Posted By: emmaspirit on
Since April is “Earth Month” I find myself with lots of Green events on my calendar – so many in fact that it is hard to attend them all but as with my philosophy about living green, I simply do the best that I can. So yesterday morning I woke up with a little green dilemma…I wanted to attend the Bedford Spring Antiques Show sponsored by St. Matthew’s Church in Westchester County. This year’s theme: “Renew, Recycle, Redecorate” is part of their “Bedford twenty by 2020” pledge to help Bedford reduce CO2 emissions by 20% by the year 2020. Furthermore, I’ve been attending the annual event for years and was excited to see their collection of antiques and some old friends. But I had suffered a neck injury earlier in the week and was under doctor’s orders to rest. My original plan to lug myself (and whatever I might purchase at the show) from NYC to Bedford and back via trains and taxis didn’t seem very restful. And given my stiff neck and lingering pain, I couldn’t rent a car and drive myself.
Then I thought…Ozocar to the rescue! I contacted this hybrid car service (Prius and Lexus hybrids) and felt relieved about being as green as can be. When a large black Lincoln town car arrived to take me to Bedford, I was surprised and disappointed. Seems that Ozocar had run out of hybrids, and they didn’t think to tell me when they called to confirm. I guess to some folks, a car is still a car. So I reluctantly got in and reassured myself that I had at least tried to go green.
Every year for over 15 years now, I visit Josephine Thrasher’s antique jewelry booth at the show. She is nearly 80 years old now and running her small business alone since her husband died suddenly over 2 years ago. The first year after he died, I helped her work her booth at the Bedford show. In the car, I sorted through my Envirosax bag full of goodies I was bringing to her to recycle. Over the years, I had unconsciously collected a very wide assortment of small jewelry store boxes and earring storage envelopes. Josephine likes to give her customers their antique jewelry purchases in pretty boxes so I knew these would go to good use.
When I got to the Bedford Spring Antiques Show, I immediately saw all the thoughtful ways they were going green. In the entrance lobby stood a recycled cardboard box calling for your recycled cell phones. Signs encouraging you to “Dare to Recycle” led you to the ticket table with a raffle for his-and-her premium bicycles and an electric children’s dirt bike. Their show program was a simple and effective 8 pages on recycled paper with listings of the sponsors rather then the typical 50 page, glossy ad filled, printed book. Then a close friend of my parent’s, greeted me warmly and handed me a list of the 20 steps for the “Bedford twenty by 2020” pledge and a brown eco-friendly, re-usable grocery bag.
With my own eco-bag of boxes to recycle in hand, I made a beeline for Josephine’s booth. She greeted me as only old friends can, with a big hug and wet smiling eyes. She saw my 40 jewelry boxes and announced that “it must be Christmas!” as it seems she had been running low on her own supply. Conscious of the car service waiting outside, I tried to take in the show as quickly as possible. And I did make one special purchase – an antique 18 carat floral-engraved 200 year old, gold wedding band. A unique, yet more everyday choice compared to my diamond wedding band. Since it was antique and by definition, recycled, it was a green solution too. “A true find” remarked Josephine. Another old Bedford friend arrived at the booth while I was trying it on and called it “my-running-to-the-A&P” wedding ring. I smiled and said “rather, my running-to-the-farmer’s market!” ring and paid cash.
On the way home in the car, I thought back to how nice it was that an event I’ve always enjoyed was now made even more special by going green. I thought about how “green” seeing old friends was because you didn’t have to exert as much energy as when meeting new people. And as I twirled my new ring in the sunlight, I saw the inside engraving for the first time. “To Mel, Love Sylvia 2-12-74”. Gosh. While I enjoy going green as much as I can, it sure can be full of surprises.
Tags:
green, antiques, earth month, recycle
