Crash Diets ‘May Reduce Life span’
I started to file this under Mating Behavior, and then I had to stop and think . . . do women crash diet to be more attractive to men, or because they are comparing themselves to other women?
From BBC Health News:
Scottish scientists have found that binge eating and crash dieting may significantly reduce life expectancy.
Researchers from Glasgow University observed that fish given a “binge then diet” food regime had a reduced lifespan of up to 25%.
Their study compared the growth rate, success of reproduction and lifespan of stickleback fish.
They believe the findings could have implications for teenagers and children who follow extreme patterns of dieting. This is because they are still growing.
The study was conducted by researchers in the University of Glasgow’s faculty of biomedical and life sciences.
The findings are published in the journal, Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
The Magic Bullet
What if someone told you there was a magic pill you could take that would help your body fight off attacks of diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis – almost anything that ails you – wouldn’t you grab that pill?
You can read the entire article HERE, at the New York Times.
You Name It, and Exercise Helps It
By JANE E. BRODY
Published: April 29, 2008
Randi considers the Y.M.C.A. her lifeline, especially the pool. Randi weighs more than 300 pounds and has borderline diabetes, but she controls her blood sugar and keeps her bright outlook on life by swimming every day for about 45 minutes.
Randi overcame any self-consciousness about her weight for the sake of her health, and those who swim with her and share the open locker room are proud of her. If only the millions of others beset with chronic health problems recognized the inestimable value to their physical and emotional well-being of regular physical exercise.
“The single thing that comes close to a magic bullet, in terms of its strong and universal benefits, is exercise,” Frank Hu, epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health, said in the Harvard Magazine.
I have written often about the protective roles of exercise. It can lower the risk of heart attack, stroke, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, depression, dementia, osteoporosis, gallstones, diverticulitis, falls, erectile dysfunction, peripheral vascular disease and 12 kinds of cancer.
But what if you already have one of these conditions? Or an ailment like rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, congestive heart failure or osteoarthritis? How can you exercise if you’re always tired or in pain or have trouble breathing? Can exercise really help?
You bet it can. Marilyn Moffat, a professor of physical therapy at New York University and co-author with Carole B. Lewis of “Age-Defying Fitness” (Peachtree, 2006), conducts workshops for physical therapists around the country and abroad, demonstrating how people with chronic health problems can improve their health and quality of life by learning how to exercise safely.
Up and Moving
“The data show that regular moderate exercise increases your ability to battle the effects of disease,” Dr. Moffat said in an interview. “It has a positive effect on both physical and mental well-being. The goal is to do as much physical activity as your body lets you do, and rest when you need to rest.”
In years past, doctors were afraid to let heart patients exercise. When my father had a heart attack in 1968, he was kept sedentary for six weeks. Now, heart attack patients are in bed barely half a day before they are up and moving, Dr. Moffat said.
The core of cardiac rehab is a progressive exercise program to increase the ability of the heart to pump oxygen- and nutrient-rich blood more effectively throughout the body. The outcome is better endurance, greater ability to enjoy life and decreased mortality.
The same goes for patients with congestive heart failure. “Heart failure patients as old as 91 can increase their oxygen consumption significantly,” Dr. Moffat said.
Aerobic exercise lowers blood pressure in people with hypertension, and it improves peripheral circulation in people who develop cramping leg pains when they walk — a condition called intermittent claudication. The treatment for it, in fact, is to walk a little farther each day.
In people who have had transient ischemic attacks, or ministrokes, “gradually increasing exercise improves blood flow to the brain and may diminish the risk of a full-blown stroke,” Dr. Moffat said. And aerobic and strength exercises have been shown to improve endurance, walking speed and the ability to perform tasks of daily living up to six years after a stroke.
As Randi knows, moderate exercise cuts the risk of developing diabetes. And for those with diabetes, exercise improves glucose tolerance — less medication is needed to control blood sugar — and reduces the risk of life-threatening complications.
Perhaps the most immediate benefits are reaped by people with joint and neuromuscular disorders. Without exercise, those at risk of osteoarthritis become crippled by stiff, deteriorated joints. But exercise that increases strength and aerobic capacity can reduce pain, depression and anxiety and improve function, balance and quality of life.
Likewise for people with rheumatoid arthritis. “The less they do, the worse things get,” Dr. Moffat said. “The more their joints move, the better.”
Exercise that builds gradually and protects inflamed joints can diminish pain, fatigue, morning stiffness, depression and anxiety, she said, and improve strength, walking speed and activity.
Exercise is crucial to improving function of total hip or knee replacements. But “most patients with knee replacements don’t get intensive enough activity,” Dr. Moffat said.
Water exercises are particularly helpful for people with multiple sclerosis, who must avoid overheating. And for those with Parkinson’s, resistance training and aerobic exercise can increase their ability to function independently and improve their balance, stride length, walking speed and mood.
Need Some Encouragement
I just got sick of myself, not exercising, and decided to start exercising again, and so I did. I have a little running trampoline, I can run, watch the news, watch the ships go by out in the Gulf, and, of course, I count.
Why am I counting? I heard about this program, 1000 Steps, that if you walk 10,000 steps a day, you should be on your way to fitness. I figure if I can knock out a good part of that on the trampoline, also getting my heart rate up, it should be all good – right? Wouldn’t you think so?
I’ve done fairly well. Counting helps me get through the exercise – I’m sort of accomplishment driven, and I need to have goals to achieve. I started out at 2200 and I am now up to 3200 – it’s not that hard, and one day I am hoping to be able to knock out 10,000 steps and then all my other steps all day are gravy.
Except for one thing. Since I’ve started, which was only a week ago, I have actually GAINED weight. It is SO discouraging. I am feeling better, I think I can already see positive changes in the mirror, I am feeling more fit. I love the feeling of burning calories I get when I have finished. I don’t believe I have changed my eating habits – so why would the scales move up???
Cynthia’s Praline Cake
My friend Cynthia, who knows I love mysteries, confessed to me that it was HER praline cake featured in JA Jance’s Joanna Brady series, and that she was the Cynthia who, in the book, brings it to the community potluck supper. And . . . she shared the recipe with me!
My friends, it is an easy recipe if you have the ingredients on hand (oats, brown sugar, butter) but I warn you – no substitutions! Yes, it is full of sugars and fats – why do you think it tastes so good??
Cynthia’s Praline Cake
(This is another one you can make in two 8″ round pans, and freeze one for later.)
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup cold water
1 cup white sugar
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 cup oil
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
Icing
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
2 Tablespoons milk
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 1/4 cut chopped pecans
In a small bowl combine the oats and water, set aside. In another small bowl, combine and mix the dry ingredients – the flour, soda, cinnamon and salt.
In a larger mixing bowl, cream together the sugars, oil and eggs. Beat, add the oat mixture alternately with the mixed dry ingredients. Mix well.
Pour into greased and floured 9 x 13 inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 – 40 minutes.
For the icing: Just before the cake is done, combine butter, milk, and brown sugar in a saucepan, bring it to a boil and boil for one minute. Add the pecans and mix. Spread over cake.
For Jewaira, who always asks for pictures, this is what the finished cake looks like:
Benefits of Cinnamon and Honey
The friend who sent this forward to me knows I like folk remedies and natural medicines, and even though that is true, there are parts of this forward about which I am seriously skeptical. Cinnamon and honey taste good. They probably can’t hurt you if you try it for bad breath, or weight loss, or gas, or a cold.
If you have high cholesterol or cancer – this forward does not cite any studies for the benefits claimed, so if you were to add cinnamon and honey to your diet, it probably wouldn’t hurt you, but if you stopped taking your medications without consulting your doctor – that would be a very bad idea.
Add cinnamon and honey to your toast, to your tea, but, in addition, take some of these suggestions with a grain of salt.
Subject: Benefits of Cinnamon & Honey
Facts on honey and cinnamon:
It is found that a mixture of
honey and cinnamon cures most diseases. Honey is produced in most of
the countries of the world. Scientists of today also accept honey as
a ” Ram Ban” (very effective) medicine for all kinds of diseases.
Honey can be used without any side effects for any kind of diseases.
Today’s science says that even though honey is
sweet, if taken in the right dosage as a medicine, it does not harm
diabetic patients. Weekly World News, a magazine in Canada, on its
issue dated 17 January, 1995 has given the following list of diseases
that can be cured by honey and cinnamon as
researched by western scientists:
HEART DISEASES:
Make a paste of honey and cinnamon powder, apply on toast instead of jelly and jam, and eat it regularly for breakfast. It reduces the cholesterol in the arteries and saves the
patient from heart attack. Also those who have already had an attack,
if they do this process daily, they are kept miles away from the next
attack. Regular use of the above process relieves loss of breath and
strengthens the heart beat. In America and Canada , various nursing
homes have treated patients successfully and have found that as you
age, the arteries and veins lose their flexibility and get clogged;
honey and cinnamon revitalize the arteries and veins.
ARTHRITIS:
Arthritis patients may take daily, morning, and
night, one cup of hot water with two spoons of honey and one small
teaspoon of cinnamon powder. If taken regularly even chronic
arthritis can be cured. In a recent research conducted at the
Copenhagen University, it was found that when the doctors
treated their patients with a mixture of one tablespoon Honey and
half teaspoon Cinnamon powder before breakfast, they found that
within a week, out of the 200 people so treated, practically 73
patients were totally relieved of pain, and within a month, mostly
all th e patients who could not walk or move around because of
arthritis started walking without pain.
BLADDER INFECTIONS:
Take two tablespoons of cinnamon powder and one
teaspoon of honey in a glass of lukewarm water and drink it. It
destroys the germs in the bladder.
TOOTHACHE:
Make a paste of one teaspoon of cinnamon powder and
five teaspoons of honey and apply on the aching tooth. This may be
applied three times a day until the tooth stops aching.
CHOLESTEROL:
Two tablespoons of honey and three teaspoons of
Cinnamon Powder mixed in 16 ounces of tea water, given to a
cholesterol patient were found to reduce the level of cholesterol in
the blood by 10 percent within two hours. As mentioned for arthritic
patients, if taken three times a day, any chronic cholesterol is
cured. According to information received in said journal, pure
honey taken with food daily relieves complaints of cholesterol. (By
the way. if you’re taking cholesterol medicine STOP! They all contain
STATIN which weaken your muscles…including YOUR HEARTand none has
been shown to stop heart attacks or strokes!!!!)
(Blogger comment: Please, this is a forward. Please, don’t stop taking your cholesterol medications without discussing this with your doctor. If it were so simple, wouldn’t we have heard this before?)
COLDS:
Those suffering from common or severe colds should
take one tablespoon lukewarm honey with 1/4 spoon cinnamon powder
daily for three days. This process will cure most chronic cough,
cold, and clear the sinuses.
UPSET STOMACH:
Honey taken with cinnamon powder cures stomach ache
and also clears stomach ulcers from the root.
GAS:
According to the studies done in India and Japan ,
it is revealed that if honey is taken with cinnamon powder the
stomach is relieved of gas.
IMMUNE SYSTEM:
Daily use of honey and cinnamon powder strengthens
the immune system and protects the body from bacteria and viral
attacks. Scientists have found that honey has various vitamins and
iron in large amounts. Constant use of honey strengthens the white
blood corpuscles to fight bacteria and viral diseases.
INDIGESTION:
Cinnamon powder sprinkled on two tablespoons of
honey taken before food relieves acidity and digests the heaviest of
meals
INFLUENZA:
A scientist in Spain has proved that honey contains
a natural Ingredient which kills the influenza germs and saves the
patient from flu.
LONGEVITY:
Tea made with honey and cinnamon powder, when taken
regularly, arrests the ravages of old age. Take four spoons of
honey, one spoon of cinnamon powder and three cups of water and boil
to make like tea. Drink 1/4 cup, three to four times a day. It
keeps the skin fresh and soft and arrests old age. Life spans also
increases and even a 100 year old, starts performing the chores of a 20-year-old.
PIMPLES:
Three tablespoons of honey and one teaspoon of
cinnamon powder paste.
Apply this paste on the pimples before sleeping and
wash it next morning with warm water. If done daily for two weeks,
it removes pimples from the root.
SKIN INFECTIONS:
Applying honey and cinnamon powder in equal parts
on the affected parts cures eczema, ringworm and all types of skin
infections.
WEIGHT LOSS:
Daily in the morning one half hour before breakfast
on an empty stomach and at night before sleeping, dr ink honey and
cinnamon powder boiled in one cup of water. If taken regularly, it
reduces the weight of even the most obese person. Also, drinking
this mixture regular ly does not allow the fat to accumulate in the
body even though the person may eat a high calorie diet.
CANCER:
Recent research in Japan and Australia has revealed
that advanced cancer of the stomach and bones have been cured
successfully. Patients suffering from these kinds of cancer should
daily take one tablespoon of honey with one teaspoon of cinnamon
powder for one month three times a day.
(Blogger comment: Research by whom? Again, please discuss this with your doctor – if curing cancer were so easy as eating cinnamon and honey, we would probably all be cancer free by now.)
FATIGUE:
Recent studies have shown that the sugar content of
honey is more helpful rather than being detrimental to the strength
of the body. Senior citizens, who take honey and cinnamon powder in
equal parts, are more alert and flexible. Dr. Milton, who has done
research, says that a half tablespoon of honey taken in a glass of
water and sprinkled with cinnamon powder, taken daily after brushing
and in the afternoon at about 3:00 p.m. when the vitality of the
body starts to decrease, increases the vitality of the body within a week.
BAD BREATH:
People of South America , first thing in the
morning, gargle with one teaspoon of honey and cinnamon powde r mixed
in hot water, so their breath stays fresh throughout the day.
HEARING LOSS:
Daily morning and night honey and cinnamon powder,
taken in equal parts restore hearing. Remember when we were kids? We
had toast with real butter and cinnamon sprinkled on it!
Daily Caffeine Helps Block Dementia
A big WOO Hoooo for those of us who need our daily coffee fix – BBC Health News tells us it may help block dementia.
Coffee may cut the risk of dementia by blocking the damage cholesterol can inflict on the body, research suggests.
The drink has already been linked to a lower risk of Alzheimer’s Disease, and a study by a US team for the Journal of Neuroinflammation may explain why.
. . . . . .
‘Safe drug’
“Caffeine appears to block several of the disruptive effects of cholesterol that make the blood-brain barrier leaky,” said Dr Jonathan Geiger, who led the study.
“High levels of cholesterol are a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, perhaps by compromising the protective nature of the blood brain barrier.
“Caffeine is a safe and readily available drug and its ability to stabilise the blood brain barrier means it could have an important part to play in therapies against neurological disorders.”
A vital barrier between the brain and the main blood supply of rabbits fed a fat-rich diet was protected in those given a caffeine supplement.
UK experts said it was the “best evidence yet” of coffee’s benefits.
Just in time – gotta go get my second cup! While I am gone, you can read the rest of the article HERE.
Go For the Bloat
It is breathtaking in its audacity. In a report from CondeNastPortfolio.com we learn of a reverse approach by Carl Jrs. / Hardee’s – going full out towards mega-caloric burgers.
This post is dedicated to Mark, at 2:48 the b-side who is on a quest in Kuwait for the ultimate burger. I am afraid he is going to – literally – eat his heart out.
It was a patriotic statement that went a bit too far afield: an attempt to create the “ultimate picnic burger.” Called the Fourth of July Burger, it was tested last summer at seven locations by the West Coast fast-food chain Carl’s Jr. and consisted of a huge beef patty topped with pickles, ketchup, mustard, potato chips, and a hot dog. Stacked high and loaded with fat and calories, it was the food equivalent of the national anthem played through a sousaphone, a perfect distillation of a peculiarly American form of balls-out, postmodern gluttony that, at least outwardly, we’re all supposed to be ashamed of right now.
Yet for all its pomp and glory, it didn’t quite work. When John Koncki, director of product development for Carl’s Jr., talks about it now, he comes across a little wistful. It tasted really good, he says, but the name and the concept proved too much for the testers. “Sometimes,” the earnest Koncki says, “some of the sandwiches are so unique that consumers can’t wrap their heads around them.”
The uniqueness isn’t the only thing that’s hard to get your head around. During the past few years, CKE Restaurants, the parent company of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, has employed an audacious go-for-bloat approach that defies just about everything you’ve come to assume about the business of modern fast food. (See nutrition data for CKE franchises and other fast-food chains.) In an age when other chains have been forced to at least pretend that they care about the health of their customers and have started offering packets of apples and things sprinkled with walnuts and yogurt, Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. are purposely running in the opposite direction, unapologetically creating an arsenal of higher-priced, high-fat, high-calorie monstrosities—pioneering avant-garde concepts such as “meat as a condiment” and “fast-food porn”—and putting the message out to increasingly receptive consumers with ads that are often as controversial as the burgers themselves.
You can read the rest of this article, and similar articles, by clicking HERE.
Going Bananas
A friend sent this to me this morning, via old-fashioned e-mail, and I thought I’d share it with you before we race to the market to buy out all the bananas!
A professor at CCNY for a physiological psych class told his class about bananas. He said the expression “going bananas” is from the effects of bananas on the brain. Read on:
Never, put your banana in the refrigerator!!!
After reading this, you’ll never look at a banana in the same way again.
Bananas contain three natural sugars – sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fiber. A banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy.
Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world’s leading athletes.
But energy isn’t the only way a banana can help us keep fit. It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet.
Depression: According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.
PMS: Forget the pills – eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.
Anemia : High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia.
Blood Pressure: This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it perfect to beat blood pressure. So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit’s ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke.
Brain Power: 200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex) school ( England ) were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.
Constipation: High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.
Hangovers: One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey.. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.
Heartburn: Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.
Morning Sickness: Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness.
Mosquito bites: Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.
Nerves: Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system.
Overweight and at work? Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and chips. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady.
Ulcers: The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach.
Temperature control: Many other cultures see bananas as a “cooling” fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand , for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature.
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan.
Smoking &Tobacco Use: Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking. The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and magnesium found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal.
Stress: Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body’s water balance. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack.
Strokes: According to research in The New England Journal of Medicine, eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%!
Warts: Those keen on natural alternatives swear that if you want to kill off a wart, take a piece of banana skin and place it on the wart, with the yellow side out. Carefully hold the skin in place with a plaster or surgical tape!
So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around So maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, “A banana a day keeps the doctor away!”
PS: Bananas must be the reason monkeys are so happy all the time! I will add one here; want a quick shine on our shoes?? Take the INSIDE of the banana skin, and rub directly on the shoe…polish with dry cloth. Amazing fruit !!!
Meat and Fish at the Sultan Center
It doesn’t take long before you live in a country long enough that you don’t see with the same eyes as when you came. Last week, as I was shopping, I was looking for something to fix for dinner. Normally, I just see something and grab and go, but my attention was caught by how expensive everything was, and then again, by the fact that American ground beef was twice as expensive as New Zealand ground beef, and both were really really expensive – it’s ground beef!
I’ve been careful about meat ever since I read Deadly Feasts about ten years ago. The book is a medical mystery, it traces the identification of Mad Cow Disease, and how vulnerable we all are. The human variant takes ten years to develop – all because tainted meat enters our food supply, because meat producers are too greedy to pass up a cow who is stumbling and falling down.
Even those who keep it out of the human food chain often process fallen cows for animal food.
And none of that has anything to do, really, with this post. The point is, for once, instead of rushing by, I was paying attention. When you pay attention, you start to see things (again) (or for the first time.) Here, you see things routinely that you don’t see in the United States:
Lamb’s brains:
Lamb’s heart:
Sheep’s feet:
Fresh Quail:
Kuwaiti Shoom:
Saudi Shrimp (these look big, but Kuwaiti shrimp, in season, are even bigger, and the sweetest shrimp you have ever tasted):
Iranian Squid:
Nuabi (a fish caught locally)
I love Kuwaiti seafood, and this is the one I love the best of all, Kuwaiti Zubaidi:
For those of you in the US, you can multiply the prices by four for an approximate idea of how much the food costs in dollars. The dollar is slipping here, as everywhere else, prices are going up, and we are taking the double whammy.
The seafood is out of this world. Even though expensive, local caught seafood is about what we would pay for seafood in the US. Vegetables IN SEASON can be reasonable. When I want iceburg lettuce, I pay about $3/ head. I have wonderful friends who are sharing their bumper crops of vegetables this year, and oh! they are SO good, so tasty! One of my friends has tried some heirloom tomatoes, and they are doing well!
Start With Breakfast, Stay Lean
Today in BBC Health News
Breakfast ‘keeps teenagers lean’
In a five year study of more than 2,000 youngsters, those who skipped breakfast were found to weigh about 5lbs (2.3kg) more than those who ate first thing.
This was despite the fact that the breakfast-eaters consumed more calories in the course of the day.
But the study in Pediatrics found they were likely to be much more active.
The University of Minnesota research adds weight to a growing body of evidence that those who eat breakfast – whether young or old – are leaner than those who do not.
“It may seem counter-intuitive,” said Mark Pereira, who led the research. “But while they ate more calories, they did more to burn those off, and that may be because those who ate breakfast did not feel so lethargic.
“While it’s best to go for a healthy option – a wholegrain cereal for instance – the evidence does seem to suggest that eating anything is better than eating nothing at all.”
Read the entire article HERE
(AdventureMan’s favorite breakfast: biscuits n’ gravy)
Recent Comments
ExpatAlien on What Country am I Living … intlxpatr on Yellowstone: Old Faithful to C… Michelle on Yellowstone: Old Faithful to C… Cathy on No Grown-Ups in Charge intlxpatr on Waiting for Snow Wikipedia Donate Button
Amazina
Early Voting in Florida
Here There and Everywhere 