The Greatest Secrets

Thank you all you readers that have stuck with me as I griped, expounded, pontificated, experimented, made a fool of myself, and wandered off course over the past few years.

You are my sunshine

My only sunshine.

You make me happy when skies are gray

You never know dear how much I love you.

do not take my sunshine away.

I saw this on a pillow this morning in a shop downtown and thought of you. 

The shop's window pulled me in, loaded with brilliant crystal as it was. I'm a sucker for crystal. Well, I picked up a champagne flute, turned it over, and the price jumped out at me, $110.00 per glass.

Lordy, I'd be afraid to wash that glass, and what price must the champagne be to pay homage to such a glass?

I carefully placed the crystal back on its shelf, and beat-feet over to the sandwich shop where I was headed.

I've been off bread for a couple of weeks, (trying to lose weight), but I'm splurging today, and having a sandwich, even bought a loaf of sour dough for dinner. My foodie daughter told me that fermenting the dough makes it healthier.

She also gave me the best explanation I've heard of why it's better to sprout or ferment wheat. I have rebelled against the current trend that the "#Staff of Life," aka wheat, is not healthy. Well, spraying it with Roundup would certainly do the trick. and apparently some companies do that. Maligning the plant. They ought to be ashamed. 

No, they ought to stop.

This is the explanation my daughter gave me: Some grains, aka, the seed of the plant, have enzymes that when the seed sprouts it releases the enzyme keeping other plants a distance away. 

I've seen this around some trees, nothing will grow right next to their roots. This is for self-preservation and for natural spacing that makes for a healthier crop or forest. 

The trouble is the plants protective enzymes can interfere with our enzymes. But help is on the way. If grains are either soaked or fermented it makes them easier to digest. Maybe then we're not seen as an intruder.

The process of sprouting uses part of the germ, the layer of carbohydrates under the seed coat that is fuel for the baby plant. As the germ is used up by the growing plant, it has fewer carbs for us, but more vitamins.


Sprouting  breaks down phytate, a form of phytic acid that normally decreases absorption of vitamins and minerals within the human body.


Ancient peoples sprouted and fermented grains. I don't know how they knew to do this. I don't know how a lot of food preparation got to be, but somehow the idea of sprouting or fermenting got into their cultures. 

Well, that's the health lesson for the day. 

As I was driving home, my sandwich tucked away so my dog wouldn't get it,  I mulled over a conversation my husband and I had last night. At home, before biting into that sandwich I opened the computer and ordered the book my husband had told me about. It was PTSD, Time to Heal by Kathy O'Brian.

It wasn't available on Kindle so I must wait for delivery, so I can't tell you much about it, except this: One is we know a person with Post Traumatic Syndrome which makes me interested, and two O'Brian tells people as they are going through her book to write down their thoughts. I believe in writing as a therapeutic technique especially for folks who tend to repeat themselves or recycle stories. This is true of many PTSD people. 

I have long thought how terrible is is for folks who must replay horrific events in their mind over and over. You have probably been plagued at one time or other with something you saw of experienced that traumatized you. I saw a movie once that I should never have seen, but it caught me unawares, and I replayed that scene for months. It finally wore out, and no longer bothers me. But with PTSD people the event doesn't wear out, it goes on and on.

That brings me back to writing out thoughts. Who would write a sentence over and over, the way it cycles through their brain? That would get old in a hurry, not to mention writer's cramps. Put a period at the end of a line and be done with it.

Sounds like a good idea.

I'm not saying writing will cure a person of PTSD, I haven't read the book yet, and I don't know much about the condition. I do know they say there is no cure, no blood test for it, and conventional therapy is mostly ineffectual. 

Okay, this brings me back to the eyes. 

Remember a couple of months ago I wrote about the #Bates Method of Vision training, and was surprised that so many people wanted to know about it.

They say that the eyes are the windows of the soul. We know there is a direct pipeline from the eyeball right into the brain. In fact, it is as though a part of the brain has been pulled into a long strand and attached to two stimuli seeking balls.

We know from unconventional therapy that tapping around the eyes while thinking of a particularly painful event can lessen the painful memories. If a person is kept from rem sleep, their natural rhythms get messed up. That tells us that eye health is important to our overall health. There is a therapy regarding tracking of the eye that I've heard is beneficial.

Don't hold me to this, it is an hypothesis worth looking into. I'm just wondering if the eyes have the answer.

Conventional medicine does not have a cure for PTSD. There is no chemical test for it. It is diagnosed by symptoms, and those symptoms are then compared to a chart of drugs. when the symptoms and the possible help of the drug line up, that drug is prescribed.  It's all subjective.

What if there really was a cure? 

I'm going to read the book.

Well, that was my morning, except for that input from my publisher.

Well rats. 

Who wants to buy a book that isn't touted by Oprah?

I have some work to do. 

So, how was your morning?

I'm Working on It

After I mentioned Howard Beale"s speech from the movie Network last week, I got this from a reader:  

‘Speaking of leaning out the window....I'm reminded of Jason Robards in 1000 Clowns...  

  

Murray: [Leans out his apartment window] This is your neighbor speaking. I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say that something must be done about your garbage cans in the alley here.  

[raises voice]
  

Murray: It is definitely second-rate garbage. Now, by next week I want to see a better class of garbage, more empty champagne bottles and caviar cans! I'm sure you're all behind me on this. So let's snap it up and get on the ball!  

Last Saturday I should have asked for two brochures from the Tesla Dealership so I could throw one in the garbage. That would be classy garbage. Now I'm working on emptying a champagne bottle.  

On Saturday my youngest daughter and I traveled to Portland. We stopped along the way to take in a Tiny House show, and then on up to our newly discovered favorite lunch, the Thai Lettuce Wraps at the Cheesecake Factory. All the vegetables are so fresh, the chicken is seared just right, and the three sauces make it perfect. I suppose it’s meant to be an appetizer, but we each order one. It’s our main meal.  

El Yumo.  

After lunch, we wandered into the Mall and I was attracted to a fiery red Tesla car sitting in an open showroom. A red car with seats the color of new-driven snow. Jazzy. As I was snapping a picture of the dash--that had no dials, no speedometer, no clock, no anything except a slit that was the air vent, a salesman slipped into the passenger seat beside me, and asked if I wanted an explanation of the car.  

Well okay. I was sitting in his car after all. 

 A display screen sat directly in the middle of the dash--ha ha, dashboard, an old term for horse and buggy days, a protective device to keep the mud from splashing on the wagon's inhabitants. That car probably had a device that would spit on mud splatters, and then a little rag would come out and dry it off.

All of the car controls, except for steering and gas are done on that screen--Oh, it will do that too, drive that is. That car will drive itself and skitter into a parking place without any help from you. (You do need to take hold of the steering once in a while so they know you’re still alive.)  

The salesman  proceeded to explain the bells and whistles that came standard on that car. It never needs maintenance he said, it never needs the brakes replaced, and it will travel 350 miles on an electric charge. If you are sitting in a restaurant and it gets to be 110 degrees outside, and who knows how hot inside your car, simply remotely set the car's temperature at say 72, and a cool car will be waiting for you.   

“What about a dog in the car?" I asked. Well, that’s taken care of too, set the temperature, the battery will run the air conditioner, and a notice will pop up on that mammoth display screen, “Dog in car. The temperature inside is 68 degree.” Anyone snooping through the window, or a policeman checking, will see that you have taken care of everything.   

“How much does the car cost,” I asked.  

“Forty thousand,” he said.  

“What?” I exclaimed,” that’s less expensive than the Chevy Silverado I looked at last week.”  

Well, the price went up to $50,000 or $55,000 in the course of our conversation, still, I thought Teslas were in the $100,000 range.  

This isn’t a Tesla commercial; I became interested in electric cars when my eldest daughter bought one—not a Tesla, and I found that you can travel across the country easily from charging station to charging station. It’s all mapped out for you. 

I commented that I never see a Tesla on the road, or else I don’t recognize them. They rather fit in with other sedans. My thought is they ought to stand out as a Ferrari did in the seventies. (That red one stood out. When I asked how they kept those white seats so clean he answered, “You know how many people sit in this car each week? The seat upholstery is made of recycled pop bottles and mushrooms." (Mushrooms? I still don’t have the answer to that one.)  

And then coming home I came up behind a car in the I-5's center lane going exactly 65 miles per hour. “It’s a Tesla,” my daughter exclaimed. I followed it for a while as it stayed steady in the center lane at 65 mph.” I bet they have the speed control set,” I said, “This Prius is going to pass that Tesla, Check when we go by to see if an old person is driving it.”  

Nope. It was a couple of young people dancing. A pillow covered the steering wheel and arms were waving all over that car. They were partying hardy. 

Take a lesson from the kids. Party hardy. 

Come on, I expect to see some classy garbage in your bins this coming week.