Oh, What We Eat

This morning I woke up and realized that my allergies are back.  I thought I was free of them this year, but I suppose they started a little later than before.  All winter long I was taking teaspoons of local honey and for a while there, I was bragging that my symptoms had not shown up.  Yesterday I started noticing a stuffy nose, itchy eyes, and now this morning, it is a little worse.  I guess since I used up all the honey, the magic powers stopped working.

As I have gotten older and read more, I am more and more convinced that our environment is the cause of most of the illnesses we get, including cancer. Yes, some people are more susceptible to them because their genetics make them that way, but these environmental factors are further complicated by what we eat.  The standard American diet is full of chemicals and we have gone away from foods that are not natural.  Sure our ancestors got sick and even got cancer, but not to the rate we get it now.  People in other countries don't get the same rate of cancers either.  Look at their diet.

You are what you eat, they say.  If you eat wholesome, local food and stay away from sugars, additives, and preservatives, you will be less likely to get sick.  One only has to look around to the people who you know get sick frequently.  What are they eating?  Chances are, their diet is full of chemicals; diet sodas, breakfast cereals packed with additives, and highly processed food on a constant basis. Contrary to Monsanto, better living is not done through chemistry. Better dying, but not better living.

Warmth

We were fooled a little last week that Spring was here.  This morning I woke up to 63 degree weather in my part of the world and the birds singing outside my window.  I know it’s here now.  I rushed outside as soon as I dressed to look at my bee hive and sure enough they have started hatching.

I am trying Mason Bees this year for the first time.  Last year, my honey beekeeper friend took me to a bee seminar sponsored by the Pennsylvania Backyard Beekeepers Association and I learned all about bees.  I learned that Mason Bees are native to this country and that they are even better pollinators that our honey bee friends.  They are a lot less work and don’t produce honey and with my time as small as it is, I decided to go this route.  So I went online and order a nest and house.  It arrived last week and I put the nest outside and today, as I said, I went outside and several of the tubes have been broken through.  These are the males and they will fly around a while and then when the females hatch, mating will occur and then the males will die and the females will spend the next few month laying eggs and then they will die.  It is a short life for the bees, but a productive one.

I will be anxious to see what happens.  I tried to get my husband to hang the nest under the overhang of the roof yesterday but he didn’t.  I told him it has to be done today and now he knows that it does.  If they can’t find the nest then there will be a problem.  But if only a few have hatched and he gets it done today, maybe we will be okay.  

Culture

Ah, Spring!  It is finally cruisin’ weather.  The temperatures are mild enough now that I can have my windows down and crank up the music.  I have a varied taste in my listening repertoire.  For example, just yesterday I was coming home from the grocery store and a song named Indestructible by Disturbed came on my iPod followed by Chopin. I love riding through town with something like Beethoven, Wagner, or Chopin on my sound system because it keeps people guessing.  One normally doesn’t hear that kind of music full bore.  They hear a variety of rap music with bass that makes ones windows rattle, so why not hear the classics that way?

I think that most people in the place where I live don’t know about music because all they know about is what they hear on the radio or Internet Radio.  There are very few classical music stations around anymore so the appreciation of the classics is not available on a daily basis.  Children are not always exposed to classical music in schools as they should, and if they are, it is small amount and not generally heralded as important.  But then again, I am not a teacher or have a school aged child any longer, so maybe I am wrong here.  I suspect though that I a not.

Culture is not just the music, or customs, of your ancestors, but music and customs of everyone’s ancestors.  Like history, I believe we need to know where we come from a musical standpoint as well as from a sociological standpoint.  The basis of what we are listening today is as important to understand as knowing how our fore parents lived.  That way we can understand and appreciate how far we have come.  

Update

I have not blogged in quite a while I know.  I have a new job which has kept me very busy during the day, even during my lunch time when I previously blogged before.  Today I decided to do it and realize that it is not as easy to do from my work computer as it was before at my other job.  The  I decided to do it on my tablet and the keyboard was dead.  Not too discouraged, I am using the virtual keyboard on the tablet, which really isn't the easiest thing to do, at least to me.  Maybe more practice is needed, but that is not here or there.

As I hinted above, I have a new job. I basically took retirement from the financial firm I was working at for 30 years and am working full time in politics. I absolutely love it. I know many of the people I work with and have for many years from being involved in local politics, so there wasn't the same awkward feeling on the day that I started as I have experienced with past jobs. It was a little strange working in this office because in the past I have worked here just for a few hours at a time so being here full time was a little strange. But now I am fully integrated and it is a wonderful experience.

The other new thing in my life that is keeping me really busy is running for Municipal Council. There is one seat open, because the Council person currently there is term limited and can't run again. The other At-Large member is able to run again and is doing so. There are four others vying for this one open seat so I need to get my candinancy out there! Since I was a district Council member before and this is for the whole town, I have to introduce myself to a whole lot of new people. But I am very excited to work to get on Council again and work on issues that I feel are important to the town. There will be more on this topic but for now, just know that I am very busy around the clock. It is gratifying though. Thanks to those who can help me in this journey.