I believe that the clock-radio read 10:13 p.m. when I was into bed last evening. My younger brother was still not home, so I had not become embroiled with him watching T.V. into the midnight hour via our T9 Android 8.1 TV Box.
However, I think that I was up from bed before 2:30 a.m. because of course I had the day's content assignment to deal with at the post I have under construction at one of my six hosted websites.
My youngest stepson had not yet gone to bed ─ he is enjoying the first of two weeks that he booked off work, and seems to feel that enjoyment best comes from sitting up all night.
I finished the website post work in rather good time, and decided that I would return to bed instead of bedding down on the floor here in front of my computer as I tend to do in order to avoid disrupting my wife's essential sleep by coming back to our bed.
I keep my computer in a small room right next to our bedroom.
It was 5:58 a.m. once I was back in bed. And since my wife had earlier told me that she did not have to start work today until 11:30 a.m., I knew that it was unnecessary for her to be up by 10:00 a.m. to ready for her usual 11:00 a.m. start at the restaurant ─ which of course she has a fairly long drive to get to.
It was very good being back in bed, even if I was never to enjoy a long and unbroken sleep. Rather, I had a succession of mini-naps with lots of dreaming.
Meantime, my wife often seemed to me to be potentially awake ─ either that, or she is a most fitful sleeper.
I was to check the time once shortly after 9:00 a.m.; and then when I did so again just after 9:40 a.m., I carefully got myself from bed, gathered up my clothes, and left my wife alone in the bedroom.
My brother of course had the T.V. on in the living room watching basic cable programming, for he doesn't know how to operate our T9 Android 8.1 TV Box.
I spent some time here at my computer, and then went downstairs to fix myself an instant coffee and then join him, using the Android TV Box to fetch up an episode of one of the T.V. shows we follow.
My wife was able to get herself up with the half-hour cushion she had for remaining in bed some extra while; and then after showering and whatnot, she had gotten ready and then left us on her drive under an overcast sky.
Normally I have to watch T.V. with my brother until at least into the noon-hour, but this morning he stopped after the first episode I had tuned in of The Graham Norton Show ─ an episode (season 22 x episode 20) featuring guests Margot Robbie, Allison Janney, Alicia Vikander, Daniel Kaluuya, and Camila Cabello (who sang her "Havana" song).
It developed that my brother intended to nip out and have himself a haircut ─ an experience that I think I have only ever had once in the entirety of my adult life.
This was to free me up to get out to the backyard tool-shed to have a session of exercising there that was merely average by current standards.
I had thereafter fixed up my day's first meal and was enjoying that when my brother returned. It was not yet noon, but he had a manual of sorts to start reading concerning an investment company (Armada Mortgage Corporation) that his friend Greg has some investment involvement with and is recommending.
The T.V. remained off, and my brother eventually returned during the noon-hour to his bedroom for some rest before taking off for the afternoon. I also needed a nap ─ I still felt short on sleep; so, late into the noon-hour, I was back in my own bed.
My brother was gone when I emerged from my bedroom well after 2:00 p.m. ─ and even then, it was difficult pulling myself from bed. The process had actually taken several minutes, for it felt so delicious just laying there. I know that I could have napped more.
These fractured nights I have are most telling and undoubtedly unhealthy. However, since I do not live alone and thereby have full control of my life, I must try to perform my website work very early each day, or lose my opportunity. My blogs have possession of what there are of my afternoons.
Every once in a long while I will notice a sort of fluttering taking place within my chest ─ I think that it is likely my heart going berserk just briefly.
I have had this occurring since at least as far back as my 20s (in the decade of the 1970s) ─ it seemed to recur anytime I was especially stressed mentally / emotionally for extended periods of time.
Controlled deep nasal breathing seems to help alleviate the episodes ─ which as I said are nothing like common. In fact, I have gone entire years without experiencing the fluttering ─ any that I was able to notice, at any rate.
I am supposing that this is one sort of heart arrhythmia, and I don't see mine as being anything serious (I am now 69 years old, after all) ─ the fluttering doesn't feel much different than having something similar going on in the upper reaches of a lung or even the trachea, as when perhaps some phlegmatic matter is loose and flapping about whilst inhaling.
Actually, I have sometimes wondered if maybe that is what the fluttering is, and not my heart.
I bring this up because there are people who have deathly serious heart arrhythmias.
The following article touts as being beneficial the bark from the very same tree that originally was used as the source for the quinine found so efficacious in treating malaria as far back as the 1600s:
HSIonline.com
Nice enough article, but it sure doesn't help anyone who may wish to give cinchona bark a go to deal with heart arrhythmia.
I didn't want to spend a lot of time researching this, but I did find that WebMD.com was of course very cautionary with its piece on Cinchona: Uses, Side Effects, Interactions, Dosage, and Warning.
And you can get some idea of the research that has been done by checking out these excerpts of studies on display at ScienceDirect.com: Cinchona Bark - an overview.
That first article had me wondering if maybe cinchona bark was not easily obtained, but have a look at the search I made at Amazon at the top of this blog post using the term Cinchona.
I would expect that any actual Cinchona would come with ample instructions and dosage directions, but I can only suppose so ─ I have never had occasion to buy anything like it.
A second plant I want to bring up now is one whose well-known fruit I am uncertain if I have ever sampled ─ the paw paw (Asimina triloba).
It seems to me that I may have done so once or twice in my 69 years, but I have to admit to being very sketchy on this.
Whatever the case, paw paw has a reputation as being effective in dealing with several types of cancer:
HSIonline.com
The article finishes by declaring that the twigs of the tree yield an extract that is especially potent against cancer ─ I guess a person, then, wouldn't have to be eating paw paws all day long for the remainder of his or her life as a treatment for a cancer.
Here are a number of other articles about the paw paw ─ the first one makes this rather negative statement, despite all of the research some of the others cite:
There are several Web sites that promote pawpaw as an effective treatment for cancer. However, there is very little scientific evidence to support such claims.
- MSKCC.org: American pawpaw
- CancerTutor.com: Graviola tree and paw paw treatments
- PawPawResearch.com: How Paw Paw Works Against Cancer Cells
- GardeningKnowHow.com: Pawpaw Herbal Medicine - Learn About Fighting Cancer With Pawpaws
- OutsmartYourCancer.com: Paw Paw For Multidrug-Resistant (MDR) Cancer
Doesn't it smack of unfair that people die in droves who are getting mainstream cancer treatments ─ "That's just the way it goes!"; yet whenever someone dies who opted for alternative therapies, it's an unspeakable tragedy because the mainstream could undoubtedly have done so much to...errr, for...the patient?
Anyway, I did an Amazon search at the bottom of this post to see if extracts of the tree itself were available, but my quick search didn't turn anything up. And using just the botanical term Asimina triloba only seems to result in offers of seeds and seedlings for folks interested in trying to grow their own paw paw trees.
I wouldn't expect any success with them here where I live in Surrey.
Let's jump topics, now ─ this one concerns an Indian dish called kitchari (it has a number of variations of that name).
I'm quite ignorant of Indian dishes, and I normally wouldn't put much consideration into kitchari. However, the following article has me practically converted:
LifeSpa.com
I've experimented with legumes like dahl or lentils (technically, split lentils are called dahl) ─ probably as far back as my 20s. But I never noticed that split yellow lentils (dahl) did not produce flatulence when they were eaten.
That's a claim I'm interested in proving out, one way or t'other.
In fact, I'm also curious what a similar dish would be like that also blended in something like organic steel-cut oats?
Methinks I may soon be doing some further experimenting!
I will leave this health-related section by offering the following article for people who may be interested in trying either a ketogenic or Paleolithic diet for possible weight loss or just better health:
DrMicozzi.com
I am closing with some further photos that were taken early last year when my wife and her two sons arranged a small reunion in Bali with five of their Thailand family members.
My wife took this small set of photos ─ possibly on the morning of February 1 (2018). The first couple are her own selfies:
My wife loves plants and flowers, and I am sure she would garden every day if it was possible.
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