Avignon, France

Many moons ago, I visited Avignon. It was once where seven successive Popes resided. It is a pleasant city to visit with World Heritage sites such as the Palais des Papes, the cathedral, and the Pont d'Avignon.

Avignon at night

The Papel Square at night...

...and in daylight

Bridge Of Avignon

View form the Pont Du Gard Aquaduct 

Getting Sugar Under Control

In a previous article I wrote about white sugar being an enemy, I thought it wise to add how to beat the addiction. You may be surprised to think of it as an addiction but tests show that it is extremely addictive. Most of our consumption is through bought, processed foods. The food industry knows about it but they are there to sell to you again and again, not nurture your well being.

So how to beat it? As I have been reading labels for years on products and avoiding 'hidden' sugar, I didn't have an addiction to beat. However I just liked some processed foods like ice cream for example. I got a machine that turns frozen fruit into a delicious desert and no more ice cream (found here). There are all sorts of ways to beat the system - that wants you hooked on sugar - I call healthy alternatives.

So how about some practical advice. I could just copy from a web page but I know of one that seems to say the right things on the subject, so I suggest you take a look. I'm not a health professional but one who for my own physical condition had to limit sugar and much of what is said here I now do. Simply click on MBG.

Some things I don't touch such as soft drinks and also fruit juice. If I want fruit, I eat fruit. If I am thirsty I drink room temperature or warm water (not iced). I don't suck on a bottle all day but drink a full glass. Instead of coffee (I recently started a low coffee consumption regime) I substitute with a carob powder drink. Find what works for you as we are all different. Except in one way...white sugar is bad for all of us.

For all that, will power is the major player. Unless you have the commitment to win, you won't. It's that simple.

Food Public Enemy Number One

I remember my mother reading about public enemy #1 and #2 written by Doris Grant. She criticised the processed food industry for overuse of refined carbohydrates, especially white bread and white sugar. It caused a rethink in our diet and we went from heavy consumers of above ingredients to lesser users.


More recently I have for health reasons cut back to virtually zero white sugar. I still eat a fair amount of white flour but mix it with wholemeal when baking it. I never buy commercially made bread as it doesn't agree with me the same as home made.

If one could do one improvement in their diet, I would suggest virtual elimination of white sugar. Some sources claim it is nutritious but I beg to differ. The appearance and taste tell me all benefit has been removed in the processing of it.

Sucrose is found in fruit but there is a difference between natural sucrose that found in white sugar or syrup usually found in processed foods. The refining process ensures there is no nutritional value. In fact they take energy and health. I don't want to sound a crusader but these are my personal thoughts, not shared by all. I know I feel better with minimal white sugar and I don't hold back on naturally occurring sucrose.

World Trade Centre

Back in 1994, I went up the Twin Towers with my wife and took in the amazing sights, albeit a bit hazy. They were very impressive. In the previous year a bomb had gone off in the basement but it didn't have the intended effect. As we know another attempt in 2001 did. All that remains of the buildings are the photographs people took. Here are mine.

The lobby 

The 107th floor viewing platform

The Hudson River

Brooklyn & the East River

Manhattan East

Ikea Cartoons

Kaiteriteri, Tasman

Overlooking Kaiteriteri & the campground we stayed at

Overlooking Kaiteriteri & to the right

A small cove at Kaiteriteri 

Yours truly enjoying a summer evening on the beach

Leaving Kaiteriteri and going toward Motueka

Proverbs

The bible book of Proverbs has so many wise sayings, ancient wisdom that is as practical today as ever. Here are a few I like:

11:14: Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety. ESV. 

Humans need clear direction and guidance. They look to governments but so often are left disappointed. When there are those who give fine advise on how to do things, people are benefited.

13:20 The one walking with the wise will become wise, But the one who has dealings with the stupid will fare badly. NWT 

Associations need to be chosen wisely, especially for youths. Get in with the wrong crowd and it all turn to custard. However, good friends and good advice will be of great benefit to us.

18:17 The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him. ESV. 

Have we ever heard something about a person and said "How terrible they did (or said) that"? Then later we heard the other side of the story and realised that the situation is very different to what we first thought. There are two sides to a story.

22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. KJV. 

Good training and clear boundaries allow a child thrive. They may resist their implementation at the time, but will thank you later when they realise that it was for their good. In fact when they become adults themselves, these will become their standards for life too.

Tongario National Park, North Is, NZ

Heading toward the Mangatepopo Hut from the Chateau

Having climbed the Mangatepopo Saddle, looking SW toward Mt Egmont

Looking lost

Some of the rock and soil colours

The beautiful lake colours

With Mt Ngauruhoe as a backdrop, a kiss  

Newspaper Headlines

The Light 'N Funny Blog

My first article was June, 2009 (can be seen here). There was no introductory article, just straight into a joke. The blog has retained its ethos of no commercialism allowed. There are no advertisements and when people use comments to promote business, they are deleted.

Statistics were added by owner Google in July, 2010 which have been useful. Using that data the top nations for visitors can be seem from the above date to the end of November, 2015.

	USA	47.9%
	New Zealand	6.2%
	UK	5.6%
	Canada	4.7%
	Australia	3.8%
	Russia	2.6%
	Germany	2.3%
	Others	26.9%

Overwhelmingly this blog is appreciated by people in the U.S. As jokes can be 'language dependent' to be understood, the fact that English speaking nations are the top five is not surprising.

I hope you enjoy future additions to the site. Thanks for coming and from a computer desk somewhere in New Zealand, enjoy.

Manukau Heads - Waitakere Ranges Auckland

Just to the west of Auckland is a range of hills, the Waitakere Ranges. Walk west along the Manukau Harbour along a ridge dropping to the water and you get spectacular views. Then you reach the Tasman Sea and the steep walk down and the whole area is wild and beautiful.

In my youth we came as a family to the area in vacation times. The pictures taken some time ago don't do it justice but they give you an idea.

The walk along the ridge

Looking west, the harbour to the left and Tasman Sea ahead

At the end before the descent

Africa Is Unique

Sometimes you're the bricklayer,
 another time the trestle

This could take a while

When you cannot afford a car...

....you take wheelbarrow

Not recommended

Saying The Wrong Thing

Sometimes we say something we don't mean to be upsetting, but we will from time to time. I know I have said something about the relationship between two people and got it wrong. Saying something like "Is this your grandchildren"? when she's the mother. I recall annoying a lady when visiting a property and when this very young looking person opened the door, saying in a cute voice "Is mummy home"? I got a terse 'Speaking".


A young looking man who married a woman much older told me he was often confused for her son. They both had the reasonableness to accept why and not let it get them upset. My wife has a habit of saying to women who have a prominent stomach "When is the baby due?" She gets looks for that because they aren't anything of the sort. I have convinced her not to mention pregnancy, unless it's obvious.

My brother used to have a habit of repeatedly calling someone the wrong name. Once the incorrect name was lodged in his brain, he mistakenly kept doing it. I think some people thought he was being smart with them.

My biggest wrong with speech didn't affect others, just me. At my place of worship, someone who was supposed to read something out wasn't there and I volunteered. Almost immediately the word 'virginal' came up and because it isn't a word I use much, I got it wrong. I knew immediately my error, but it was out. I got teased for it afterward and as a newly married man at the time, it added to the embarrassment. No, I'm not telling you the word as you probably worked it out anyway.

Rather Obvious I Would Have Thought

One day, Jill's husband came home from the office and found his new wife weeping. "I feel terrible," she told him. "I was pressing your suit and I burned a big hole in the seat of your trousers."

"Forget it," consoled her husband. "Remember that I bought an extra pair of pants for that suit."

"Yes, and it's lucky for you that you did," said Jill, drying her eyes. "I used them to patch the hole."

                                                            *******************

Two women were walking down the road and the first woman said, "Look at that dog with one eye!"

The second woman covers one of her eyes and says, "Where?"

                                                            *******************

A lady decided to redecorate her bedroom. She wasn't sure how many rolls of wallpaper she would need, but she knew that her friend from next door had recently done the same job and the two rooms were identical in size.

"Buffy," she said, "How many rolls of wallpaper did you buy for your bedroom?"

"Ten," said Buffy. So the first lady bought the ten rolls of paper and did the job, but she had 2 rolls leftover.

"Buffy," she said. "I bought ten rolls of wallpaper for the bedroom, but I've got 2 leftover!"

"Yes," said Buffy. "So did I."

                                                            *******************

A man bought two horses and could never remember which was which. A neighbour suggested that he cut off the tail of one horse, which worked great until the other horse got his tail caught in a bush. The second horse's tail tore in the same place and looked exactly like the other horse's tail.

The neighbour then suggested that he notch the ear of one horse, which worked fine until the other horse caught his ear on a barbed-wire fence. Once again, the man couldn't tell the two horses apart.

The neighbour then suggested that she measure the horses for height. When he did that, he found that the white horse was 2 inches taller than the black one.

                                                            *******************

At a job interview, the personnel officer was interviewing a young lady for a position in his company. He wanted to find out something about her personality so he asked, "If you could have a conversation with any person, living or dead, who would that be?"

She quickly responded, "The living one."