Author: Fee Writes

Fee Writes

Weather Around The World.

Perhaps I should become a weather girl … Not!

But the other day when I was skyping with my friend in Florida she was telling me how the weather over there is so very unusual. I already had an idea that it was, what with the fires on the West coast and the rains and floods on the East.

Then she told me that friends were in Los Vegas and it hailed – yup, Los Vegas – Hail – Go figure. The hailstones were of a decent size too – O.k. so the hail didn’t stick around for long as the heat melted it, but that’s not the point – it hailed in Los Vegas!!

My curiosity got the better of me, so while Googling an image of this hail I also searched around to see if it had happened before. So far there’s been 9 reports of hail this year in Los Vegas. If you go back in time there was only one report of hail in the years 2008, 2011, 2012 and 2013. So what’s happened this year to make it hail more often?

Hey, I’m no meteorologist which means I have no idea, but I’m going to step out on a limb here and surmise that the weather is changing all over the world.

It seems like North America has more hot air than even the Donald can muster and these absurd weather patterns are striking with great force over the entire country.

So what about the weather in my neck of the woods?

Well, New Zealand is not missing out on the bizarre weather patterns either.

It appears that June 2016 was the 3rd warmest on record. Overall the temperatures were well above average and the rainfall was below normal. (Mind you, where I live apparently the rainfall was above normal which would be right).

And here’s what the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research says:

“The first 6 months of 2016 have all been warmer than average and January to June 2016 is the warmest such period in the seven station series temperature history with a departure from average of +1.4°C.”

Now I hope you’ve realised that I haven’t at any point in the above drivel mention the words climate change … if you are at all interested in it – I’m sure you’re capable of doing your own research.

Bored yet?

O.k. I hear you – so I’ll change the subject.

Geez, it’s been a bleak, wet and cold old day today.

Fee Writes

Lots Of “New”

Welcome, dear Reader, to another instalment of “Where’s Fee” … no, I’m not putting “Wally”.

As I mentioned in the previous post – A Change of Scenery – I’m in Devonport Road. What I failed to give you in that post was a couple of images of the beautiful outlook I now have.

It’s different to where my usual digs are, as it’s on the other side of the causeway so I now get the opposite view.

As the weather improves, I will try and take more photos. Not that I’m the best photographer in the world, got friends who are waaaaaayyyyy better than me.

If you’re wondering why I have put the featured image as being a simple Smoothie, well, let me tell you, folks, this is such a big step for me. Yes, I’ve had an odd smoothie in my day, but, to be honest, never really got into them.

Until…..

I went to stay with my friend, Caitlin – have mentioned that in the Change of Scenery post – well my friend, Caitlin, is an amazing woman. She has her own website, written a book and has a Sacred Soul Healing group that I’m finding really helpful. I’m not too much into the Woo Woo, but this shit is good. Anyhoo, this amazing lady also knows a thing or two about health.

She makes her own kombucha, look it up if you don’t know what it is, always jars of stuff on her bench fermenting away… even makes her own ointment. So when she made me this smoothie full of healthy goodness, I was hooked.

Bought me some Nettle and steeped my own tea …. used that as the liquid part. Not something I’d recommend drinking on its own tastes like grass clippings, but in the smoothie with the banana, mixed berries and pineapple it was yum. In this brew, I forgot to put in the turmeric but will next time.

So the healthy me has also started to meditate each morning, which I have to admit seems to be keeping me calm….er.

One never knows, one could actually get attached to this lifestyle.

Ending with one more “view”

Fee Writes

Random

A Change of Scenery

The cat survived! And, her mum was so pleased to see her. In fact, she even commented on how her darling looked sooooo good. ….. Well Done Me!

Leaving the suburb of Pyes Pa I had a night free, so off I went to Katikati to stay with my dearest friend Caitlin. How great that was! Chilling out with great conversation and good food with her and her darling hubby – nothing could be sweeter.

But it came to an end the next afternoon when I left to get back to Tauranga and to start the next house-sit.

So, where am I? Geez it sounds like a Where’s Wally book! I’m now in Devonport road about two blocks from my favourite restaurant, Grindz – a cafe that serves my kinda food!! Definitely within walking distance. I can see that on my days off I’ll be trotting along there, with laptop underarm, to get my coffee fix and work on my book.

For those who don’t know Devonport road … this is the road that goes through the CBD shopping – kind of Tauranga’s version of The High Street. Although, nowadays, because of the malls that have been built, Devonport road is not as bustling as it once was.

The house has a beautiful outlook over the water, seems to get the winter sun nicely during the day, but sure is cold in the morning as the night air circulates around a fairly open plan living area. Still, it has such a lovely feel to it, there are no animals to look after and the owners are away for 10 weeks.

Finally, I have been able to unpack properly. The lady of the house kindly provided an empty closet in the room and empty scotch dresser … although, as you can see by the photo of my packed wagon above, I don’t have enough to fill it all. She thoughtfully also cleared a couple of shelves in the pantry so I don’t have to keep my “pantry” boxes in the kitchen as I normally do.

It probably all sounds very mundane to you, but trust me, it’s the little things that make my life easier!

Now it’s all hands on the computer. I really must get this next book finished. I’ve been asked to speak or do a cooking demo at a “Vegan Vibes” expo being held here in September and it would be excellent if I could have this book ready for sale. Might be pushing it a bit, but we can live in hope.

Haven’t totally committed to the cover of the book yet … your comments will be appreciated.

On that note – I will say adieu and get my focus reset.

Fee Writes

Animals | Random

Getting Ready To Leave

Wow! – 5 weeks goes by so fast. Now there’s a bit of a countdown going on here at the moment as I move out tomorrow.

The kitty cat is, I’m sure, looking forward to “mum” coming home – hahaha, just kidding….little kitty cat has no idea at all. I thought she would suspect when brought out the suitcase for the clothes and start dismantling the gear in the kitchen and bathroom, but she just went off to her favourite chair, curled up and has been asleep most of the day. She did wake up and lift her head for about 30 seconds when I got the vacuum cleaner close to her, but didn’t see it as a threat so just went back to sleep.

“Dismantling the kitchen…” Now that sounds like I have a lot of stuff. I really don’t. Although, living at Pyes Pa with Greerton so close and all those Op Shops, I have to admit it’s been difficult to stay away from them. So there has been occasions that I have relented and spent a few hours mooching about and trying to ferret out the good stuff.
Found an excellent winter coat – excellent winter shoes and a pretty decent jersey.

Now let me tell you a little story ….

The little kitty cat that I’m looking after is now 18. Her mum had told me that if anything went wrong to take her to the vet and he would make the call.
Well – it happened. Little miss stopped eating and just spent the entire time on the bed sleeping. She managed to drink a wee bit of water, but that was all. So worried was I that at one stage during the night I kept waking up and checking to see if she was still alive. By morning the decision was made that we were off to the vet.

The vet turned out to be a locum (temp) – a lovely lady locum vet and both she and the nurse decided that it wasn’t too cool an idea for me to have to take on such a responsibility.

The upshot was that the vet thought the kitty cat’s kidneys were probably packing in and that other organs were slowly shutting down, however, without taking blood tests she wouldn’t know for sure. Puddy was pretty dehydrated as well which was what I had thought, so… in went a couple of liquid, slow release patches, a shot of anit-biotics (or something like that), a bit of cleaning of the teeth which could have started the whole thing and to top it off, a shot of steroid (which the vet reckoned would give her a new lease of life and should last for about four weeks, plenty of time till mum came home).

Back into the car cage, into the car and a quick 10 minute trip home …. out of the car, out of the cage and guess what the little princess did? Yup, straight to the food bowl and into the tucker. From then on there’s been no looking back.

Moral of the story is: When I’ve gone out to pasture, remind me to get into the steroids so that I can see out the end of my days full of beans, eating well and sleeping when I want.

I still have about 24 hours to go before I leave, but I’m hoping nothing will happen on my watch!

Fee Writes

Food | Health | WTF

Really? Bacon is Good For You?

Now I’m probably going to upset a few people … I know many of my friends love bacon. But there’s a difference between saying you like eating bacon to saying that it’s healthy.

So here’s the deal:

I came across a post the other day which declared that bacon was good for you, in fact it said it was a “Miracle” Food

8 Reasons were given.

With the World Health Organisation coming out last year saying that processed meats rank alongside smoking as a cancer cause, I thought this wee article on the bacon interesting enough to have a read.

So what are the 8 reasons?

Well the first 5 are plainly just “clutching at straws” type of reasons:

1. Good for a hangover
2. Has a “seducing smell”
3. Fights bad breath
4. Improves the taste of everything
5. It will make you feel good.

By this time I thought, perhaps the whole article was just a send-up. But then I read the next 3 reasons and realized that it was a genuine piece.

Here are the final three with my comments below each one.

6. It helps your memory.
In this it talks about bacon being rich in choline. Well, my dear reader, maybe it is, but so are collard greens, Brussels sprouts, Broccoli, Swiss chard, Cauliflower and Asparagus.

7. It’s healthy for your heart.
This one caused me to chuckle and say out loud “really? ya think?”. Their reasoning is that it has Omega-3 fatty acids, but the fact that bacon is considered a processed food and it contains so much animal fats along with preservatives, I beg to argue that it’s not a heart-healthy food at all.
Best source of Omega-3 in a plant based version is flaxseed. See my Nutritional Book for more.

8. It’s good for your muscles.
Really what this is saying is that it has protein and protein is a muscle builder. Hahaha – protein is in so many foods that are way healthier – try nuts and seeds, tofu and tempeh, quinoa and beans and legumes. You sure don’t need bacon to become a muscle iron man or woman!!!

Aside from the fact that it is totally cruel to animals – it is NOT healthy!!! And that’s the part that annoys me, when it is advertised as being a health food. Keep eating it if you want, but at least take the time to know exactly what you are eating. If it’s a home cure then maybe it’s okay (personally wouldn’t risk it), but if it’s store bought, then reconsider.

So how many of you agree …. disagree …. Please let me know below in the comments.

Source: 8 Reasons Bacon Is Miracle Food

Author: Fee Writes

Weather Around The World.

Perhaps I should become a weather girl … Not!

Lots Of “New”

Welcome, dear Reader, to another instalment of “Where’s Fee” … no, I’m not putting “Wally”.

A Change of Scenery

The cat survived! And, her mum was so pleased to see her. In fact, she even commented on how her darling looked sooooo good. ….. Well Done Me!

Getting Ready To Leave

Wow! – 5 weeks goes by so fast. Now there’s a bit of a countdown going on here at the moment as I move out tomorrow.

Really? Bacon is Good For You?

Now I’m probably going to upset a few people … I know many of my friends love bacon. But there’s a difference between saying you like eating bacon to saying that it’s healthy.

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