Lifecruiser

I don’t drink water. Some persons have been trying to force me to accept their claim that we should drink a lot of water per day to be healthy.

I just can’t do it, so I’m thinking: my body usually is very good at telling me when something is wrong and it has been telling me that I don’t want to drink all that water. I’ve learned to listen to my body. Even in this matter.

And then 2003 I stumbled on an article in the newspaper with statements from both an associate professor and a professor in Sweden. (Cut translation below)

Life threatening to drink too much water

We constantly get to hear that we shall drink a lot of water, but for some persons this request kan be life threatening. Especially pregnant women that is due to give birth risk both their own and the baby’s life by following these requests.

– That it should be healthy to drink a lot of water is totally nonsense from the beginning to the end, said the associate professor. She also want to get an end of the unnecessary drinking of water in Sweden.

The problems is that the balance of salt in the body end up wrong when you pee too much. The human body can’t dump too much water. The water stays and find it’s way out in the cells.

If you have been water poisoned, there is risk for brain damages and what you can die of is if the water goes into the cells in the brain, which swollens up and the blood supply get cut off.

You shouldn’t tell pregnants, persons with heart conditions or kidney damages that they shall drink more water, she says. You shouldn’t request people to drink more.

– You shall not think so much about how much you drink. You should let it run by itself.

When it’s hot outside you shall drink with causion, so that you don’t drink too much at the same time.

Yes, me too have tried to get used to drink a lot of water, but the only thing happened was that I got nauseous of it. It made my stomach wishy-washy. I’ve been drinking too much water once and I got sick and throwed up.

Our bodys are so cleverly constructed that they know by themselves when it’s time to drink and that’s when we gets thirsty. Some of us seems to need more water than others, but all we have to do is listen to our bodys.

So, I’ll keep my old own drinking style: when I feel thirsty and what ever I feel like drinking at that time. And believe me - it’s never water!

And I am still alive, aren’t I…?

I remember hearing the news about the airplanes crashing into the twin towers. Finding it very shocking and hard to believe. Seeing it repeated on every news report made me believe it though.

I can imagine the feeling of the people that saw it in real life. I’ve seen one airplane crash on short distance in my life. That was during the flight show with the Swedish military plane JAS 39 Gripen over Stockholm city 1993.

You’re standing there thinking that surely this can’t be true - it must be some trick or something - but you’re seeing it with your own eyes…

That time it was a miracle that the pilot shot himself out of there and no one else got injured when the airplane crashed and burned.

It wasn’t the same miracle the 11th of September. No wonder people over the whole world where chocked, suicide missions like that is just impossible to grasp and especially with so many innocent victims.

I can not and I will not imagine what the victims felt, because that would be too much to bear…

This horrible date will be ingraved deeply in our hearts and the history for ever.

Strange and scary facts of 11…

Test the following instructions and read the text carefully, it gets really strange towards the end!

1) New York City has 11 letters
2) Afghanistan has 11 letters
3) Ramsin Yuseb (The terrorist that planned the attack against Twin Towers 1993) has 11 letters
4) George W Bush has 11 letters

These can seem to be pure coincidences, but it gets even more intresting further down in the text:

1. New York is the 11th state
2. Airplane 11 had 92 passengers ( 9 + 2 = 11)
3. Airplane number 77 which also crashed into Twin Towers, had 65 passengers (6 + 5 =11)
4. The tragedy happened 11th of September, or also known as 9/11 ( 9 + 1 + 1=11)
5. As you know “US emergency services” phonenumber is 911 (9 + 1 + 1=11)

Continued coincidences? Read further!

1) Total number of victims on airplanes that crashed where 254 ( 2 + 5 + 4 = 11)
2) 11th of September is the 254th day of the year ( 2 + 5 + 4= 11)
3) The Bombing in Madrid happened 3.11.2004 ( 3 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 0 + 0 + 4 =11)
4) The tragedy in Madrid happened 911 days after the Twin Towers tragedy.

Now something even more strange:

The most wellknown symbol from USA, after the Stars & Stripes, is the eagle.

The following verse is cut from Islams most holy book, the Koran:

“For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle. The wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah and while some of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced: For the wrath of the Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah and there was peace.”

That was verse number 9.11 in the Koran.

Do you still believe that it’s a pure coincidence? Test this and see what you think then:

Open Microsoft Word and do the following:

1. Write with big letters: Q33 NY. This is the number on the first airplane that crashed into the Twin Towers
2. Mark Q33 NY
3. Change size to 48
4. Change typeface to WINDINGS (or WINDINGS 1)

FRIGHTENING! Or?

Disclaimer: These weird facts is something I recieved in an email, I don’t guarantee that everything is true, but never the less, it is weird facts…

UPDATE:
This is probably a good example of how certain information starts to circulate around the world by email. I suspected that the Koran verse were wrong, but didn’t know how to check it up quickly and the comment from Firda confirm that it’s NOT verse 9.11 in the Koran.

Any one else that can proof something else wrong?

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S O L A N U M * T U B E R O S U M

Solanum after latin sol = sun. Tuberosum = with many bumps, lumpy, after latin tuber = bump.

This is about the only bump that I don’t want to get rid off. I love this bump with all my heart. Well, except for the green ones, they’re poisoned, never eat the green ones!

They say that modern DNA-analysis shows that all potatoes has the same ancestor specie in the southern Peru. The name potato comes from the spanish patata which comes from quechuans papa.

The potato were brought to Europe in the 17th century by the spanish. In the beginning we just appreciated it as a flower, until we realized that the bumps were eatable. Then we classified it as a medical plant.

In Sweden it was cultivated in the botanic garden around year 1660, but it wasn’t until 1724 as the now wellknown Jonas Alströmer did his best to make us Swedes to grow and eat potatoes in any bigger amount.

Under the poor years around year 1770, the Swedish government started to spread propaganda about it because it gave a more reliable harvest than the grain. When Eva de la Gardie on top of that discovered that we could make alcohole from the potatoes it was no longer any difficulties to convince the farmers to cultivate them…

Today it’s cultivated over the whole Sweden, but the largest cultivations is in the south. People grow it everywhere, even in the citys in pots at the balcony. It’s considered as a part of the Swedish culture.

There are so many potato varieties. I read som where that we have annual harvests of one million tonne potatoes in Sweden!

Did you know that you can get as much as 33% of your recommended daily dose of vitamin C from only 100g of potato? And 14% of the iron. Among other vitamines. Freshly harvested potatoes (non peeled) retain more nutritional value than stored potatoes.

Potatoes can be eaten in so many ways, that I find it excellent with most food. What do you say about a very creamy Potato Gratin? There are too many recipes with potatoes to choose between, otherwise I had posted some of them here.

It’s a real pity though that people tend to eat more of chips and pommes stripes than real homecooked potatoes.

A potato dish from Spain that I ADORE is the traditional Canary Islands wrinkly potatoes, Papas arragudas with that delicious sauce mojo picón. *drooling heavily now*

They say that if you throw a dinner party and it’s no left overs of the potatoes, you’ve had guests with farmer blood.

So I’m definitive a farmer descendant :-)

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Have you ever tried to kiss when having a snotty nose and a bad cough?

Have you ever tried not to kiss when having a snotty nose and a bad cough?

Of course you have? We have too. But we didn’t do too well.

My cold is getting better yes, but before that can happen I’m obviously forced to blow half of my brain out of my nose.

And cough half of my lungs out of my mouth. It’s a big mouth, I admit that but… I prefer to use it for kissing. Normally.

The picture above is true. I actually tried to not let Mr Lifecruiser kiss me (horrible of me hah?) and my excuse was that I had a giant cough attack on the way.

So with all that snot coming out, did it stop him? Nooooo, not this man, he is my true Love snot hero.

He don’t give a damn, he wants me with snot and all :-)

I’m sure that kisses helps equally good as cough mixture.

Snotty whisper: Though I can’t tell if it’s the trying to not to cough in his face that helps OR all that saliva you exchange when you’re kissing that helps…. ;-)

1. From the end of 18th century and forward the parfume where used in many ways. (Though I don’t love the fact of why they did it: bad hygiene). Everything where parfumed: letters, snuff, hair net, parfume neckless, fan’s, hat needles, fabric- and paper flowers in the hair or on the clothes. In the clothes you had small pillows with the favorite parfume, iris, violet, rose, yasmin, fresia, lillys, lavendel, lemon, vanilla or orange.

2. 18th century (1700-tal in swedish) was the century of the big changes. The Swedish Government committed to trade, industry, science and new inventions. The Use was the big trend word. Everything should be produced within the country. Jonas Alströmer begin to teach the Swedish people to eat potatoes, which I’m very grateful for since I love potatoes. You can do so many great dishes with potato!

3. The Swedish King Gustav III was more amused of theater, litterature and art than of science, so he initiated The Swedish Academy and Art Academy, which made Sweden to this high culture country it is today.

4. The Swedish farmers got the right to buy aristocratic land. Ordinary people got the right to posess this countrys official positions.

5. Our big Swedish nature scientist Carl von Linné (Carolus Linnaeus, physician, zoologist/biologist, professor in botanic) initiated the Linnaean taxonomy, which classifies living things into a hierarchy. He is responsible for the latin names of a large quantity of Swedens species and even for a lot of other countries. I’m so glad he sorted it out, for it sure is a lot of species out there!

6. The medical knowledge and health care had until then been very poor and medevial in Sweden, but started to be critized by Carl von Linné, starting to focus on medical plants. There had been a lack of hospital. Stockholms first hospital opened 1752, with 8 (!) beds and a turnover of patients of 15 during the first 2 months. It was a hospital for the whole country! (The population in Sweden at that time where about 2 million citizens).

7. At the end of the 18th century they started to discuss a lot about feelings. They realized that it isn’t just common sense that rules the world, that feeelings really means something and that they are important. They started to talk about the fact that men and women should be married based on the fact that they LOVE each other and not because it was economically advantageous.

8. Swedens most wellknown and perhaps biggest skald, Carl Mikael Bellman was working in the capital. His song lyrics has influnced a lot of our music and still has a big place in our hearts today.

9. Camembert, the french white mould cheese produced from cow milk, got the current shape in the end of 18th century. Served as dessert, preferably with red wine. Who can resist that…?

10. The magnificent and glamorous fashion. What an elegance and with those fantastic creative hairstyles! They only used natural make up materials. OK, I could do without the white powder in my face, I look pale enough anyway ;-) The forerunner to the crinoline (skirt that is hold out by a stand of steelwire), the Pannier (french) - also called side hoops - were worn by women to extend the width of the skirts at the side while leaving the front and back flat where the woven patterns or embroidery could be fully admired. It was also in the late 18th century when laces showed up in ladys underwear. I’m so grateful that we don’t need to go around with woolen underwear ;-)

11. The pair or couple dance was started and it wasn’t until now that we got a Swedish word for it, dans. They tried to forbid the dance, because they thought it was a sin, but they didn’t succeed (hurray!) and the free dance were born. The dance couples were still dancing rather structured in a big circle around the dance floor, but it started to evolve. I love to dance, it doesn’t matter if I’m good at it or not. I just love it.

12. Spa is a belgian treatment neighborhood in The Ardennes which were founded during the Roman empire. The rich and beautiful people went there to be cured in the healthy water. Spa is a latin abbreviation of salus per aqua, which means health through water. In Sweden many spa’s were started in the 18th century and it became a modern trend to go there for relaxation. Thank god for the spa’s!!!

13. ♥ I ENJOY… LOVE… 18TH CENTURY LIFE!

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Why do I have to be a squirrel and not a pidgeon…?

This is one of our daily visitors, an European Red Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris). It’s a little bit smaller than the American Red Squirrel. It has started to collect food for the winter.

We live in an old apartment area in the outskirts of the city, with nice green surroundings and a lot of old trees, which is probably the reason for why we get visitors. A lot of birds too - the woodpecker love the old trees.

Mr Lifecruiser too, because he is waiting for them to fall this fall because of the storms. Preferably not on our house…

Earlier this summer we had a Wood Pigeon couple that tried to build a nest in the pine tree in front of our balcony. I think they were beginners, they didn’t do so well and went away again. Now suddenly the other day, they came back and started to build on the same nest again!

It’s a little bit late for the last litter - the really bad weather will soon be here. Probably they realized that, because after a couple of days, they’ve given up again. Or maybe it was because the nest really where too small and difficult to reach even for them. Surely youngsters hah?

I guess even their youngsters having problem to get hold of own homes with enough space!

Those Wood Pigeon’s are going to let down good ol’ Sweden. They’ll move in October as the latest, to warmer places in East Europe.

It’s not fair! I wanna be a pidgeon too! We’ll be left here in this cold dark place all winter… *sigh*

I’m badly influenced by that squirrel. I’m so hungry all the time and just have to collect all this food… My cheeks are full all the time, you never know when you can be without food. It’s pure survival instict I tell you.

I’m not running up and down the trees, but believe me, if I could I woo(ul)d!!!

I tell you, this animal life is tough…

Maybe I should just lay in the nest and let my mate feed me…?

During my very looong life, I’ve stumbled upon several bath maniacs - and that doesn’t even include myself! Let me introduce you to the master of the bath maniacs, my former dog Billy Boy.

This is the only pic I have of him nearby water, because he was never still long enough so I could take a shot. Either that or the water was splashing too much for the camera…

It wasn’t always like that. He had a rough start with water, falling through the ice in the winter when he was a puppy and got scared by that. We had to built up his confidence by throwing branches for him to fetch in the water, but it went very very slowly.

Until that particular day when we had a female dog with us, who loved to swim. She jumped from the quayside without fear and suddenly he did that too! You know how males are about showing off ;-) But I must say that he looked very surprised himself of what he just had done!

After that day he was a maniac when it came to something with water involved. He just loved to bath and swim. If he thought that we intended to go and have a bath without him, he kind of screamed out loud how unfair that was. He wasn’t howling or barking, he screamed I tell you.

He knew the way to the beaches too, as soon as we turned in the right direction at the road crosses, he started to make all those noises that could drive us totally insane. By he really was so happy about it, so it was difficult to get really annoyed.

Once in the early spring we went for a walk to the beach, but I said that, nah, better to not go to the regular sandy beach, because I didn’t want him to take a bath in that icy water. So off we went to some high cliffs instead, I thought that would be much safer. I thought wrong. He was so eager to get into the water so he literally slided down on his claws!

He was so happily excited over the water that I couldn’t get hold of my best commanding voice, I couldn’t help laughing at his happiness and he heard that I wasn’t angry on him, so he just continued down. An early spring bath yes.

He even started to ogle at me when I was taking a bath at home, but he did think that the edges of the bathtub was to horrible. Luckily. I don’t think that I had appreciated if he had jumped right in…

He could be in the water for ages, didn’t really felt that he got cold, we had to order him to get up from there - just like children. He made bubbles with his head stucked under the water, played with rocks on the bottom. I’m surprised that he didn’t build sand sculptures too ;-)

He didn’t like if you splashed water on him, but he did constantly splash water on us and all our things - by shaking the water off him - while we where screaming…

Mentioning children yes. This is two of my nieces when they were little girls, taking a bath at about the same spot as my dog was actually. Today they are 22 and 20 years old.

I have another bath memory of another one of my nieces. At that time my sister didn’t have their bathroom in order and they came and visit us. During the visit there was a bath of my niece planned - she stayed in the bath during almost the whole visit, playing with the water. It’s amazing how fun and for how long they can play with water!

She still is a bath maniac, 15 years old. Her first annual baths takes place the 1st of May every year - outside in the icy Baltic Sea. Brrrr.

Dogs or children, they do have the same kind of bathing maniac spirit that’s so enjoyable to watch!

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What I like the most with gardens, is the total difference of flowers I find there. I never get bored, because even if it would be the same plants, it’s always in a changing phase, arranged differently or something else is happening.

The photos above is an excellent example of this difference:

1) An Asian orchid which if you look close (click to enlarge), looks like it has a face - a creature with wings?
2) A flower that looks like a very colorful bottlebrush!
3) Even the center of the flowers can differ completely and tickle your fantasy. This one looks like antennas…
4) What is this? A group of tongues? Lady’s meeting? *lol*

This is just a few examples. Mother Nature is truly amazing with all her creations. I think that we very often take all this for granted, instead of really appreciate them.

What would the world be without all the flowers?
[Scary thought hah?]

Flowers really makes a difference - especially when Mr Lifecruiser brings them home to me ;-)