You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion
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Watcha' Doing - 2020
Rusalka wrote: "You guys have never had stir fried crickets? A lot of Thai restaurants have them as entrees (starters) here. Crunchy, oily, salty, and pretty much like prawn tails or legs. Really yum. Insects are ..."Yes, the future of food will probably have us farming and eating all sorts of insects. Please no cockroaches.
Sandra wrote: "Kristie wrote: "I already know that if the world was reduced to scavenging for food I would probably be one of the first to die."Next to me..."
And me.
Renee wrote: "Yes I get the patches on my upper legs and head. I find the head to be the most embarrassing because it looks like dandruff. I wear a lot of scarfs. I am waiting to get some tar from the internet. ..."Oh no Renee. The tar didn't work at all for me. It is nasty to use. After a few weeks i got a burning sensation from it. It got so bad i couldn't bear to put my foot to the ground. Maybe you will fare better but when it says " apply sparingly" it really means it! I was using a 10% tar that my pharmacist prepared for me.
The drugs are now starting to reduce mine but they were only prescribed after everything else had been tried and failed. The Dovobet worked quiet well on my scalp though.
Best of luck!
Oh Rusalka, the stress must be incredible! I've never eaten insects intentionally. I've probably swallowed the occasional mosquito.
... We've just been hit with a dust storm.
Oh and now there is a fire in the other paddock next Lexx's work and the airport. Luckily, Lexx got no sleep last night so decided to stay home. We are using up all our luck this week.
Rusalka wrote: "... We've just been hit with a dust storm."The end of the world is starting. Australia got the first slot, it seems... Very apocalyptic...
Oh no! I cannot believe how it just keeps coming at you, Rusalka.
I thought the tar had helped. I am glad I only ordered a small amount. I would prefer something topical to more drugs. Good to hear you are finally getting some relief
Man, that is crazy Rusalka. So pleased Lexx came home for the 1st, and stayed home for the 2nd fires. I can imagine the worrying you did with how it escalated and not knowing he was on his way home. I'm guessing you told him off for not letting you know! And now the dust storm. If anyone is going to get locusts, it's definitely you guys.On the subject of locusts etc, never eaten them. We saw them on occasions in Thailand when we visited. But as veggies, it never crossed our mind. I always said though, before going veggie, that I could easily eat all those things that people would find squeamish. I guess we will never know now. Eating insects is not something that goes down well in the UK. So Chinese and other Asian restaurants don't sell them. Curious now about the Chinese supermarkets.
I went back to work. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I'll settle back in no time I'm sure. Slowly, slowly catchy monkey!
Glad to hear the start back to work went smoothly Sarah.
I'm glad to hear you're feeling well enough to return to work, Sarah!
Having a bad day. We are having a snow storm. Its a mild one but its a long one. I was so looking forward to my niece and her baby's visit. But the baby has a cold. Snow and the cold are keeping them home. I wish I felt like reading. I guess I will just snuggle with my cat and watch tv
Sorry to hear bout the bad day, Renee :(
Renee wrote: "Having a bad day. We are having a snow storm. Its a mild one but its a long one. I was so looking forward to my niece and her baby's visit. But the baby has a cold. Snow and the cold are keeping th..."Sounds like a plan Renee!
sorry to hear you were disappointed over the planned visit by your niece. I hope they can make it when the weather improves.
Sorry to be a little AWOL, and it's going to continue for a few days.A army helicopter helping with fire recon landing lights set off a grass fire in our national park, which has been closed all summer due to extreme fire risk. It's on fire, and has been an emergency level fire all day. It's just hit our rural village outside of the city proper, and is about 8kms from our city edge. This one is coming from the south west, and as I've said before, we're on the west. But it's sending spotfires 5kms ahead of the fire front in whatever direction the wind is blowing it.
We came home from my family dinner tonight, and this was what the view was from our place:
That's my house you can just see on the left (my neighbour was taking much better photos than me, I am googling how to use my phone's camera better at night). That is the fire reflected in the smoke, AND FLAMES! We are about 20kms away from the fire front proper, 17kms from Tharwa which is the village.
Our marketing and comms guy from work (@AdamSpenceAU) has been chasing images up mountains all evening apparently, and this was his from the mountain near us a bit earlier:
Today was the good day. Friday, Sat, and Sunday are horrible fire days with high temps and really strong gusty winds. We are all very worried.
It all looks and sounds very scary Rus..
Rusalka wrote: "Sorry to be a little AWOL, and it's going to continue for a few days..."it does sound scary. Will this ever end? Lets us know how you are when you can.
It is terrifying, Rusalka. Praying for all of you. :(
Thanks guys. I have been holding off saying anything, as I realised I was a bit doom and gloom for a bit. But I realised that soon you might be wondering what was happening, and if things happened that impacted on me long term, you would want to know. The benefit is that we have been prepping for this for weeks. It's stupidly unfortunate that it's happened, but it highlights that a helicopter's light, or a cigarette butt out the window, or a car parked in grass sets off crazy things in our country.
Our local government and our local emergency services, have been honestly doing an amazing job. In 2003, the government and the emergency services didn't ever think a fire could hit us, and didn't communicate to the population. A friend of mine at uni worked a catering job the night before the fires where the fire captains were joking about the community being unnecessarily worried as that fire would burn out well before it hit Canberra. The next day we lost hundreds of houses and four people. The people in these positions now have gone so far out of their way to inform the community of every step of what they are doing, it's amazing. I have very rarely seen a government and organisation learn such a lesson.
So we are aware, we are informed, we are prepared, unlike before. I'm hopefully out of the way of this one, but I don't take fires lightly at all from past experience. But wanted to let you know if I go quiet, just a bit busy :)
Esther wrote: "Rusalka wrote: "Sorry to be a little AWOL, and it's going to continue for a few days..."it does sound scary. Will this ever end? Lets us know how you are when you can."
In May? Maybe?
This time last week we had just been pelted with ice the size of mandarins! Fun times.
Crazy that was started by lights. Scary. Stay safe, Rus. Let us know you're ok when you can.
I know! Hot light on dry, dead grass.Just been downgraded from emergency to watch and act, at 1am. So time for sleep. Will check in when I can. Just wanted to give you guys a heads up before you saw us on the news.
Thanks for keeping us in the loop Rusalka. Stay safe and sweet dreams.
Yikes! I'm glad it's been downgraded and that you can sleep a little easier.
Oh Rusalka, I was hoping no new was good news. You have made it to the top of my prayer list. I wish I could do more
Oh Rus, that is incredibly scary! You are apologing for being "all doom and gloom", of course we want to know what is happening to you. We are all worried about you and about what is happening to your country <3
Devastating. I have no more words to say how I feel about what’s happening in Australia right now. Stay safe Rusalka. Every day it’s some new crisis.On a selfish note, I’m glad our fires in Queensland are out (at the moment) but we are heading into cyclone season. Fingers crossed the weather is kind to us.
On a personal note, we have just started our grandson Harrison at High School. My husband and I are his guardians, since our daughter (his mother) died 2 years ago. It’s been an emotional time for us, but he had a great first day. This is not what we expected to be doing in our retirement!
I'm so sorry to hear your daughter passed away Shirley. Glad to hear though that Harrison had a great first day!
Wow Rusalka. Stay safe and do check-in when you can so we know you are both ok. Fucking fire!
Peggy wrote: "I'm so sorry to hear your daughter passed away Shirley. Glad to hear though that Harrison had a great first day!"Thank you.
Shirley, I can see how emotional all of this is for you. I am very sorry for your loss. Your grandson is lucky to have you and your husband there for him.
Shirley, I'm so sad to hear about your daughter. This would have been an emotional day, for sure.
So sorry for your loss, Shirley. I’m glad your grandson had a good first day.
I'm glad your grandson had a good day Shirley. Yes I can only imagine how emotional it has been for you.
:) Glad I wasn't being a Negative Nellie.Got the fire down to advice today, so people have been able to rest and sleep. The next 3 days are going to be terrible fire weather though.
Shirley wrote: "Devastating. I have no more words to say how I feel about what’s happening in Australia right now. Stay safe Rusalka. Every day it’s some new crisis.On a selfish note, I’m glad our fires in Queens..."
I saw some of Queensland is flooding now, Shirley, but that's much further north, correct? I'm glad all your fires are out. Fingers crossed the cyclones give it a bit of a rest this year!
I am so glad Harrison had a great first day of high school! How exciting for him. Understand how emotional it must be having these milestones without your daughter there to share them with you all. Hope you're okay, and as is Harrison. No doubt you have taken a gazillion photos of him which he would be exasperated by, so no chance escaping that first day of school ritual!! I can hear the 12 year old groans from here lol
You know Harrison so well! He just loves it (not) when I tell him how handsome he is. Today it was more photos, this time in the Sports uniform. lolThanks everyone for your well wishes.
btw flooding is in Cairns, so yes a long way from us.
Shirley wrote: "You know Harrison so well! He just loves it (not) when I tell him how handsome he is. Today it was more photos, this time in the Sports uniform. lol"Lol! Made me laugh. They are all the same. School starts here next week, so I am waiting for my facebook to be inundated with 12 year olds looking perplexed/annoyed. And 5 year olds with backpacks bigger than them.
Thought so, but wanted to double check the floods were much further north.
Shirley wrote: "Devastating. I have no more words to say how I feel about what’s happening in Australia right now. Stay safe Rusalka. Every day it’s some new crisis.On a selfish note, I’m glad our fires in Queens..."
Shirley, that must have been very emotional for you all. You have been through a very tough time. I hope he settles well into school.
I bought an activity tracker. I was already doing steps on my phone (not reaching a goal, but it tracks it automatically so I checked everyday), but this one also measures stairs, heart rate, sleep duration and quality, stress (and gives you a signal when stress levels are high and reminds you to breath or take a break) and has something called a body battery. I've been feeling quite tired for a very long time, and for the past 6 months or so I also haven't been sleeping that well anymore. So I figured this could be a nice stimulation to get some more exercise and also some insight in my sleep. The stress thing sounds good too, I'm curious if it works well. My eating habits are not bad, I eat enough veggies (not enough fruits though) but I do like chocolate and especially on days when I'm home alone I snack too much. So I'm going to try to change that too.
We'll see how long I last!
Peggy wrote: "I bought an activity tracker. I was already doing steps on my phone (not reaching a goal, but it tracks it automatically so I checked everyday), but this one also measures stairs, heart rate, sleep..."That's a great idea. People here use Fitbit which tracks all of that except for stress levels. I'd be interested in something dealing with stress.
I was in doubt between Fitbit and a Garmin Vivosmart. Basically the same thing. The Fitbit is prettier but Garmin has the stress thing, so I decided on that one in the end.
I bought Pete the Gamin one for xmas. He and I both had cheap Fitbits that I bought last year. Pete loved his so much that I decided to treat him to a decent. He is addicted to his body battery which is worryingly low. He does too much at work, at home, at the gym and jogging. I think this may have convinced him slow down! I hope it works as well for you Peggy :-)Changing the subject completely, has everyone seen the new Starbucks featuring a trans man? It is going viral
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcSP1...
I like the body battery too! I was a bit sceptic at how well it would work, also the stress levels, but they make a lot of sense. I have very low stress levels when I read ;-) But the graph does sort of resemble how I feel. A few days ago I read for two hours and there was a clear drop in stress levels. After 2 hours I watched Netflix for a bit and my stress levels increased! Not that I was stressed, but clearly watching series and laughing and emphatizing with the characters affects me more than reading a book. I'm a bit disappointed with the sleep tracking and the minutes of intense activity. They don't seem to work so well.
Peggy wrote: "I like the body battery too! I was a bit sceptic at how well it would work, also the stress levels, but they make a lot of sense. I have very low stress levels when I read ;-) But the graph does so..."That is cool that it measures stress levels. Henry's Fitbit died a couple of weeks ago and it might be worth checking out the Gamin for him.
Margo wrote: ".."Changing the subject completely, has everyone seen the new Starbucks featuring a trans man? It is going viralThanks for sharing the video. I haven't seen it in the states, but will now keep an eye out.
Haven't seen the video. I'm at work right now so can't watch the link either. I'm curious though!
Thanks for posting the video, Margo. I don't watch much tv so wouldn't likely see it. I really like it - so well done.
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You'll love this one...!! A book club & more
Books mentioned in this topic
The Lost Man (other topics)The Glass Woman (other topics)
The Survivors (other topics)
The Survivors (other topics)
The Glass Woman (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Roberto Bolaño (other topics)Dervla McTiernan (other topics)
Kevin Hearne (other topics)
Rachel Caine (other topics)
Tan France (other topics)
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I like prawn and shrimp when they're eat-ready. I don't like it when they're on my plate with eyes and legs and tail and I first have to get the meat out. It's like the crickets, too much like the living thing.
I'm not a big fan of larger insects and I wouldn't touch a living cricket or grasshopper, so I guess when they still are so recognizable I'm not very inclined to eat them either.