Archive for November, 2011
Very possibly the coolest gift this season. For a limited time, in limited quantities, and just in time for the holidays, you can purchase the official extended visor, very spiffy, official GREENE Magazine hat Right Here. One size accommodates even the most persnickety person. Available in three fashionable colors: sand, green khaki and lime green khaki. Unlikely to ever go out of style, this is sure to become a classic.
By Ray Jones
Note: This month the Ozarks Water Watch column was written by Ray Jones, an Ozarks resident of Greene and Stone Counties for the past 42 years. He is a board member of the James River Basin Partnership and an annual participant in River Rescue, Table Rock Lake Shoreline Cleanup, Adopt-A-Shoreline, and Lakes of Missouri Volunteer Program.
A few of you might recall the hot summer day back in 2001 at the celebration after the annual River Rescue clean-up of the James River held that year in Galena on the grounds below the historic "Y Bridge" which crosses the river. The headline entertainment was the hugely popular band "Big Smith", members of which all grew up on the James River and its tributaries. One of the songs they played was "Dirty Old James", a lamentation about the river’s degradation, which they had personally witnessed in their lifetime. For the large audience of river-loving listeners, it was hard for anyone to disagree with the song’s message.
By Jeanne Christakos Duffey
Contributing Editor of GREENE
An Asian staple for centuries, bamboo is now trendy in the west. I don’t know if China has a state stalk, but if it did, it would be bamboo. Floors and furniture, salad bowls, utensils and cutting boards, sheets, towels, socks –even bicycles – are all made from the attractive, renewable and environmentally friendly plant.
Not many people realize that bamboo is grown right here in Missouri, and, at least one variety, Arundinaria gigantea, is native to the state. Imported varieties also grow well in Missouri’s climate, some invasively.
For as long as there have been gizmos, we have been looking for one that works as advertised.
You’ve seen these ingenious devices that claim to have simplified some annoying chore. Often they are advertised as "not available in any store." Only later do they become readily available with a banner exclaiming "as seen on TV." Gizmos are to human nature what a big fat plastic worm is to a large mouth bass. It looks too good to be true, but we still can’t resist. At least I can’t.
Often the motivation is related to chronic pain or such extreme inconvenience that any reasonable person would pay to make the problem go away – if it worked. Fortunes have been made selling handy gizmos to homeowners, often gardeners, who are vulnerable because of just two four-letter words:
Back pain.
Back pain is closely associated with – but not limited to – weeding, raking, edging, picking up errant
sweet gum balls and pine cones. And to cleaning gutters, trimming, composting leaves, collecting grass
clippings, pet droppings, aluminum cans, fireplace ashes, and the remains of diapers left behind by certain incontinent family members of the next and previous generations.
Shameless Self-Promotion
‘Tis almost the season for giving, that recurring time of year when caution, common sense and reason are often thrown to the winds in search of the perfect holiday gift for the not-quite-so-perfect person in your life. Of these, there are many friends, family, significant others, even colleagues.
For most of us, this means it is also a season for stressing, so that the real reason for the season gets short shrift.
And while we’re not Nieman Marcus, we don’t need to recommend that this holiday season might just be the time to think of giving greener, cleaner, local gifts. Well, not all green. But we do think we can hold our own for decadence, if that’s what you’re looking for. Most of us just wish it could somehow be easier.
GREENE is here to help.
Site Search
Categories
Archives
GREENE Hats are here
Get your Greene Embroidered Cap Now!
Very possibly the coolest gift this season. For a limited time, in limited quantities, and just in time for the holidays, you can purchase the official extended visor, very spiffy, official GREENE Magazine hat.
Get Yours Now.
