Pat Taub
GUEST POST by TONI KIEF
I’m a writer. During the pandemic, I learned what writer’s block truly meant. So out of frustration, I took an online class, and David Sedaris said I should walk. I found that silly, but then I took another class where Dan Brown told us to walk. So, I started walking.
I live in a growing small town, where my home is just off the main street. It’s a few blocks to the local cemetery that has a single-lane circular road, and not much traffic. The perfect place to stroll for inspiration and beautiful nature.
Cemetery in Marysville, Washington
On my second day of walks I started picking up trash. When my sister learned I was counting deep knee bends as exercise, that same day her husband appeared at my door with one of those grabbers. (Were they worried I might fall?)
The author, aka the Litter Lady, at work
Soon after I was equipped with a grabber, I upped my game and bought a pet stroller for Poppy, my cat and littler companion. The stroller doubles as a carry-all for trash bags and found clothes, which I wash and donate, aside from men’s underwear which I don’t recycle.
The author’s beloved cat, Poppy, and litter collecting companion
I often find money, but usually just pocket change. However, one day I picked up an endorsed check for $14,000! I mailed it to the address on the check, receiving a very grateful ‘thank you’ back.
I’ve been infuriated by the amount of plastic and Styrofoam everywhere. One day I became so incensed that I looked up the inventor of plastic. I wanted to write him a mean letter. A hopeless effort because he died in the 1800’s!
Litter in the Marysville Cemetery awaiting the Litter Lady
A couple of years into the pandemic, the city of Marysville’s Mayor had a free coffee and chat. Painfully unshy, I mentioned that I had picked up 800 bags of trash. In truth, I had picked up 1,327, bags, but I didn’t think they would believe that number, which is why I scaled it down to 800 bags.
One evening a little later, I received a call. The City Commission was meeting, and the mayor wanted to give me an award. I rushed to put on some good pants and a better shirt, arriving just in time to be named the Litter Lady. They gave me a certificate and a gold picker (which doesn’t work worth a darn).
The author receiving her award from Marysville’s mayor
The mayor and city council walked with me the next week. I took them directly to a spot I avoid, because even with Poppy’s help, I can’t carry all the trash that accumulates in that spot. Poppy mow-mowed pridefully as she watched the city officials work. She Our trash round was announced on the news, and there I was on Channel 5.
Not finished with me yet, the city made a YouTube video, when luckily, the crows stayed relatively quiet. Perhaps because I had of habit of bringing them birdseed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRiVKaUavfQ
All the attention I received has inspired others, culminating in the Marysville Litter League, a group of volunteers who fan out across the city, picking up trash in their own communities.
The author collecting trash with some of the volunteers she has inspired
Now, a couple of years later, I still get thanked as I walk, collecting litter. I lost count of the number of bags after I hit the 2,500 mark. Walking and collecting litter have cured my writer’s block. I am now working on my fourteenth book, in collaboration with the Marysville Historical Society. The working title is “Stories of the Marysville Cemetery.”
The author flanked by her books in the popular Mildred crime series
As I told my TV interviewer, “When I collect litter I feel like I’m doing something worthwhile. I feel like a dot in the universe, but at least I’m making my dot a little bigger.
If you must litter, please, don’t throw cigarette butts all over. I’ve picked up almost 200 daily!
Toni joined her maternal family in Marysville years ago. The plan is to stay for the view, family, and friends, She was the first woman outside casualty adjuster in Florida, and is a longtime civil rights activist. Toni enjoys sharing stories about lunches with famous names. She invented the genre as OA–old adult, aka Matron and Boomer fiction. Toni started writing as a dare when she was 60. She is one of founders of The Writers Cooperative of the Pacific Northwest.
