"When you pay up to 1,900 times more for something, you expect it to be worth it, but when it comes to bottled water most of the benefits are pure fantasy. What's worse, most bottled water companies hide the truth about their product in order to keep this profitable scheme going." - Dr Mercola. Source: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/01/21/best-and-worst-bottled-water-brands.aspx  

Allegedly aged 108 in 2009, Bernando LaPallo talks about his beliefs that his diet and lifestyle have enabled him to live longer than many.

Results - INTJ Introverted 56%; Intuitive 50%; Thinking 62%; Judging 56%.

My latest batch of homemade jam - apple and cherry, in this instance - straight from the pan and waiting for wax-paper seals.  The apples were from our garden; the first time we've had a decent crop from this young tree.  There is still some fruit on the branches, as yet unripened. I make my own jams so they're totally free of synthetic colours and other additives.  Made properly, unopened preserves can be safely stored for years.  It's a pleasant feeling to know the household cupboards are well-stocked. I also enjoy maintaining old traditions.  Preserving foods for the coming winter months is a task which has been observed for millennia.  These-days we're so used to simply popping out to the shops 24/7 that on the rare occasions that there's been some kind of hold-up in the supply chain, people started panicking within only a few days.  Maybe we should think about becoming a little more self-reliant?  We've become so dependent on others, on a complex co

On the TV news this morning was one of the two Scotsmen who have allegedly become infected with swine flu. He said it felt like having a head-cold. In other words, he had the sniffles. Every year, flu viruses reduce the population slightly. As has been suggested elsewhere, the sales of potions to protect against such bugs generates much lucre; and the medicine itself also fills a few extra coffins. Every so often there really is a pandemic--or so history reports. Certainly right now the press is having a merry time predicting devastation from this pig-related flu, perhaps as it conveniently distracts people from thinking about the pig’s ear which seems to have been created in the world of finance. Medical folk keep telling us that stress reduces the ability of our immune systems to ward off viruses (and ill-health in general.) Worrying about pig flu could therefore possibly increase a person's susceptibility to it. Anyway, whilst busily peeling the veg for tonight’s dinner,

Plans to tackle some more gardening were halted by today’s incessant soft rain. Instead I finished writing ch. 18 of Bethany Rose then had a book cull. I collect far too many books for the space available. Any non-fiction book that hasn’t been opened for five years might as well be consigned to the category of Outgrown Or Boring. Off to the charity shop with ‘em! We watched a peculiar little film yesterday:   The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes .  Beautifully lit, and very surreal, the film used puppets and/or automatons as well as live actors. Basically, it’s a story of a piano tuner who is taken to an island-based mental asylum to repair a series of automatons. The asylum’s doctor seems to be madder than his patients (or at least that was my impression.) An interesting if rather puzzling film; it’s plot reminded me of something from the Twilight Zone or Tales of the Unexpected. I’ve now finished reading  The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicles, Day 1)  by Patrick Rothfuss, which

However you celebrate Yule, I hope you have a great time! The house is quieter again now. Richard's upstairs playing with his new toy, a gadget which records old LP records onto CD--some of those ancient albums are too valuable to play now, he says, especially his original Queen and similar. The market value of these things not something I know anything about. And Cat's just set off for home--her shared student home--and in the morning her father will collect her and drive her home for the Xmas break from Uni. She's already talking about studying for a PhD. She's got to get this BsC first! And then a full-time job (rather than the part-time waitress job she already has.) I'm pleased she's aiming towards a constructive goal; at her age, I hadn't a clue what I wanted to do--not due to a lack of interests but because I had so many. I had no idea how to specialise in just one interest when so many diverse and seemingly contradictory subjects held appeal. P

I've got two pairs of socks on, and some leg warmers, and my feet are still freezing! It's a hazard of sitting in front of this computer for too long. Anyway, editing work on Tamsin continues, and chapter 12 brings the total word count so far to 33,250. This afternoon I'll be dodging rain showers to go to the village. We need a few bits for the kitchen, and as I'll be seeing friends tomorrow there's a small present to find. There has been no snow here at all, despite the gloom-laden weather forecasts on TV! Fancy them shutting schools yesterday, just for an inch or so of snow. As a child, my friends and I walked the mile to junior school through knee-deep drifts of snow, and then home again later (at the usual time) - every winter. Softies! (Am I now turning into Victor Meldrew? Will my next statement be a lament about having coped with twelve hours down the coal pit before walking over the ice-bound hills in bare feet to do another twelve hours in t'owd co

"Mmm, this tastes good," he said, sipping a smoothie. "What's in it?" "Oh, you know... Live yoghurt, a dash of pure orange juice for liquid, four bananas, two plums, two apricots, a big spoonful of honey, a carrot, half a brocoli and ten sprouts." May I introduce the newest member of this household? At just a few weeks old, Emily currently weighs 3lbs 4oz.

The temporary incapacitation caused by this pesky bronchial pneumonia has allowed me to indulge in a prolonged bout of reading. I highly recommend an exceptionally well-written first novel by Khaled Hosseini , The Kite Runner , both as a pleasurably bitter-sweet tale and as a seemingly balanced insight into recent Afghan life. We enjoyed a lovely trip to Chester on Monday. The River Dee had flooded the lower level of the river walk, but I have seen the waters higher on rare occasions. A gorgeous swan came to say hello to me. What beautiful creatures they are; and though to describe them as regal might be an unforgivable cliché, this word truly does belong to these magnificent birds. They can be surprisingly fierce – apparently their wings can break a man’s leg – and yet if you’ve ever watched one sailing along with cygnets hitching a ride on their backs then you’d know how tender they can be also. We lunched in The Slug and Lettuce, which was rather pleasant, before having a wand