Gleanings of the Week Ending April 6, 2013

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

The “50+ Market”: A Few Fab Facts

Are they (cicadas) coming to town? - There’s a brood of the 17 year cicadas coming to my area of Maryland this year!

Trends in Iceland - recession = good?

20+ Dramatic Shots of Lenticular Clouds - unusual clouds

Photos of Famous Authors as Teenagers - How many books of these authors have you read…and how many of these people aged well?

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #40 - My favorite of this batch are the flamingos in flight

Hollow chocolate Easter eggs - It’s too late for Easter this year but this is such a great idea, I’m including in my gleanings list….and looking around for another occasion to try it.

New Gullies Found in a Young(ish) Crater on Mars - Somehow knowing that Mars is not as static as we once thought makes it seem more like Earth too

Glowing Millipedes Accidentally Found on Alcatraz - The place….the organism….found when they were really looking for rats!

Teasing Out New Teeth - And how long will the research and refinement take before it begins to transform dentistry. No more implants or false teeth.

Chocolate and Pineapple (at Brookside)

I check the banana palms every time I visit the Brookside Gardens conservatories; they usually have bananas in various stages of development. This past visit two other plans from warmer climes were bearing fruit as well:

Pineapple. I had seen pictures of the plant but had not actually seen one before. The fruit was well along in its development.

Cacao (chocolate!). I had seen a tree with the pods in another conservatory but finding one at Brookside almost hidden in the other tropical foliage was a pleasant surprise. The change in color that comes as the pods ripen was clearly visible.

Both plants are so different looking than plants that are native to Maryland. What a delight on a winter’s day to feel the warmth and be surrounded by tropical plants in the Brookside Gardens conservatory!

Low Sodium Diet Journey - Part 3

How hard is it to consume 2 grams or less of sodium per day? I started out thinking it would be difficult when a low sodium diet was recommended for one of my family members but it has been easier than I anticipated. This is the third post in a series that documents our family’s ‘learning experience.’

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Probably the more redeeming find about the low sodium diet is that most candy is low in sodium….so the indulgences into the world of sweets are not reduced at all by the need to control sodium intake.

Dark chocolate is a great first choice. My favorite treat is two squares of Lindt Intense Mint chocolate - which totals up to 0 milligrams of sodium (note that some others have a small amount of sodium - read the labeling).

Peppermints were our second - in the seasonal form of candy canes. They generally have no sodium at all. What would Christmas have been without the candy canes?

Previous Low Sodium Diet Journey posts are here.