by Chip Sansom
Friday, 26 December 2008
Tuesday, 16 December 2008
Naked in a shower
Recently, I was talking about moulting trees. Now, the rains have arrived; whether it will be for a short visit or stay for awhile, we will have to wait and see. The weather boys and girls tell us that the monsoon is just off the coast. It has been raining, from heavy to drizzle, since Sunday, the frogs have been singing harmoniously and everything feels damp. But it is definitely cooler! Funny people that we are, we now run the airconditioning to prevent everything turning mouldy. Blue suede shoes are not back in fashion just yet!
From the Bureau of Meteorology this morning:
Issued at 5:00 am CST on Tuesday 16 December 2008
Current Weather Summary and Future Developments:
A monsoon trough lies just off the north coast with a tropical low located in the Timor Sea. The low and trough are expected to develop, with squally monsoonal showers and storms about the north and west coasts over the next few days. Widespread showers and storms elsewhere in the north. To the south, fine with a dry southeast flow, tending warmer northerly with storms extending down the western border from mid-week ahead of a trough approaching from the west.
Meanwhile, back to those trees. It would appear that they love the rain cooling their new skin. This is the eucalyptus alba (salmon gum) which has finished moulting.
To the right, see the flowers of the melaleuca (paperback or ti tree) which is also showing the appreciation of the rain. If the rain continues for a period of time, its combination with high tides, will see the tidal creek (behind the trees) right up to the path.
In the next photo, you can also see a cycad looking appreciative of the rain.
From the Bureau of Meteorology this morning:
Issued at 5:00 am CST on Tuesday 16 December 2008
Current Weather Summary and Future Developments:
A monsoon trough lies just off the north coast with a tropical low located in the Timor Sea. The low and trough are expected to develop, with squally monsoonal showers and storms about the north and west coasts over the next few days. Widespread showers and storms elsewhere in the north. To the south, fine with a dry southeast flow, tending warmer northerly with storms extending down the western border from mid-week ahead of a trough approaching from the west.
Meanwhile, back to those trees. It would appear that they love the rain cooling their new skin. This is the eucalyptus alba (salmon gum) which has finished moulting.
To the right, see the flowers of the melaleuca (paperback or ti tree) which is also showing the appreciation of the rain. If the rain continues for a period of time, its combination with high tides, will see the tidal creek (behind the trees) right up to the path.
In the next photo, you can also see a cycad looking appreciative of the rain.
Friday, 12 December 2008
Sweet and Deadly for the Waistline … how to let sugar kill you sweetly but surely
“If the definition of insanity is to continue doing the same thing and expect a different outcome, then as a society we are not only getting fatter but crazier.
Governments spend a fortune on programs that tell people to eat less fatty food and exercise more in order to lose weight, while consumers fork out ever-increasing amounts on gym memberships, packaged meals, books, magazines and the advice of experts. Despite decades of this kind of activity we are now fatter than at any other time in history. ”
David Gillespie from the Weekend Australian 29-30 November 2008. *
For a long time I have noticed the wrappers from the lollies that fill up the lolly jar in the office are big on advertizing 98% fat free. Yeah, maybe, but how much sugar is there in there? 100% or more if they could put it in there!
But fat free has been the big sell catchcry for a long time.
98% fat free seems to be a well used one, it must hit the ears best.
Less fat, low fat, no fat; but we are still fat!
David Gillespie is not the first person to write about the sugar kill, and he probably won’t be the last; but it is worth looking at and thinking about.
Read the labels next time you are tempted to grab that processed product off the shelf in the supermarket, or better still, read the labels on the ones in the pantry and fridge. And then take a moment to wonder why that product has sugar in it. Then have a look at the other ones beside it; maybe one of them doesn’t have sugar, and it might even taste better too. Yes, it will take a while to change your brain, but your body will definitely thank you for it.
I could list a lot of brands that that I use now that actually taste like the real thing, without the sugar; and there are other books out there that do it too, but you can just read the labels and do a bit of thinking.
You will probably have to do a bit of cooking too. Those fresh vegies and fruit are quite good too if they aren’t too much added to. Peel and slice apples or pears and cook them (without sugar), maybe like grandma used to, and you’ll be amazed that they taste good, you know, really like apples or pears! You don't have to become a hermit, just a thinking person again, rather than a retail controlled robot. Put yourself in charge.
Give it a go; cut the sugar, eat reasonable amounts of good food and your body will thank you.
* David Gillespie is the author of Sweet Poison: Why Sugar Makes us Fat (Penguin)
Read the whole article here:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24717513-23289,00.html
Governments spend a fortune on programs that tell people to eat less fatty food and exercise more in order to lose weight, while consumers fork out ever-increasing amounts on gym memberships, packaged meals, books, magazines and the advice of experts. Despite decades of this kind of activity we are now fatter than at any other time in history. ”
David Gillespie from the Weekend Australian 29-30 November 2008. *
For a long time I have noticed the wrappers from the lollies that fill up the lolly jar in the office are big on advertizing 98% fat free. Yeah, maybe, but how much sugar is there in there? 100% or more if they could put it in there!
But fat free has been the big sell catchcry for a long time.
98% fat free seems to be a well used one, it must hit the ears best.
Less fat, low fat, no fat; but we are still fat!
David Gillespie is not the first person to write about the sugar kill, and he probably won’t be the last; but it is worth looking at and thinking about.
Read the labels next time you are tempted to grab that processed product off the shelf in the supermarket, or better still, read the labels on the ones in the pantry and fridge. And then take a moment to wonder why that product has sugar in it. Then have a look at the other ones beside it; maybe one of them doesn’t have sugar, and it might even taste better too. Yes, it will take a while to change your brain, but your body will definitely thank you for it.
Luckily I had returned to a doctor, whom I had known for a long while, for a diagnosis of what was wrong with me; he was smack in the moosh blunt to me, and put things pretty clearly early enough - fix it now!
You could go cold turkey. Interesting experience. I did it, and it was a shock to me to experience the headaches as the body screamed out for the sugar hit for about five days. I told no-one else about the headaches for a long time. I didn’t want to admit that I was a sugar addict. A warning … if you do it too slowly you are going to have to be really tough with yourself and make sure the sugar intake is really moving down, not down and up.I could list a lot of brands that that I use now that actually taste like the real thing, without the sugar; and there are other books out there that do it too, but you can just read the labels and do a bit of thinking.
You will probably have to do a bit of cooking too. Those fresh vegies and fruit are quite good too if they aren’t too much added to. Peel and slice apples or pears and cook them (without sugar), maybe like grandma used to, and you’ll be amazed that they taste good, you know, really like apples or pears! You don't have to become a hermit, just a thinking person again, rather than a retail controlled robot. Put yourself in charge.
Give it a go; cut the sugar, eat reasonable amounts of good food and your body will thank you.
* David Gillespie is the author of Sweet Poison: Why Sugar Makes us Fat (Penguin)
Read the whole article here:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24717513-23289,00.html
Friday, 5 December 2008
Moulting Trees
As I have said a few times lately, it is rather tropical here at the moment (that’s how the locals sarcastically describe damn hot, at this time of the year, when speaking to a tourist!)We all know that cats moult, usually all over the best chair in the place, and dogs moult as the weather warms up, but trees?
I looked up a definition:
Moulting noun
periodic shedding of the cuticle in arthropods or the outer skin in reptiles.
(Dictionary.com)
Hmmm … I am not sure which category a tree would fit into, but I am still sure that they are moulting.
I have searched further, and lo and behold, cuticle is the connection to the plant kingdom …
Cuticle noun
Botany. a very thin hyaline film covering the surface of plants, derived from the outer surfaces of the epidermal cells.
I knew it! I have been watching them, and they are definitely moulting; you can even see the pile of skin on the ground below them!
I guess they too will feel cooler when the rains come.
Thursday, 4 December 2008
The storms, they are a’brewing
About three weeks ago, I posted about our pre-monsoon storm season.
http://veronicas-secrets.blogspot.com/2008/11/gunumeleng-next-season-in-year.html
This afternoon, I was out and about in the car and couldn’t resist taking some photos of the afternoon cumulonimbus storm cloud build up.
We have had some storms, which have been a pleasant, if short lived, break from the very humid and hot conditions we have been experiencing since the beginning of November. As I sit here writing, at just before midnight, the thermometer still sits on 29.6˚C, and I won’t tell you the humidity. All I can say is thank God for airconditioning! However, we haven’t had a lot of rain and the personalities are still strained. This doesn’t help as we move towards Christmas, with its added hustle and bustle as people plan their Christmas activities. For some, it will be a break away to join family in slightly cooler climes, or a holiday break in one of our neighbouring Asian countries.
Enjoy the cloud photos; hopefully, soon they will deliver some cooling rain.
http://veronicas-secrets.blogspot.com/2008/11/gunumeleng-next-season-in-year.html
This afternoon, I was out and about in the car and couldn’t resist taking some photos of the afternoon cumulonimbus storm cloud build up.
We have had some storms, which have been a pleasant, if short lived, break from the very humid and hot conditions we have been experiencing since the beginning of November. As I sit here writing, at just before midnight, the thermometer still sits on 29.6˚C, and I won’t tell you the humidity. All I can say is thank God for airconditioning! However, we haven’t had a lot of rain and the personalities are still strained. This doesn’t help as we move towards Christmas, with its added hustle and bustle as people plan their Christmas activities. For some, it will be a break away to join family in slightly cooler climes, or a holiday break in one of our neighbouring Asian countries.
Enjoy the cloud photos; hopefully, soon they will deliver some cooling rain.
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