Early Cretaceous Ginkgo

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The tv Camera, Our Wellness and Diet

The funny tattle on myself first. At the grocery store this morning, there were a tv reporter and camera man. They set up to film me. I said, loudly, " I don't like the idea of my double chin being on tv. " I couldn't much move because I was at the checkout. The camera man continued. I stuck out my tongue. He left.

We got the 'flu last Oct. 20 and haven't felt well since. However, we woke up well today! Thank You, Father.

Have you ever considered how awful it would be if we didn't heal, and carried around every scratch, scrape, and broken this or that, that we ever had?

However, a few weeks ago I was worried about a family member in another city, and my blood pressure went up considerably. I haven't been looking at sodium intake because I once had a low sodium test and was told to use extra salt. Also, if my stomach is upset, eating extra salt helps. This time, I could correlate blood pressure to sodium intake.

Well, now I'm a rabid reader of nutrition labels for sodium. There are a lot more prepared foods available that are low fat than are low sodium. I found a web site last night that sells calcium carbonate to use in baking, instead of sodium, for leavening. Until then, we're going to eat flattish pancakes. I've even purchased honey to use instead of syrup, which is pretty high sodium.

For decades I have written down, on the days I was trying to eat right, everything, with it's fat, sat fat, carbs, and protein. I occasionally come across sheaves of paper with my diet from years past. Recently I've added sodium. It seems a pity to use all that paper, so I've decided to make a separate blog about diet. We'll see how this works.

Since I will mostly have to cook from scratch, I've redefined my major job description as "cook".

Mahi Mahi Dolphin Fish and the higher functions of some mammalian structures

A couple decades ago, give or take a year or two, I treated myself to a stopover in Honolulu for a few days. I tried to avoid major tourist attractions, so went to lunch one day at a modest restaurant. I decided to try the Mahi on the menu, and asked the waitress what it was. She looked at me a little strangely and said,"Some people like to eat it. It tastes good."

Later I heard (erroneously) that I'd eaten dolphin. I grieved. Dolphins,whales, and primates (including us) have the extra layer of brain at the front called a neocortex, which, when I studied it so long ago, appeared to be the region in which we have awareness of self.

Then mahi mahi came to the local Walmart. We discussed buying some, but as I explained my misgivings about eating beings with self-awareness, Mr. P tried to tell me that this mahi mahi was not like Flipper, the dolphin.

I didn't get it until today. The food I ate in Honolulu, mahi mahi, is a dolphin FISH, that is in no way related to the mammals called porpoises, also called dolphins.

I ate a fish, not Flipper.

I suppose, if I were hungry enough, I might eat dolphin, whale or primate, with appropriate thanksgiving.

All of us with dogs and cats around us know that they understand a large vocabulary of human words and can have their feelings hurt. So, especially since I don't keep up with brain research, I'm not yet ready to say that the housepets don't have awareness of self.

Mr. P says he's known some personable cows, too.




Above is a dolphin fish, not a mammal. Oh, well, the guy with the arm is a mammal.

Etsy Treasury Urls

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_west.php

http://www.etsy.com/treasury.php

http://www.etsy.com/poster_sketch.php

It has taken me a long time to rese4arch the nuts and bolts of making a treasury (it's like a showcase or storefront). I'm babystepping my way to doing it.

Love

I'm a little late to post for Valentine's Day, but I think that , being the recipient of so much love, I need to acknowledge that.

I owe it all to my Heavenly Father. I suggest reading the Song of Solomon. It can be read as a love song between a man and a woman but is also a metaphor for the love of Christ for His Bride the church. All of us are waiting for the marriage feast.

In my 20's I wrote a poem with the line,"Those of us who have never quite been loved..." Now I know better. Even then I was passionately loved.

May you be aware of the love given to you.

More Blessed Assurance

This is a trio from Australia, which reminds me to pray for the victims of the fires there.

Did you know that Fanny Crosby, who wrote the words to "Blessed Assurance" was blind? She wrote a LOT of poems.

Doubts and Blessed Assurance

Last night I was assailed with doubts. What if Jesus said to me, "I never knew you."

J Vernon McGee and Mr. P are both strong teachers of eternal security, but...

This hymn helped.

369. Blessed Assurance

Text: Fanny J. Crosby, 1820-1915
Music: Phoebe P. Knapp, 1839-1908
Tune: ASSURANCE, Meter: 9 10.9 9 with Refrain

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1. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
 O what a foretaste of glory divine!
 Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
 born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.
Refrain:
 This is my story, this is my song,
 praising my Savior all the day long;
 this is my story, this is my song,
 praising my Savior all the day long.

2. Perfect submission, perfect delight,
 visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
 angels descending bring from above
 echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
 (Refrain)

3. Perfect submission, all is at rest;
 I in my Savior am happy and blest,
 watching and waiting, looking above,
 filled with his goodness, lost in his love.
 (Refrain)