Cottonwood, Valentines, and Karen Lewis

Dear community, Jules writing.

1 Here’s the new little eco-film clip that we made this week that was shared in some ecology lessons. It’s not cinema quality, but that’s not the goal. Often, parents also see the videos and let us know that they enjoyed them too. They are sweet to watch with your children. enjoy. If I had time to do another draft, there would be a 3rd segment after the musical interlude, a segment where we share something I discovered myself.. that you can recognize cottonwood trees with your eyes closed, by listening for them. I’ll try to record the sound this summer. I love cottonwoods! There’s so much to love about them and their little heart shaped leaves!

2 Valentines to the garden, the flowers, the trees, or mother nature: This week, some of Pete’s ecology classes made some Valentines and will be bringing them to the garden or other natural places. This was an idea inspired by friends Andrea Dennis (Friends of the Park) and Leslie Borns (steward of Montrose Point) who invited us to participate in a similar project (more on that in coming days…) We thought we would invite you to also write a love letter to the river or garden or a place on this planet where nature touches your heart. If you are so moved, you are also invited to document your Valentines and send us a photo. I’ll use them is a little video or for the website… Here’s one…

3 Many in the community are planning to attend the virtual services for Karen Lewis today at 5pm and wanted to share the invitation. I’ll add that if you don’t know who she is, it may lift you up immensely to see the video that will be shown. Many many many loved her and wished that cancer didn’t stop her. She was running for mayor. She changed Chicago for the better. Her vision and example can still guide us. If you miss the services, we’ll see if we can share the link to the video. If it weren’t pandemic times, there would be a massive event and we would all go together.

Here is a link to the online event. 5pm today Thurs, 2/11/21

be well.

j