IS IT TIME TO WEAR PURPLE?

I have always like this poem because it amuses me but there is insight as well.

WHEN I AM OLD

When I am old I will wear purple

with a red hat that doesn't go,

and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy

and summer gloves and satin sandals.

And say we have no money for butter.

And I shall sit on the pavement when I get tired
and gobble up samples in shops
and press alarm bells.
And run my stick along the public railings
and make up for the sobriety of my youth.

I shall go out in my slippers in the rain,
And pick the flowers in other people's gardens,
and learn to spit.
You can wear terrible shirts and grow fat,
and eat three pounds of chocolate at a go.
Or only bread and pickles for a week,
and hoard pens and pencils and beer mugs,
And things in boxes.

But meanwhile, one must stay respectable
And must not shame the children.
They mind more than we do, being noticeable.
We must keep dry with sensible clothes.
And spend according to good value
and do what is best for us and our children.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now,
so people who know me are not too shocked
and surprised when suddenly.......
 I am old and start to wear purple.

AUTHOR UNKNOWN



MR. PETRIE'S DAILY DISH

Quite often Mr Petrie's daily offering puts me in stitches and November 10/10 was no exception.  He was musing about the ongoing and falrly even split in this province over DST.  We do not subscribe to change easily in this province never having changed from CST that I know of.  We stubbornly ignore the clamor and with noses in the air we get on with our own dark lives. 

I give you Mr Petrie:


   Did you know that daylight in southern Saskatchewan and in northern Saskatchewan is of equal length only twice a year?  Indeed, on the day I write this, Estevan will have 9 hours and 28 minutes (9:28) between sunrise and sunset; Regina 9:21; Saskatoon 9:11, and Prince Albert, 9:03.  How unfair is that?  Clearly we need some sort of daily north-south modification to Saskatchewan time, an adjustment gradually phase in and out over summer and winter, for pausing our clocks at noon so that we'll all have the exact same amount of daylight every day of the year.
   SLDET: Saskatchewan Latitudinal Daylight Equalization Time.
   I can't imagine it being the least bit controversial or confusing.

He just might have something there~!

Check Your Prostate Risk Here!

Finger length linked to prostate cancer risk

This seems a bit quirky but I think it's important enough to consider............. I'm sure all you men out there are looking at your fingers right now!~!

The Disease of the Decade

   Hoarding, while around for centuries, has recently come into the spotlight with the advent of two television shows--Hoarding: Buried Alive and Hoarders--and thus voyeuring into the lives of sick people helpless to resist the compulsion of the disease.
   "Hoarding disorder" is being considered for inclusion in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), used by doctors around the world.  Randy Frost, co-author of a new book Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things.  "Perhaps the abundances of inexpensive and easily accessible objects makes it the disorder of the decade."
   Hoarding is a hidden activity and hoarders often do not allow even family members past the front door.  It is mostly social services, mental health, fire prevention and police who get a first and sometimes a last glimpse of the conditions inside.
   In 2005, a Japanese newspaper reported on a 56 year-old man whose apartment floor collapsed under the weight of 20 years worth of newspapers and magazines.
   American write E.L. Doctorow based his latest novel Homer & Langley on the real-life story of two wealthy and reclusive hoarding brothers in Manhattan.  After receiving a call about a dead body in 1947, they broke into their five-story building.  Squeezing through tunnels in the tightly packed house, they discovered the body of 65 year-old Homer.  Blind and paralysed, he had died of starvation.  After nearly three weeks of searching, workers found Langley's body, not more than 10 feet from his brother.
   Cleaners removed 170 tons of clutter, including 14 grand pianos, a Model T Ford, the remains of a two-headed fetus and an early X-ray machine.
  
   There are other dangers facing those who suffer from this disorder.  Homes become fire traps and rooms unsafe to live in and can lead to increased risk of falls and may led to rodent and insect infestations and mould.  Fires and cleanup means there is a cost to the public especially when apartment fires result in structural damage and relocation of residents. 
   In one woman's apartment that was so clogged with newspapers, plastic bags and books that it was considered a fire hazard and had led to a bedbug infestation.  She was also collecting and storing her body waste.

 
   If hoarding is soon classified as an official mental sickness in the DSM--an enormously influential catalogue that is undergoing its first major revision in nearly 20 years--two to five per cent of Canadians could be labelled as having a mental illness.  Hopefully this will increase public awareness, aid in identifying sufferers and the development of effective treatments.

.  The Regina Leader-Post October 9, 2010  by Maria Cook of Postmedia News for the Ottawa Citizen.

Human Nature

I think this speaks for many of us sad though it may be but extremely insightful.


PRESENT TENSE

It was spring,
But it was summer I wanted,
The warm days,
And the great outdoors.

It was summer,
But it was fall that I wanted,
The colorful leaves,
And the cool, dry air.

It was fall,
But it was winter I wanted,
The beautiful snow,
And the joy of the holiday season.


It was winter,
But it was spring I wanted,
The freedom,
And the respect.


I was 20,
But it was 30 I wanted,
To be mature,
And sophisticated.


I was middle-aged,
But it was 20 I wanted,
The youth,
And the free spirit.


I was retired,
But it was middle age I wanted,
The presence of mind,
Without limitations.


My life was over.
But I never got what I wanted.


Written by 14 year old Jason Lehman

The Couch Potato Effect

The Couch Potato Effect

I've posted a link to  a very interesting study which I highly recommend.  Ever feel like you just can't get on that treadmill or don't have the energy to exercise?  Well read on..... here's an excerpt from that study:

Daniel Kelly, M.D., and his colleagues at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) at Lake Nona have unveiled a surprising new model for studying muscle function: the couch potato mouse. While these mice maintain normal activity and body weight, they do not have the energy to exercise. In the December 1 issue of Cell Metabolism, Dr. Kelly's team reports what happens when muscle tissue lacks PGC-1, a protein coactivator that muscles need to convert fuel into energy.