Booming Banter

You’ll all have seen a pink flamingo some perhaps for real others maybe of the plastic variety.

The color of the real McCoy is amazing and it’s all down to what they eat. They are filter feeders and get by on large quantities of algae and small crustacean.

The food is rich in carotene that’s bound to a protein molecule. Once the protein is digested the carotenoid is released and stored in the feathers of the bird. It’s the same reason that shrimp turn pink when you cook them the protein is denatured and the carotenoid is free to transform them from a grey dreariness to a vibrant rosiness.

Well it’s a bright and beautiful story and makes you wonder is there any connection to a very strange and amazing creature that was spotted some years ago in the Gulf of Mexico a pink dolphin.

PINKY is very famous and even has her own website but I’d never heard of her till this morning when I read of a happy event.

Seems PINKY has had a baby and the baby is PINK too. Geneticist will be very interested in future offspring to see if the PINK gene is likely dominant.

Can you imagine if like flocks of flamingos we had schools of pink dolphins. It would be a wild world!

Blessing #465 – Out if the Blue

This should have been an obvious PINK point for me and you’ll see why later, but it wasn’t.

It took a reminder that I received this morning that PINK ribbons representing breast cancer awareness would be a good subject to cover.

The whole month of October here in the USA is dedicated to making sure as many women and men as possible are made aware of the importance of breast cancer screening. There are radio and TV spots highlighting the subject and many high profile celebrities who have beaten breast cancer tell their stories.

This includes the Today Show morning host Hoda Kobt who is an inspiration to many. Not only is she now cancer free she has recently become a mum for the second time. Coincidentally Hoda posted something today on her twitter feed that says it all for how she feels.

The subject is very near and dear to my heart because my granny, my Mum, two of her three sisters and more than half of my many female cousins have all had the disease.

This would indicate a strong genetic component but so far no known mutation has been identified within the family.

Fortunately all but one of those concerned in our family has beaten the disease.

Progress since the days when Granny was diagnosed in the 1970s have been tremendous and now we have such great early screening opportunities and so many different approaches to treatment.

We are so fortunate with our wonderful healthcare to have the drugs and treatments to be able to overcome this but let us remember the millions out there for whom such provisions are not available. As an example in The Gambia only 12% of those diagnosed survive for more than five years!

Who know’s what is possible for the future let’s hope it’s as simple as a vaccination and reaches deep and wide. To get there though we all have to support the cause together.

Blessing # 464 – Fight for the Cure

Some people have green fingers and can grow anything. My Mom was like that. Armed with her rooting powder sticks became bushes.

Better still she could tell you where everything originated from. Oh that’s from Helens house in Dunmurry and that fuschia’s from when she cut back the hedge when they moved to Ballynahinch. The hydrangea that was treelike starred as a slip from Robert and Nora’s, the ever lasting sweet pea too and that orange blossom was in that arrangement you sent me at Mother’s Day. So it would go on.

Her yard was quite small and there was very little grass it was full to overflowing with borders of perennials and evergreens. There was no color coding or planning but everything look splendid.

She was a great believer in the power of tea and when she’d finished with a pot, which was made at least four times a day, always from leaf never from bags, she’d throw the remainder over her plants.

What she gave them most of though was tender loving care and she’d talk to them and tend to them everyday. All great gardeners it seems are like this. Prince Charles once ran into a lot of publicity for confessing he too talked to his plants.

Being more of the bung it in and hope for the best types, my yard is far from spectacular. Over the past year though a certain little corner has proved to be a place of hope.

Its not a flower bed as such but a place where plants that are on their last legs get tucked in for a last chance. What makes it special is that it’s a spot you can’t miss because it’s beside the garage door. As in most home this, rather than the front door, is the main entry into the house. So anything close gets a little daily attention.

They may not look like much now but if you knew what they looked like when they were rescued you’d realize the power of a little love.

Blessing # 463 – Reward of Revival

This morning I saw a post from Roma Downy the actress and producer who once starred in the TV show Touched By An Angel.

Roma was remembering the great friendship she had with her costar and fellow angel making a fashion statement of course in Pink!

Krishna and I along with millions of others watched this show when we lived in Connecticut back in the 1990s. It was on each Sunday evening and was always a feel good story.

Angels figure in most major religions and are believed to be the messengers of the Almighty.

They make a visible appearance only on very rare and special occasions like the birth of Jesus but the idea of their being around us is very reassuring.

Sometime just seeing something beautiful like a little bird or butterfly brings them close particularly after a loved ones passing.

Why believe? Why not?

Blessing #462 – What We Don’t See

Do you ever wonder how and why certain ads get into your social media feed? It’s all a bit spooky like the 1984 view of “big brothers watching you”.

Sometimes it makes you wonder is that camera on our phones doing more than we might imagine

Do they really see us? Or is it merely algorithms of association linking our likes and dislikes, friends, demographic, age and so on that prompts the post?

Take for example the case of Shapermint that for the past month or so has hit my Facebook inbox every day.

What pops up are videos of ladies of all shapes and sizes whose bodies are miraculously transformed from jello to cement simply by the act of putting on an undergarment. Where all the superfluous body bulges go to is nothing short of a miracle it seems.

Never having heard of Shapermint there is no way I’d have searched for this. I’ll confess to having purchased a few tummy squeezer inners in the past but never once did I buy them on line or even look for them.

So why does Facebook think I need this fix?

Today in search of a PINK a bit of research on Shapermint proved helpful. Their philosophy is sound and strong and definitely not wobbly!

So true and something all those who love a little lightweight garment that lends itself to comfort can agree with.

Blessing # 461 – Life In Loose Tops & Leggins

Thank heavens the pink pooper scooper bags were in abundance. We have been busy on every outing not to mention some inside jobs over the past 24 hours.

Of course only to be expected when you’ve been through such change in just a few days. All that travel, new people, who knows how many foods not to mention the excitement of a new indoor place to live.

Dad stayed home to take care of Scooby while Aaron went to work at 4:30 and I made a quick trip to Church at 9:15. While we were away there was no poop but Dad had to deal with other emissions brought on it would seem by grass chewing at some point in the recent past.

Stop the Smelly Spray has been used on an industrial scale along with bucket loads of bleach.

On the many outings to get to know where business should be done came the chance to meet some more people and puppies. At each encounter Scooby was such a good boy.

This afternoon as is normal for most and highly recommended by many a Sunday afternoon nap was taken by the entire household.

When it gets a little cooler we’ll go for a good long walk to work up an appetite. It feels so good to be together. How does that saying go

Blessing #460 – Pals with Paws

You might think we have reacted too quickly and time will tell if we did but we were feeling so empty and lost and so we have adopted a little boy called Scooby.

No one will ever take the place of our dearly beloved Dibley. This week in our distress we started to look for the best rescue kennel in our state and we found Canine Collective just fifteen minutes from home.

By some divine intervention they had a group of new arrivals coming in and their website with a big rainbow clearly said come see.

Scooby arrived just yesterday from Texas. Canine Collective is a no kill kennel and they rescue dogs from areas where dogs might otherwise be euthanized.

Scooby is a very sweet boy calm and quiet and friendly. He was born on September 6th 2018 so he is exactly one year old.

He is an Irish Wheaten Terrier cross and looks very much like a miniature Irish Wolfhound. He is up to date on all his shots but still needs to be neutered so he will have to stay away from the girls for a few weeks!

He is exploring as we speak, has had a good walk with Aaron and his girlfriend and is getting ready for his dinner.

Here now is the thing that makes us sure he was meant for us he came home with of all things a PINK leash!

Blessing # 459 – New Family

It’s been super hot the past days and it’s set to continue. A dip in the lake might be on the cards to cool down since all the pools are closed.

The hibiscus thinks it spring again and has gotten a second wind. It’s sprung a lot of new buds all of which are absolutely beautiful.

Hibiscus always make me think of hot and humid climes where they bloom all year round. Today ours reminded me of an old TV Series set in the Deep South called The Long Hot Summer.

It aired in the UK in the mid sixties when I was out playing hop scotch in the street. My Mum usually would have come calling me home about eight in the evening but when this was on I got to stay out longer!

It was considered steamy stuff at the time and Ben Quick was on everyone’s lips. Cheeks were pink with passion!

To this day the tune for that show is stuck in my head.

Before the TV show the story was made into a movie that resulted in the marriage of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward one of the most enduring marriages in Hollywood history.

Just goes to show what a little hot weather can do!

Blessing # 458 – Summer Sizzlers

When Dibley passed his auntie Carol said that he had « crossed the rainbow bridge ».

The first card we received was from our neighbors Karen, Mike and family featuring a rainbow too.

Just now we received Dibley home. His ashes are tucked into a beautiful little wooden box.

 

Along with this we received his paw print and a little bag of his hair. This was sent from our vet in a lovely little gift box with a card and a poem about The Rainbow Bridge.

The poem says it all and makes us so grateful for all the compassion and sympathy and for pink in the spectrum!

Blessing # 457 – Rainbows

Living with an Indian gives your taste buds a tingle. When Krishna isn’t cooking he often feels the need for a little additional OOMPH on his food. So of course we have pickles and chutneys but they don’t lend themselves to all meals.

The go to, if everything else fails, for pasta, pizza, salads and the like is good old HOT SAUCE.

We go through gallons of this between the two of us because Aaron wouldn’t touch it if you paid him.

It’s funny that when the spirits are low a little spice is so uplifting. Of course the over zealous use of the material has a consequence. You need to cool off afterwards.

So what better thing to do than have a few pink potions.

Krishna had cut up a big watermelon some days ago but with the stress of the past days we had no appetite for health and wellness so it was lying in the fridge going soggy. So it got juiced and was obligingly PINK.

So too was something equally rosé that slipped down very well and caused some early slumber!!!!!!!

Blessing #456 – Hot Sauce Cold Drinks