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the HERALD- Tuesday December Environment Page 23 Vine swinging done the environmental way By BARBARA Herald Special As you plod on your way to becoming a staunch environmen lalist the most important thing to carry with you is a sense of humor After taking the fabulous tour of homes decorated for Christmas I came home with new resolve to somehow make time to decorate the house and of course to do this from an en vironmentally sound per spec tlveThis meant using natural materials which of course should have been gathered in the early fall One can t be saving the world from garbage and also be out col lecting materials at the right time of year but I was not about to let a little thing like timing stand in my way We have a large beam for our mantel and although cedar rope would look great I worried about it drying out nd I t bring myself to spray it so I struggled to think of some other natural material At last I had it grape vines I have made grape vine wreathes and I was sure that after all the creative things that I had seen on the house tour that I could fashion a garland I bundled up and headed out to a road side where I had seen trees being choked out by grape vines There was no shortage of vines but the vines were not in dined to give up their home easi ly I found the end of one vine cut it- off at the ground and began to pull and tug first from one angle and then from another It was firmly wound around and well at tached to the cedar trees I don t quit easily so I persisted The vine suddenly cam loose and I found myself sitting a snow bank It is always embarrassing to fall but to do it as one is swinging from vines adds a new dimension to the embarrassment I looked around and sure enough a car was stopping a short distance down the road The driver got out with a camera and just as I was about to protest that I didn want this event recorded on film he turned and took a picture of the home across the road as it was apparently going on the market I carried on with my harvest of vines coiling them up as best I could for the trip home At home I discovered that tangling the vines was much like undoing one thousand knots in a fish line With my gloves off it soon became apparent that it was far too cold in my garage to get the job done so I began dragging sections into the middle of my kit floor The once supple ten were now hard and fixed in position They stuck out and caught on other tendrils My two house cats whose greatest pro blem is boredom came to the rescue They immediately dead ed that decorating was for their entertainment as they chased through the vines with ears back and eyes wide After much struggle I was able to wind the vines into a base for the garland but not before Ben Dummett called to say that the article that so meone else was writing hadn rived The garland base is now waiting for further decoration Fortunately a friend donated some cones to the cause but I still need to harvest some milkweed pods out in some snowy field I don t know whether the decorations will be up before Christmas Eve or whether 1 be bumping into Santa as I try to get them up at the last minute I do know that I would never get through these crazy days if I didn keep thinking about the funny side of what I am doing I step back and picture what I must look like and I keep smiling VOL CAN MAKE A DIE to the environment and to yourself it all in your at titude Keep smiling If you don t want a dump in the middle of Hills be sure to write a letter to Environment Minister Ruth Gner This is your only chance to com ment POWER will collect the letters and make an event of the delivery Merry Christmas Ho Ho Ho Save More Dough Local environmental group Protect Our Water Environmental Resources POWER recently selected the group new executive Picture above left To right John Crispin Paul Hynds Vice President Rob Barlow Michelle STEVEN C FOSTER BA LLB BARRISTER SOLICITOR POWER executive Fisher David Noble Robin left to right Ruth French Donna Robin Secretary Barbara Halsall President Teasurer and Linda Noble Missing Mary Shier Photo submitted GS TELEVISION 265 GUELPH ST GEORGETOWN 8779541 GREET MORE FOR LESS Save on each card you send When purchasing greeting cards look for the Greet More symbol on boxed sets These ses contain specially coded en velopes Follow the simple instructions block in the Postal Code and affix a Greet More 35 stamp Youll save 5 and speed the processing of your holiday greetings Save with Greet More greetings in Canada GreetMore stamps Pack of each It I Greet More US DELREX SMOKE SHOP GEORGETOWN MARKETPLACE 8779284 Fax Service Available Minimum SB