and those police officers not competing were stationed along the route to insure the safety of the bikers and runners. Again, it was the efforts of the organizers and volunteers that brought this all together.
I am so proud of the people in my small town. I can't think of a better way to celebrate the 4th of July than working with my neighbors to make my little corner of the world a better place to live. See you all again next 4th of July for the Second Annual Whately Police Triathlon.
Marie