Day 355 in a Year of my Life

Just ten more days and this "Year of my Life" will be finished and a new blog year to begin!

This is an interesting headline:

Sea cucumber extract kills 95 percent of breast cancer cells and shrinks lung tumors

You can read more about it here.  

Now that  I'm getting more adventurous in facebook, it's pretty amazing the information you can find there.

Other photographer's pages, natural therapies, home-made cosmetics and cleaning products, National Geographic, raw food recipes and vegan recipes.

One page called 'The Watchers' which has information from all around the world about Science, Technology, Earth changes, volcanos, cyclones, earthquakes, solar activity, sustainable living, health, social evolution, pollution, climate change ... the list goes on and on and on.

It's very interesting and sometimes a little scary.  Every day there is something amazing happening somewhere.  

Just this week alone, there have been two massive hurricane/typhoons affecting both Japan and Vietnam, earthquakes in the Philippines, Crete and New Guinea, a volcano eruption in Russia, massive solar flares from the sun, just to name a few.

They also have a website http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/ if you're interested.

Today, on the National Geographic channel, Adoring Husband and I watched a movie called "Chasing Ice".

It follows National Geographic photographer James Balog across the Arctic as he deploys time-lapse cameras designed for one purpose: to capture a multi-year record of the world's changing glaciers.

You simply can't argue about global warming, after watching this movie.  It's frightening how quickly the glaciers are melting.

It's a very good movie and the photography is awesome.  If you get the chance to see it, I recommend it.

I only have one photo to share today.

I tried for a sunset and a moonrise this afternoon.  Both were fizzers due to cloud and haze on the horizon.

Ah well, there is always next month.

Today, I'm grateful to have finished this post before midnight, so that I can climb into bed before I turn into a pumpkin!

Nite all.

Day 354 in a Year of my Life

Today, I was horrified to read this about the FDA and laws that it has created and wondered where the world was headed as far as synthetic and chemical substances for medicating goes.

Why isn't the world questioning why we are not HEALING?  No illness is cured any more.  We simply accept drugs, prescribed by our Doctors,  to mask or reduce the symptoms of our illnesses,

One of my boys from the Seat of Knowledge, has Macular Degeneration and has to undergo surgery to repair some scarring and also has to put drops in his eyes and probably have regular invasive treatment for the rest of his life.

I printed out some information about the types of food that he should eat regularly that might halt further decline and possibly improve, even marginally, his current state of eye health.

There was also a list of foods to avoid, which included processed/refined sugar, breads, pastas, (anything made with white flour), soft drinks and white rice.

One of the boys sitting at the seat, stated quite resolutely, "Well you may as well just give up now!  What's the point of living if you can't eat the good stuff?  What's left to eat?"

At what point in this 65 year old's life, was he taught that 'the good stuff' was sugar, bread, pasta and soft drinks?  

I also read this and was even MORE horrified.  This is the sort of thing that never sees air time on mainstream media.

People get quite angry with me when I argue against vaccinations.  Mostly because they've been trained to believe the exact opposite of what I believe.  

If you read the information in the above link, you just can't argue with facts like that can you?  If this information is from just one law firm and only covers a 3 year period ... it's just a spit in the ocean isn't it?

We know so little about what goes on the world.  We think we are worldly and have all the facts before us to help us make educated and informed decisions, but that is so far from the truth.

The media continue to tell us "Don't believe everything you read on the internet", but honestly, I would believe my own research above what the media attempt to shove down my throat.

I also discovered this and thought it was worth sharing.

Now, to lighten this post a little ...

I finished the 104 group photography challenge.  Here are my final three photos on the list.

11.  Faces

12.  Negative Space

13.  Rivers/Lakes/Oceans

Today, I'm grateful to be feeling healthier and stronger and lighter after more than two months on my new eating regime.  I thought I would be craving my old favourite junk foods like crisps, chocolate and ice cream, but all I can think about, is what delicious recipe I can find next, to use up all the organic goodness in my fridge.  It feels good!

Nite all.

Day 353 in a Year of my Life

I took Adoring Husband on a tour of Tawny nests this morning.

Unfortunately, we found another dead chick beneath one of the nests.  So that's 3 (that I know of) out of a possible 9 chicks gone *insert sad face here*.

I didn't spy any of the live chicks this morning, but all of the male Tawnies are still sitting on the nest, so I can only assume that the chicks are still there, growing and maturing.  I'll be checking every day!

Tomorrow, I have an idea for #11 Faces, on my list for the 104 photography group October challenge, so I need to be out and about nice an early - I may even attempt a sunrise.

Now that I think about it, I have three reasons to be out bright and early.  The third reason is to catch sight of an African Parrot that is, apparently, on the loose in our town and has been sighted in the early mornings at a couple of locations that I can access.

I think I will need to be very lucky to spot him, but you never know your luck.  There's always a chance.

I tried this recipe tonight and I can highly recommend it!  Absolutely delicious.  So delicious, that I ate what was left in the salad bowl, after I finished my dinner!

Avocado Strawberry Spinach Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing

Ingredients
Salad Ingredients:

5 cups fresh baby spinach
1 punnet strawberries, hulled and sliced, or the equivalent amount of red or black grapes
1 avocado, diced (I prefere 2 avocados!)
100 g crumbled feta
1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted
half a small red onion, thinly sliced
poppyseed dressing (recipe below)

Poppyseed Dressing Ingredients:

1/2 cup avocado oil (or any good oil - olive oil/macadamia oil)
3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp. honey
1 Tbsp. poppy seeds
pinch of ground dry mustard (optional)
salt and pepper

Method
To Make The Salad:
Toss all ingredients together then add the dressing to your taste.   Serve immediately.

To Make The Poppyseed Dressing:
Mix all ingredients together until combined.

We ate it with some lamb loin chops, but I could easily eat it as a meal on it's own.

Today, I'm grateful for facebook, because every day, it presents me with new healthful recipes to try that are easy and fast and full of deliciousness.  Who knew that facebook could be anything other than a procrastination tool?!

Nite all.

Day 352 in a Year of my Life

Let me introduce you to Lolly's family ...

This is Dad.  The Dad sits on the nest all day and then swaps with Mum at night so that he can feed. Also can you see one of Lolly's siblings?  That tiny little piece of white fluff at the front there?

Cute huh?

There may be another chick there because Tawnies lay 2-3 eggs each season, so I'll be keeping an eye on this, and all the other nests that I've found, to see how many chicks survive to leave the nest.

Remember the list for the photography challenge this month?  The list of 13 things that my facebook 104 group have to photograph this month?

Well, number 10 is 'take a photo of a stranger and tell their story'

Meet Alison and Warren ...

They are from Whangaparaoa in New Zealand, about 40 mins north of Auckland, also known as 'Bay of Whales' (coincidentally!). 

They come to Australia every Winter and spend their time travelling in this van and working their way around the country. This visit, they've been here for 9 months. 

They usually live on a yacht and have also travelled up and down the East coast of Australia in the yacht. 

It will be their 39th wedding anniversary in three day's time! 

They leave for home in 2 weeks and dropped into our little town, for the first time this morning, to have breakfast. 

A really lovely couple and I got their email address so that I could send them a copy of the photo, as well as contact them if I'm ever in their area!

So now, I have three photos left to complete.  11.  Faces  12.  Negative Space  13.  Rivers/Lakes/Oceans.

Of course, I am the only one in the group anal enough to take and post the photos in the exact order that they appear on the list!  Sometimes I wonder about myself!  I think I've been with Adoring Husband too long, because that definitely sounds like a trait that I've picked up from him.

Today, I'm grateful for old movie re-runs.  Well, not that old I guess.  "50 First Dates" was made 9 years ago .. time flies when you're having fun.  I'm watching it as I write this .. it's one of my faves.

Nite all.

Day 351 in a Year of my Life

A quote from David Attenborough:

"We are a plague of the earth.  Either we limit our population growth, or the natural world will do it for us."

Facebook quotes:

One photo from me ...

Today, I'm grateful for ice cream made with frozen banana, avocado, greek yoghurt and pecans.  I am also grateful that Adoring Husband doesn't like it ... WIN WIN for me!!

Nite all

Day 350 in a Year of my Life

Meet Lolly ...

Isn't she adorable?  A Tawny Frogmouth chick, approximately 3 days old, that I found on the ground under a nest that was VERY high in the tree.

There was no safe place to put her nearby, so I picked her up and put her inside a glove that I had in my trike basket and brought her home.

I got online straight away and tried to contact The Nikonian, who I know has had experience caring for Tawnies in the past and I also googled for as much information as I could find.

Adoring Husband was in The Bay, and just happened to phone me, so I asked him to stop at the Vet to get some advice and some special food, which he did.

I kept Lolly in the glove, under a warm lamp and I fed her the special food, which she gobbled up quite happily.

You all know how much I love Tawnies.

I was so excited to be rescuing and saving a Tawny chick.  I knew that I'd probably not get much sleep, having to feed her every hour, but that didn't bother me.

She was making little chirping noises and seemed to be doing very well.

Unfortunately, she lasted just seven hours.  She got weak and seemed to go downhill very fast.

It's possible that she had internal injuries from the fall out of the nest.

She may have been tossed out of the nest because she had something wrong with her.

She may have been out of the nest for much longer than I thought and was already too weak to recover.

Who knows.

I do know that I did my best.  I have no regrets.  It was a great experience and I learnt a lot about Tawnies that I didn't already know.

I found two new nests today, so now I have three to watch ... all of them have chicks in them already, so hopefully, I'll get some good shots in the coming weeks.

So today, I'm grateful for the experience of attempting to save a Tawny Frogmouth chick.  She was so beautiful and soft and fluffy and provided me with the cutest photo for my macro challenge lol.  Really, ya gotta look on the bright side :)

Nite all.

Day 349 in a Year of my Life

It's good to have Adoring Husband home after a successful weekend of SES training.

He returned exhausted and sore, but happy!

This morning, before he arrived home, I began the process of making Feta cheese.

Last time, we tried this together and it was a massive FAIL.  You know what they say about 'too many cooks' .. so while I was here alone, to focus on the job at hand, I decided to have a go ...

I used organic, unhomogenized, full cream milk and everything else was provided in the cheese making kit.

I'd have used raw milk if there was anywhere to get it in my area.  Raw milk is illegal to sell for human consumption in Australia, but it's available in two places in QLD, that I know of, and they sell it for 'bathing' and 'pet food', but people buy it for consumption.

Anyway, my feta cheese is looking pretty darned good at this point.

When I wasn't in the kitchen - I also made a rhubarb and apple crumble for tonight's dessert - I worked on a couple of old photos.

It's been yet another wild windy day, but it seems that many places all over Australia are experiencing these horrible winds, so I shouldn't complain.

I picked our first red capsicum from the garden today.  That will be part of tomorrow's lunch, along with Crispy Kale and Pumpkin croquets.  A friend shared that recipe in facebook today, and it looks delicious, so I'll have a go and let you know what it's like.

Today, I'm grateful that Adoring Husband was able to manage all of the rigorous drills required for his training over the weekend.  I know he was worried about his ability to pass the physical requirements, but he did very well.

Nite all.