Author: Fee Writes

Life Could Be A Bit Slower!

Life Could Be A Bit Slower!

Ever had a moment when you realised that if life were a bit slower, things would turn out better?

Well, I did not that long ago. An event took place that certainly made me wake up to the fact that I tend to rush through life when I don’t have to.

Let me set the scene.

It was a Wednesday morning. I had been out for my morning walk, clipping along at a decent speed while listening to my favourite podcast. On my return, I ate a decent breakfast, checked my emails, and checked my daily ‘to-do’ list.

Then it was time for my shower. All was going well until I opened the shower door, grabbed my towel, and stepped out onto the mat, where I instantly realised there was a small pool of water beneath it. It was just enough to instigate my foot to skid out from under me, causing me to arse up and come down on my behind in such a manner worthy of any cartoon character’s banana peel skidding fall.

But joking aside, it was serious enough that I sat for a few minutes, making sure nothing was broken. My knee, wrist, and coccyx (tailbone) were the parts that obviously had taken a hammering. I had the foresight to scoot myself over to the cupboard, get the arnica, apply it to these parts, and, once dressed, ice everything as well.

However, what I did do in those moments was to sit in gratitude for the fact that I’m predominantly whole food and definitely vegan. I’m quite sure that if I had a diet of dairy, bones would have broken, and healing would have been weeks.

The wrist healed within 48 hours the coccyx about the same. The knee was a bit longer, but it had been hit the hardest, so it was understandable.

I have learned my lesson!

 

 

 

 

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Hot Chocolate – Be Still My Beating Heart!

Hot Chocolate – Be Still My Beating Heart!

Strange as it may seem to all chocolate lovers out there…..not everyone loves chocolate!  Let me reassure you, I’m definitely a chocolate lover.

This post was originally published on 20/3/2011 and updated on 14.08.2023

Here are five fun facts about this beautiful confection.

Chocolate and Mood: Chocolate contains compounds such as phenylethylamine and anandamide, which are associated with feelings of pleasure and happiness. This could partly explain why many people consider chocolate a comfort food.

Health Benefits: Dark chocolate, in moderation, has been associated with potential health benefits due to its antioxidant content. It may have positive effects on heart health and even cognitive function. I’ll take that!

Chocolate Sculptures: Skilled chocolatiers create intricate sculptures entirely from chocolate. These sculptures can range from detailed replicas of famous landmarks to life-sized statues.

Chocolate Spa Treatments: Some luxury spas offer chocolate-themed treatments, such as chocolate body wraps, facials, and even chocolate-infused baths, claiming to rejuvenate the skin and provide relaxation.

But the one I like the most …

is that chocolate syrup was used in that famous shower scene in the epic Alfred Hitchcock movie “Psycho”  and what was it used for?  The blood.

 

 

Somehow, that scene is never going to be quite the same – I get the picture of Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins saying to  Hitchcock, “Can we just try that scene again ….. the prop has been eaten!”

 

I’ll leave you with this quote from the beautiful Katherine Hepburn “What you see before you, my friend is the result of a lifetime of chocolate.”  – I’m with her!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 




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Life’s Lessons

Life’s Lessons

As we journey through life, we meet people who impact our lives. They may stay for five minutes, five years or a lifetime. But while they are within our circle, we learn from them, which is all part of our growth.

Well, that’s the way I see it. Many people have come into my life over the last 70 years. Some stayed only a short moment but left an indelible mark, and each time, be it good or bad, I learned and grew.

But the one who had the most impact was my father (as is often the case). And right up to the day he died, just before his 96th birthday, he was teaching me.

Looking back over the many things he taught me, two stand out.

“Never judge anyone” was probably the main one I grew up with. Everyone is on their own path and has reasons for doing what they do. Sometimes they may not even know the ‘why’, but until you walk in their shoes (which you never can), don’t assume you know and don’t judge their actions or words. There are always two sides to everything (perhaps that was the lawyer in him talking), but he was correct; there is always another side or way of looking at something.

The other advice he would give (often) was to be open to new ideas and constructive criticism and not be frightened or ashamed to change your mind if new evidence shows a better way, a different outcome or a new approach.

A great example of this was in 2007, during the last days of his beautiful life.

He had checked himself into a rest home, and all his grandchildren, most scattered around the world, emailed him constantly. He would receive anywhere from two to six emails daily, and even the office lady would come in on Saturday and Sunday to print them off so dad wouldn’t miss a day.

My daughter, living in the USA, asked me one day what she should write about as she felt she was out of things to put in the emails. I suggested she write about the politics and what was happening in the States (remember Bush and Iraq?). I told her grandpa would be interested to hear her view.

A few days later, I went to visit him. He was waking up, and as he did, he indicated some papers on the bed tray he wanted me to read. Immediately I saw it was from my daughter and began to read.

Now, my father was a supporter of Bush. He believed in the ‘weapons of mass destruction’ and the Iraq invasion.
So, I think you can imagine my surprise when I read that my daughter was arguing for the impeachment of Bush, saying that what he’d done was illegal.

The more I read, the more I wondered about my father’s reaction. I put down the email and looked at him. By now he was sitting up, his eyes were bright, and he had a gentle smile on his face. I will never forget the words he spoke.
“She’s right,” he said. “What Bush did was illegal, and I hadn’t seen it that way.” “Your daughter has convinced me by outlining the facts. She has made a good case.”
He went on to say that he doubted Bush would be impeached, but what a legal battle that would be. But at that moment, I saw a man at the end of his life have the courage to change his mind, and that was an incredibly powerful lesson.

I hope to maintain the morals and attitudes my father taught me. They’ve certainly held me in good stead up to now. Long may his words and actions remain in me.

 

 

 

 

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Is There No Privacy Anymore?

Is There No Privacy Anymore?

After reading about Facebook handing over chat files, I have concluded that there is no privacy anymore.

Let me fill you in on the details so you also can shout out, WTF?

Oh, and before we begin, this is NOT about whether abortion laws are right or wrong.

Nebraska’s abortion law  currently (as of 14th July 2022) prohibits most abortions after 20 weeks post-fertilization).

This story is about an investigation launched in April 2022, even BEFORE the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. It is centred around a mother and her then 17-year-old daughter who became pregnant. The mother acquired abortion pills which the daughter took. A friend (truly? Friend?) dobbed the girl to the police after she saw her take the first pill.

As she was around 23 weeks pregnant, she was accused of breaking the law. But it’s not the law that is being discussed here.

Wait for it…….

As part of the investigation into the supposedly illegal abortion, Nebraska police served a warrant on Facebook.

The warrant covered the phones and laptops and the Facebook accounts of both. On top of these, Facebook also handed over private chat messages between the mother and her daughter (a minor at the time).

This is not good. Activists have warned that this will become more prevalent as abortion laws become more draconian and authorities pursue abortion cases.
There is also the threat that law enforcement will get trackers of all who become pregnant within their region. However, it’s more likely that they’ll wait until they get a tip and then use their subpoena power to get digital evidence of ‘criminal intent.

Facebook certainly could put privacy coding in place to boost the user’s privacy. At the moment, they do offer encryption on the messenger app. You can check if the” End-to-end encrypted chats” function is enabled. But if you really want to have secret messages with someone, you’ll have to open a ‘secret chat manually’.

Click here for the ‘How To’.

Of course, you can always use the Vanish Mode, which means the message vanishes altogether!

We do need to remember that privacy has always been an issue. Even in the days of hand-written letters, they can come to light and be used against the writer, as we’ve seen a few times with Royals and celebs.

As my father used to say, “only write what you wouldn’t mind someone other than the recipient reading.”

fee figures

 

 

 

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Why Is There A Raiding Bear?

Why Is There A Raiding Bear?

My son-in-law sent through a photo of a bear raiding their rubbish bin one night, and it got me thinking.

 

The first thought when I saw the images was that, thankfully, everyone (including the cat and dog) was inside. Then I started to think about why the bear raided the rubbish bin in the first place. It was frequenting the neighbours’ bins as well.

It’s not the first time my daughter’s family has had visits from bears, and I’m pretty sure it won’t be the last. They live in a forest area in Northern California, so it stands to reason they live with wildlife around them.

 

 

Thankfully, only the recycling was tipped as they are very careful about what rubbish they put out.

In the grand scheme of things, humans have multiplied exceptionally quickly, and in doing so, we’ve encroached into the wildlife’s home.

We are diminishing their world by destroying forests and laying waste of the land with chemical fertilizers that have excessively polluted the environment.

We’re the only species (to my knowledge) that don’t regulate the number of offspring we produce. In the wild kingdom, the animals reduce their numbers when food is scarce. When food is plentiful, the numbers increase.

There is also a balance in nature when animals, insects and plants, are allowed their freedom to live as they should.

Humans, on the other hand, do not follow nature’s laws.

It doesn’t seem to matter to us that food is scarce. We keep breeding. We also don’t have predators to control our population, and we live a lot longer than we should because of modern medicine, so there are more of us. It doesn’t help the balance.

We are encouraged to have children. Don’t get me wrong, having children is beautiful, and I’m not suggesting we stop altogether. What we need to do is reduce the numbers. Of course, governments don’t want this simply because of capitalism. But what is it doing to our environment?

It’s bad enough that animals must try to adapt to urban sprawl encroaching. But they also have to live with fires and floods destroying their homes, all due to climate change we have exacerbated.

We have to live in harmony with nature. I certainly don’t have the answers, but I’m heartened when I see countries helping to re-establish ecosystems, such as shown recently by India. They are about to introduce Namibian cheetahs into their wildlife reserves as the Indian cheetahs went extinct 70 years ago. It is hoped that these big cats will help to balance the ecosystem. Of course, humans and their cattle will have to be kept out of the area.

Now, just think about what we could achieve with nature if we didn’t have such a massive reliance on animal agriculture.

 

 

 

 

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About Me

About Me

Thanks for dropping by, my name is Fee O’Shea. I’m a mother and grandma, an author and an Improver. I’ve got a resource website to help peeps go plant-based, I’ve scribbled six books centred around veganism, and have helped others write and publish their own stories.
But this blog is for my thoughts, my rants, raves, reviews and things that have grabbed my attention. From politics to social media to beauty, health and the environment. Fee’s Ramblings Over Coffee is written to bring you a smile or get you thinking. Enjoy.

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