Chasing Clean Air

Ladies Who Dance

Lovely spirits, yes, ladies who dance.

For the occasion of my B day, we headed to Cafe del Rey in Marina del Rey, overlooking boats and glistening waters. 

Mediterrean pizza, salmon over green beans, and a bottle of California wine were popular choices.

Speaking of wine...

It's time for a commercial break!

I'm writing and sipping THE most amazing wine I've ever tasted called Frog's Leap, a 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley given to me as a "regift" from a friend in AA.

Did you know spirits is another word for breath. My clean-air tie-in.

Frog's Leap is mellow with a scent of plums and cedar, and it goes down smooth and warm.

Real warm.

If not for the alcohol, calories and carbs, I'd be tempted to keep going but see those ladies who dance? Tonight's a dance night. It's time to tie my Bloch shoe-laces, and only contemplate being a wine reviewer.

Frog's Leap Winery. (Here I am.)

Spirits + Breath + Donna's Chasing Clean Air = New Wine Category. After all, come to think of it, there are great wineries throughout clean air locales! :-)

Thanks Cafe del Rey for a very nice evening.

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Clean Air Kansas City: Or What I Didn't Do On My Winter Vacation

And what didn't YOU do on your winter vacation? I didn't go to clean air Kansas City.

What?

Yes, you heard me right.

Kansas City.

And why in the world would I go to Kansas City?

Chasing Clean Air reader, and now blogger, Eric, wanted to let me know what I missed by not driving from the Central Coast of California to Clean Air Kansas City.

Hi Donna, 
 
If you were my traveling companion driving back to Kansas City here's what my suggested itinerary would have been. From San Luis Obispo to Leawood, Kansas is just shy of 1,800 miles. 3 days driving 600 miles a day would get us to our destination. 
 
So the first day's destination from SLO would have been the Grand Canyon. What better place to chase clean air than at the rim of a giant canyon. However, on the day I drove by it the weather was foggy & misty, so I sure we would have arrived only to say "canyon, what canyon. 

 

Good Holiday Gift: Zipcar Gift Certificates!

Another good gift idea, funds toward a zipcar!

Wheels when you want 'em!

Couldn't find zipcar photo, but you get idea. Renting a car for short rides in various U.S. and Canadian cities so you don't need to buy your own car. Or use this one for short specific trips.

Holiday Gift Guide

The number you give or don't give does not define you. The love you give or do not give, does.

As the holidays approach and pressure to give as proof of caring mount, I say show your caring by being present--be the present--and let the rest go.

Consumerism as a foundation for holiday joy seems wrong, and, in a poor economy, hurtful for those who can't "keep up".

Instead consider giving a smile, a word of encouragement, appreciation, spending time with family and friends and making new ones. If you must buy something, how about a gift toward a better world like the book No Impact Man. Preferably a Kindle edition.

Why does giving default to materialism? I wonder if people are less materialistic where life is rich in natural beauty because they're out enjoying it?

All that wrapping paper comes from trees.

Recycle.

Photo taken in British Columbia at Cariboo Falls where I loved watching salmon jump upstream. Our natural world, worth keeping.

To follow my clean air search and explore air pollution solutions together, subscribe to the Chasing Clean Air RSS feed!

Check Out the Chevy Volt at GM's Main Street in Motion Event Where YOU Drive and Compare Cars

GM's stock is on the rise, along with its star addition, the Chevy Volt named Green Car of the Year at the 2010 LA Auto Car Show.

Naturally, I was curious and wanted to test drive the Volt and others.

So, with pleasure, I joined eager car enthusiasts at GM's Main Street in Motion event at the Santa Anita Racetrack in Arcadia, California where I drove the Volt, Prius, and Corvette. Yes, I push for cleaner cars but I also had a lot of fun on the track with GM's super sports car.

The Chevy Volt was fun to drive.

While in a spacious parking lot, I imagined driving along the California coast on a sunny day.

It was sturdy, energetic, and clean. This primarily electrical car, with a gas engine that kicks in when needed, whet my appetite to know more. 

Methyl Iodide & Californians Health

If you like strawberries, and clean air and water, breaking California news important for you.

In California, where people think about air pollution as coming from cars, trucks, and oil refinieries--on the road to cleaner air I learned that pesticides in so-called remote clean air locations are as dangerous a threat to human health as the usual suspects, and, now, even more.