A View of the Valley

by Linda Schwanke I’m having a good news, bad news kind of week. The first good news is that the other day granddaughter Mildred told me I’m her best side-kick. Pretty cool. I remembered that Earth Day is coming up next week on April 22. Also cool. The bad news is that I learned that my mom’s good china contains lead. Lead in any way, shape or form, is not cool at all. On the bright side, I got my first COVID-19 vaccine. I half listened to a story that was saying that grandparents who are involved in their grandchildren’s lives live 35 percent longer than those who don’t. I got interrupted by – guess who? – Mildred and didn’t hear the rest of it. I believe it, though, if for no other reason than that grandparents who spent time with their grandchildren get lots of extra exercise, both mental and physical.  I can’t recommend yoga as a bonding experience enough. Daughter Gwen and Mildred have taken up yoga. Mildred’s idea of yoga is to stretch, run, tell a long story, move her mat on top of mamas or on her mama, tickle the dog who is licking their faces as they lie on the floor, sing and dance, try an unsuccessful handstand, leap from the couch onto the mat, repeat. It wears me out just watching so it must be good for me, right? Earth Day, Thursday, April 22, is a good thing, too. Begun in 1970, Earth Day is the annual reminder that the earth matters. Before the first Earth Day, which brought a voice to the environmental movement, vehicles were spewing leaded gas fumes into the air. Industries filled the air and waterways with smoke and sludge and pollutants that were killing not just humans but all life. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin teamed up with Congressman Pete McCloskey and a young activist named Denis Hayes to bring awareness to mounting environmental problems. Creating the movement that became Earth Day was brave and a really good thing for us and our planet because who knows where we’d be if they hadn’t. This year’s Earth Day theme is “Restore the Earth” which we can do in so many ways. Ride a bike. Plant something - a tree, a bush, a flower. Use refillable water bottles. Eliminate single-use plastics and plastic in general. Find a way, on the 22nd, to celebrate our planet and ways to restore the earth. Not so good is the fact that the earth is in such bad shape that we need to really work hard, together, every single person on the planet, to restore it. Lead in fine china, or any kind of dishware, is not good, either. Lead can leach from china into food, especially acidic food. Lead is toxic and is especially bad for young children, pregnant women and their babies before they’re born. So don’t use that good china for holidays. If you absolutely must, be really careful. Don’t heat it in the microwave or put it in the fridge because temperature changes can make the lead leach into food faster. Don’t store food in them. Don’t put them in the dishwasher. Don’t serve acidic foods like citrus, tomatoes, salad dressing, etc. Store the dishes safely away in, say, a china cabinet. Maybe do yourself and your family a favor and don’t use grandma’s good china at all but keep it for ornamental purposes or something. Back to good news. I had my first COVID-19 vaccine at the Spring Green Fire Station last week. I admit there are times when small-town life is a little claustrophobic but this was not one of them. Seeing familiar faces reaching out to help our community was a huge comfort. The sign up was easy, the process didn’t take long and went smooth as silk. Step in, register in the hall, get the shot in the meeting/ dining room, walk through the kitchen to the bays and wait a bit. The only downside I can think of was that I tried to send texts to my family to tell them I was doing the post-vaccine wait and the text didn’t go through because there’s no cell service. I only missed two messages checking up on me so it wasn’t really a big deal. I’m looking forward to the second vaccine so I can start to get my life back to normal, along with the rest of the community. And next time I’ll know what to expect. I also found out from fire chief Lin Gunderson that there is a plan in place to get people waiting out of the bays if there’s a fire. Yay. It’s all good. Stay safe and stay in touch. My number is 574-3159. Email me at homenewseditor@newspubinc.com or write to me at the Home News, P.O. Box 39, Spring Green WI 53588.  The news deadline is 12 noon on Mondays.  Visit our website at homenewsrv.com Get in touch with Gwen for sports or features at homenewssports@newspubinc.com. 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