Cottage cheese and flax oil

No, I'm not going completely barmy even if you did wonder about me after I wrote the post about eating Christmas tree tips.  Incidentally, I'm still doing that. I find them delicious and of course the season of sprouting won't be long so I have to enjoy them while I can.  What's concerning me now is cottage cheese and flax oil.

As you know, if you've been an avid reader of this blog, I've been consulting a nutrionist and last week I went to see her again to look at my diet according to my blood group. There are certain foods that I won't digest very well and there are certain foods that are particularly good for me, and then there are the foods that are neutral. It's interesting, looking at the lists, that some foods of which I am not at all fond are on the negative list and several that I really love are on the positive list, which rather sells the whole idea to me.

My nutritionist provided a report after the consultation and in it she suggested that I try cream cheese and flax oil. I remember seeing this as I flashed through the myriad of references on the net about cancer treatments a while back. At the time I dismissed it without a second thought and filed it in my mind amongst the quack ideas. But when it appeared on the nutritionist's report I decided to take a longer look.  As you know, Chris Woollams is the person to whom I turn when I want an objective opinion about a therapy. Interestingly enough he's got quite a lot to say about cottage cheese and flax oil and it does make sense, once you realise that the mixture is one done for chemical reasons.

So now every day I whizz up my mixture. Strangely enough it doesn't taste as bad as you might imagine. I've had it on my porridge and also on my salad. What surprises me is that I haven't suffered any indigestion as a result which makes me realise that it's obviously a highly digestible mixture. It's a bit early to give you any feedback yet, but I'll let you know how it goes in due course.

There's none so blind

I've just been reading a recent blog from Chris Woollams  I won't tell you what it says; I'd rather you read it. It confirms everything that I've personally discovered about the current state of oncology: that oncologist's minds are completely closed to complementary (for want of a a better word) and natural therapies. 

I've been reading more and more about the science behind what I did. My change of diet, my journey of personal enlightement and healing have all actually been proven to be beneficial where cancer's concerned - there actually is research out there to prove it. But the UK is stubbornly refusing to acknowledge this and the Cancer Act is compounding that calumnly. It clearly is an outdated and generally disregarded piece of legislation and should go.  Do read Chris's blog, I can guarantee you'll find it enlightening; I did.

A very nasty trojan - two actually

It's never happened before but it did on Sunday. We got back after a lovely weekend in the woods and I turned on my PC to search for something.  What I didn't do is update the antivirus before I started the search and that was probably my big error.

Before too long I had a gloriously technicoloured applicaton on my screen, "Smart Data Recovery", trying to suggest that I should input my credit card details in order to effect a solution to the problem of a myriad of separate screens superimposed on one another, each telling me I'd a system error.  I'm not that stupid. 

It wasn't too urgent - I have another PC, so I just switched off the virus-ridden one.  The Man Who Knows how to kill viruses called today and spent a good hour sorting it out. I then did another deep scan as suggested to rid the system of three versions of one trojan and one other. However this episode has left its mark. My favourites have disappeared and I'm unable to replace them with the backup file. But curiously all my folders except one have the appearance of hidden files - though I can reach them OK.  So it's not over yet and I anticipate some remote assistance from The Man Who Knows later this week.

I can't help contemplating how less stressful our lives were before the advent of PCs and the internet.

What next?

It may be because two of my solar gadgets have broken, or it may be because I have a very nasty trojan virus on my work PC that I cannot fix it and must call in The Man.  It seems as if everything's going wrong at the moment.

Or perhaps my blues - for that's what it's been feeling like - have been because I was caught driving at 44 miles per hour in a 40 mph zone yesterday and pulled off the road in order to undergo a stern talking to by a very nice young policeman. I realised immediately that I'd been over the limit. I'd had to slow myself down earlier in the same 40 mph section because I'd realised I was speeding. I apologised profusely and said what a wonderful job the speed awareness team was doing and how appreciative I was of their work. Well you've got to try to make them smile haven't you.

My paper licence dating back to 1970 was duly proferred  - with my warning that it was so fragile it might shatter. The PC said he'd only recently surrendered his paper licence.  Goodness, said I, you don't look old enough for one of those.  Actually he didn't really look old enough to be out on his own, but that's increasingly the case with policemen these days.  He could see that I'd never been prosecuted for any offence by virtue of the fact that I still had an old paper licence and by the end of our very pleasant exchange I think he felt rather sorry for me. 

I'm now wondering what on earth can go wrong next, for things always go in batches like this don't they.

Eating Christmas trees

Yes, you find that hard to believe I know - but we have indeed been eating them. Well, just the tiny tips of the Christmas trees, otherwise known as Norway Spruce. They have a strange slightly bitter flavour which jazzes up a salad. I'm now putting them in my blow-your-head-off salad dressing. 

Apparently you can dry them and make tea with them - and the Norweigans mix them with butter. Yummy - that sounds like something I need to try on baked potatoes.

A trawl of the internet shows that they are Vitamin C rich - which is excellent news.  I'm not sure how long the tip season lasts but for the moment the wood is just full of them, tons of them in fact. If I were an entrepreneur I guess I'd be harvesting them and selling on to high class restaurants. There are some in the fridge as I type, so if you come by, remember to ask to try one.

Asparagus - yummy, yummy

My nutritionist - God bless her - has just sent me a great link to an article on the benefits of asparagus. Brilliant! I can now buy loads of  it with a clear conscience, knowing that I'm only doing so because asparagus is a Jolly Good Thing and it's not because I'm a glutton and just love the stuff.  Here's the link 

I'm a great believer in Chris Woollams for information on cancer but having had a look at the web site with the asparagus information on it -  which I'd not come across before - I can see that it also seems to give a very balanced view. 

You do wonder sometimes

It's been raining nearly all day, but in between the drops I've been packing the van ready for the first camp of the season. I'm quite excited to be off once again on a little expedition. We've several planned for this year including a weekend for our niece's wedding. Yesterday I investigated camp sites near the venue and emailed one to ask if they had space for a two night stopover, and what would be the cost.

I've received a reponse which I quote in full:
"I am sorry but as that is the August Bank Holiday weekend we have a minimum of 3 night stays."

You do wonder sometimes if some people are too stupid to run a business don't you. Just a little warm cuddly reply and it could all turn to their benefit, as in:

"Thank you so much for your enquiry. We're so glad you selected our camp site and we would love it if you were to stay with us. 

The dates you've quoted are the August Bank Holiday and we do have a minimum stay of three nights during that period. But nevertheless, we hope you'll still book with us and it will cost you only ..... I do so much hope you'll be able to visit our campsite. If there's anything else we can help, with please just ask. " etc.

I have actually emailed back to ask for a cost for the three nights, but I don't think they really deserve it.