GOOD FOOD - THE FOUNDATION OF GOOD HEALTH

Since I love to eat, and consider food part of my "medicine" to keep me healthy, I budget higher food prices into my (very modest) budget. Produce is unquestionably the foundation of good health. When you enjoy delicious fruits and veggies because they taste great, then you will keep eating them. That's why taste matters.

  Starre Vartan

 

The quote above mirrors my experience. I have a modest income but most of it goes on fresh fruit and vegetables. I make all our meals from scratch, so as not to rely on chemical additives. 

 

Every Friday I visit the fruit market. We make a day of it. I take my mother and daughter, and Peter usually comes along for the ride. We travel a few suburbs to find the fruit market of choice - the Leisure Coast Fruit Market and Deli at Fairy Meadow.

 My weekly buy always includes sweet potato, cauliflower, lettuce, rocket and mushrooms and then whatever else I need for that week such as carrots, onions etc.

 

The truth is we don't know if cancer and other types of digestive diseases and health problems are connected to the array of additives and chemicals present in so many processed foods. (We do know that nitrates in processed meats are carcinogenic.) Since I had cancer recently I prefer to take a precautionary approach. 

 

Fruit and vegetables are the basis of good health. I love to eat and try new recipes. I like to buy good quality produce because it tastes better. I like to make all my meals from scratch so I know what is in them without the artificial colourings, flavourings, extra sugar and additives to give something a longer shelf life.

 

I have read various opinions about eating organic produce. At this stage I have avoided the extra cost as I am on a limited budget, and they are not available at my fruitmarket.  But this may change.

 

I lost 6 kilograms before Christmas. I managed to put it all back on again over Christmas when I stopped sticking to my Plant Paradox regime. I am back on my eating plan and gradually losing weight again.

 

This style of eating is based on promoting healthy gut bacteria and reducing inflammation. I saw Kelly Clarkson on TV explaining that she had lost a lot of weight following the Plant Paradox program so I decided to give it a try. Unlike other diets I have been on, there is no calorie counting which is great, although there are quite a few restrictions. But it is all healthy eating.

 

I plan to start a new blog based on the Plant Paradox program, providing recipes that I have tried, are budget friendly and have ingredients available in Australia. I'd like to try some of my recipes on this blog first. Maybe I could get some feedback.

 

A granddaughter's christening

(Please note that faces are not shown to protect privacy.)

Our little granddaughter was christened on the weekend. It was held in Helensburgh Catholic church.

 

The baby slept through the service, and barely stirred when she had water poured on her head.

Peter's daughter Megg made a beautiful carrot cake which was cut and shared at morning tea.

A walk by the lake

Peter and I took a walk by Lake Illawarra. The white spots are pelicans. There must have been fish out there. 

Another photo of a dandelion on Peter's front lawn. 

I just couldn't resist it.

Article in Medium

 

Photo source

I have written an article for Medium, Do You Feel Like Giving Up? Read This Now.

Interesting sites 

 

1.  Beautiful hiking cabin in Norway

Photo source

 

This cabin was made with 77 panels. Click here to read more. 

 

2. Why don't birds' feet freeze?

 

Photo source

 Birds' feet don't freeze in winter. Click here to read why.

3. This 'king' once ruled Antarctica

Photo source

This king once ruled the green, lush forests of Antarctica. Click here to read more.

THE IVY LEE METHOD

Falling in love with starting is easy. Falling in love with finishing is hard. But, if you can learn to fall in love with the art of finishing—and the process of overcoming adversity, failures and working around obstacles—you’ll consistently follow through on your ideas.

  Mayo Oshin

When I read this quote I thought, "That's me!" I am not good at finishing things - household chores, crafts -  all sorts of things.I start things and do part of them really well and then get sick of things or forget about them. I am super organized in some areas such as my recipe collections and laundering clothes. Then I am completely disorganized in other areas such as actually getting the clean laundry into cupboards - and there is only me in the house!


I have mentioned before that I am looking for the  optimal   system for getting things done and finished. I just don't get the things done each day that I plan. I have tried various systems including the Bullet Journal System which many people swear by, but just made me very anxious.

In my recent reading and search for helpful tips on being productive, I came across Ivy Lee. He was a highly respected productivity expert and pioneer in the field of public relations at the beginning of the twentieth century.

He had a notable system for getting things done, which he shared with various industries. It was a simple daily routine for achieving peak productivity.
 

1. At the end of each work day, write down the six most important things you need to accomplish tomorrow. Do not write down more than six tasks.
2. Prioritize those six items in order of their true importance.
3. When you arrive tomorrow, concentrate only on the first task. Work until the first task is finished before moving on to the second task.
4. Approach the rest of your list in the same fashion. At the end of the day, move any unfinished items to a new list of six tasks for the following day.
5. Repeat this process every working day.

In a nutshell this system appears to work because it is simple; it imposes limits on what has to be done; you know where you are going to start for the day; and it requires single tasking rather than multi-tasking.

I have given it a try and found it quite successful. The secret is to still break tasks down into small pieces and don't make each of the  6 things to be done too broad.

Bonsai trees

This past week has been very quiet. I did some gardening.

I am making a collection of bonsai trees. I take them from the garden when they are very small.

So far I have 2 native Bleeding Heart trees ( Homalanthus populifolius)  and one I think is some type of acacia.

 By the lake

On Saturday Peter and I went for a walk by Lake Illawarra. I can never go past a dandelion ready to blow.

And I'm not sure what this flower below is but it seems to be in bloom most of the year and is very striking

After much searching I decided that it was probably the beginnings of a coral tree of some type.

Fear of the Inexplicable
by Ranier Maria Rilke

But fear of the inexplicable has not alone impoverished
the existence of the individual; the relationship between
one human being and another has also been cramped by it,
as though it had been lifted out of the riverbed of
endless possibilities and set down in a fallow spot on the
bank, to which nothing happens. For it is not inertia alone
that is responsible for human relationships repeating
themselves from case to case, indescribably monotonous and
unrenewed: it is shyness before any sort of new, unforeseeable
experience with which one does not think oneself able to cope.

But only someone who is ready for everything, who excludes
nothing, not even the most enigmatical, will live the relation
to another as something alive and will himself draw exhaustively
from his own existence. For if we think of this existence of
the individual as a larger or smaller room, it appears evident
that most people learn to know only a corner of their room, a
place by the window, a strip of floor on which they walk up and
down. Thus they have a certain security. And yet that dangerous
insecurity is so much more human which drives the prisoners in
Poe’s stories to feel out the shapes of their horrible dungeons
and not be strangers to the unspeakable terror of their abode.

We, however, are not prisoners. No traps or snares are set about
us, and there is nothing which should intimidate or worry us.
We are set down in life as in the element to which we best
correspond, and over and above this we have through thousands of
years of accommodation become so like this life, that when we
hold still we are, through a happy mimicry, scarcely to be
distinguished from all that surrounds us. We have no reason to
mistrust our world, for it is not against us. Has it terrors,
they are our terrors; has it abysses, those abysses belong to us;
are dangers at hand, we must try to love them. And if only we
arrange our life according to that principle which counsels us
that we must always hold to the difficult, then that which now
still seems to us the most alien will become what we most trust
and find most faithful. How should we be able to forget those
ancient myths about dragons that at the last moment turn into
princesses; perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave. Perhaps
everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless
that wants help from us.

Interesting sites

1. Bubble domes in the Irish woods

Photo source

Scattered throughout a woodland resort in Northern Ireland, these bubble domes provide an unforgettable glamping experience. Click here to read more.



2. Dementia linked to lifestyle

Photo source

Dementia seems to be affected by lifestyle. Click here to read more.


3. Why the forest gives you awe

Photo source

 Why do we feel awe in a forest? Click here to find out.

WHAT IF THE MIGHTIEST WORD IS LOVE? (Feb 2017)

 

 

 I have had 3 times in my life I have had to learn to 'dance' again. I don't think mine have been beautiful dances but more haphazard hopping around.

Everybody has traumatic experiences in their lives - they have 'weathered' all types of 'storms'.

I have 'weathered' the worst 'storm' I will ever have to survive, and I dance on...but sometimes I droop a bit, or maybe trip, but with God's help I stay on the dance floor.

This metaphor reminds me of the song Lord of The Dance. It is a beautiful song and tune. You can listen to it here, sung by John McDermott. 

 

 In the 1990's Michael Flatley, of Riverdance made the tune really popular with his Lord of the Dance tap routines. You can see one of his last performances here. 

 

Cute pig picture source

Wednesday already. My aim is to write a post to publish every Wednesday. Saturday was just not practical. It does take a bit of thought to write  about things when nothing much happens in your life, speaking of which it has been a non-eventful week - too hot to do anything much. We cancelled Jade's proposed birthday night on Saturday as I don't have air-conditioning and it was extremely hot. We are experiencing the hottest summer on record.

Craft

 The crocheted cardigan is coming on. (Click here to see the last post for details.)

 

Crocheting small flowers to decorate cards is the next project I have started.

For various reasons I am spending quite a lot of time at Peter's. I have offered to design and make Peter a low maintenance garden so he wouldn't have so much to mow, but as yet he has failed to take me up on the offer. So there is plenty of time to spend on craft projects, and I get bored doing the one thing so I have also made some polymer clay toadstools ready for some more projects.

 

Plants

Sunday was largely spent recovering from Saturday's heat. Peter and I popped around to Rhiannon and Bill's and Rhiannon had a new 'planter' on her fence.

 

This was a cows pelvis turned into a 'planter' for Spanish Moss.

Rhiannon has a collection of these bony 'planters' along her back fence with various succulents and Spanish Moss attached to them.

 

 

 

 

 

Jade and I potted up these succulents below, before Christmas and they have grown quite considerably. I prettied a couple of them up with dragonflies and toadstools, for gifts.

 

 

 Decorating

Bunnings is my favourite shop (followed closely by Officeworks and then Aldi). My last trip to Bunnings saw me purchasing a box full of Gloss White and Aluminium spray paint for about $25. This should last me for ages.

I am in the process of spraying the surrounds of a cane mirror from The Salvos.

 It was white but had yellowed over the years, so I began by giving it a coat of Aluminium. I find this seems to give objects a really good base for Gloss White.

The mirror itself is covered with glad wrap which was poked under the edge of the cane to keep it clear of paint. I hope it works. Now it just needs a few coats of white. I have just the place for it.

 

 

 

  Poems

 

 

When I came across this poem, "Praise Song for the Day" , by Elizabeth Alexander, I didn't realise it was written for President Obama's inauguration. I actually thought it was written in 1962 which turned out to be the poet's year of birth. It was actually written in 2009. So I think it is a poem that crosses the boundaries of time.

Praise Song for the Day

Elizabeth Alexander, 

Each day we go about our business,
walking past each other, catching each other’s
eyes or not, about to speak or speaking.

All about us is noise. All about us is
noise and bramble, thorn and din, each
one of our ancestors on our tongues. 

Someone is stitching up a hem, darning
a hole in a uniform, patching a tire,
repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere,
with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum, 
with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.
A farmer considers the changing sky.
A teacher says, Take out your pencils. Begin.

We encounter each other in words, words
spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed,
words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark
the will of some one and then others, who said
I need to see what’s on the other side.

I know there’s something better down the road.
We need to find a place where we are safe.
We walk into that which we cannot yet see.
 
Say it plain: that many have died for this day.
Sing the names of the dead who brought us here,
who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, 

picked the cotton and the lettuce, built
brick by brick the glittering edifices
they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle, praise song for the day.
Praise song for every hand-lettered sign, 
the figuring-it-out at kitchen tables.

Some live by love thy neighbor as thyself,
others by first do no harm or take no more
than you need. What if the mightiest word is love?

Love beyond marital, filial, national,
love that casts a widening pool of light,
love with no need to pre-empt grievance.

In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air,
any thing can be made, any sentence begun.
On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,
praise song for walking forward in that light.

When I read a poem, and it makes me feel or see something, at first it may not be easy to put it into words. 

But I like this poem because it makes me feel positive. It talks about the day by day things, the sacrifices made in the past, and the possibilities of a bright future.

Our move into the future is a combined effort, with all of us involved, as we go around our day to day business. The poet asks the question, 'What if the mightiest word is love?'

While it is written for the people of the USA it seems relevant to us as we have a similar society and are linked so closely to USA. It is also a poem relevant to each individual reading it. We all want, 'something better down the road...where we are safe'. We all 'walk into that which we cannot see yet'. None of us knows the future.

But,'on the brink, on the brim, on the cusp' of something new, we hope we are all 'walking forward into the light.' 

Let's just hope that 'on the brink' of Trump era, we are indeed 'walking forward into the light' and not backwards into the darkness.

'What if the mightiest word is love?' 

 

Pigs in love picture source.

By way of finishing I would just like to tell you about Powershop. I changed 

to them from Origin where I was spending around $125 a month on 

electricity. By changing to Powershop it cost me $98 from 1st January to

13th February - around 6 weeks. It is a very different type of electricity

provider. You can purchase your electricity  before you use it if you wish. I 

changed over on line and was so pleased with my saving I just thought it was

worth mentioning.  

 Interesting sites

1.

 Americans move away from meat.

The way Americans think about food is changing.They are moving away from meat toward a more plant based diet. Click here.



2.

 Presidential butterfly

Photo source

Click here to read about a butterfly named after Donald Trump. 



3.

 Tiny DIY Trailer Home

Photo source

A young couple on the move build a small home that will go wherever life takes them. Click here to read about them.