Seriously, for a moment

Have you been watching the news in the last few days?  If so, those haunting images of starving Somali children are hard to miss.

The statistics are staggering, some 11.5 million people are in some sort of imminent starvation danger, and I believe the figure I saw last night was that some 600,000 children are on the verge of death by starvation this week.

It breaks my heart, and I remember it from my childhood...those same images, whether they were from Somali or the Sudan....I just know that the shocked sensation is familiar.  There was that one image from many years ago, captured by perhaps an Nat' Geo' photographer, of a dying child collapsed in the middle of the desert with a vulture patiently waiting by its side.  Do you remember that?  I do, and this spring I went to a photography festival here in my town, where that photograph was referenced.  The photographer committed suicide recently.

You have to wonder how reporters, politicians, photographers handle the impact of being in situations like that, so dire, where it seems there is no relief in sight.  I can only imagine. 

The whole situation is complicated, of course, by politics and civil war, but the fact that those who are helping currently do not begin to have sufficient resources, regardless of the challenges, is irrefutable.

It's always hard to know what one could do to help, if one were so moved.  So I offer this as a resource:

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/Africa-Monitor/2011/0720/UN-declares-famine-in-Somalia-How-to-help

New hair and yet another reason why I need an iPad

I'm getting my hair cut in a few hours.  (Yes, it's that time of year)  If I HAD an iPad, I could take it with me, google pictures of the hair style of which I am desirous and just show them to my stylist.

Wouldn't that just be super handy?

I'm thinking of going sort of "Betty Draper."  If you know, then you know, otherwise, it's irrelevant.  But, being of a certain age (I did just identify the very first of what is likely to be an avalanche of grey hair) and station (who even uses this expression any more?) in life, I do think I can get away with it.

I'm sort of Betty Draper with teenagers at the moment, of course. 

We're having one of those brief conversations last night(daughter, son, husband and I) wherein my son turns out to be the culprit for something.  I give him THE LOOK.  He cringes.  "Whaaaaaaaat?"  My daughter intercedes:  "That's the look women give you when they're blaming you for something with their eyes.  You should get used to it.  I think you're going to see it a lot."

I love them.

Dog Days of Summer, why Kellogg is the DEVIL and an eco-solution to mowing your lawn

One hears that expression occasionally, and we're certainly "there" with our 39th day of temperatures in the 90s this year.  Interestingly, it has its origins way back in Aristotle's day, where the expression referred to the constellation Canis Major which was visible during the hottest part of the summer.  The French still refer to this period as "canicule" based on the same principle.  So, not only is it about constellations, but also the fact that it was so hot it made people as crazy as mad dogs, etc. etc.

Fortunately, I've been spared foaming at the mouth this year, but I certainly will be glad when it gets a little cooler, my motivation to do anything outside (including training for my rapidly approaching half marathon) has been zapped.

So, other than kvetching about the weather, what have I been up to, you might ask.

Working hard, playing hard, and enjoying the usual sampling of life's little irritations.  For example, I did a few circles of nothing, as we like to call them, in our cafeteria this morning looking for something healthier to eat than cookies.  I arrived upon this product:

One would assume from the labelling, that this SHOULD be a relatively "healthful" choice.  No? 

It contains Antioxidants, A, C, E including beta carotene.  All stuff I think I'm supposed to be eating.  No?

"Lightly sweetened, toasted multi-grain flakes and crunchy oat clusters" it reads.

Lightly sweetened my ARSE.  Turns out there are 21 grams of sugar in that little plastic cup, and that's before you add a 1/2 cup of milk, which is another 6 grams of sugar.  I coulda had 3 cookies and a COKE at that point, holy hell!

Of the first 11 ingredients on the cup, 5 of them are SUGAR.

Sigh.

I heard an interesting interview on NPR yesterday morning, about a study someone did (yes, one of those "Scientists report that eating too much sugar CAN make you fat" kind of studies), but it has been somehow proven that what a woman eats affects the taste and smell of her amniotic fluid (no you do NOT want to know how they determined this....euw!)  And, when a baby is exposed to different things in utero it makes them more likely to gravitate towards those things after birth.  Which makes the following two things true:

1.  If you eat great, healthful, tasty foods while you are pregnant, your kids will be more adventurous eaters.

2.  If you exist on a diet of McDonalds and diet soda while you are pregnant, chances are good your kids won't eat vegetables and will likely have weight issues.

My son is on a bit of a tear at the moment, having discovered that 30% of the planet's potable water is wasted on irrigating our front lawns.  (He has taken to yelling at our neighbors about this as we drive past them, hoses in hand).  I had to hug him when he said to me "MOM!  Let's just turn our entire front lawn into a vegetable garden." 

I am, oddly, completely in favor of this idea.  I wonder what my HOA would think.  Details to follow.