Narra Tree

Hi everyone! I’m back here in The Dark Globe with this photo of a Narra tree some meters away from our house. Last time I checked this was our national tree here in the Philippines. It has a very hard trunk and quite expensive if built into a furniture. Due to too much illegal logging, these trees together with the other endangered ones are becoming rare these days. I hope succeeding generations can still physically see and touch this tree.

By the way, it’s the beginning of summer here in Philippines and the weather is really nice with those beautiful blue skies, excluding those occasional rainy days (yeah we have rainy days during summer because we’re a tropical country). Anyway, I think it’ll be a good idea to go to the beach and take some photographs there.

PS Good luck to the participants of the dark globe creative writing contest. I’m sure it’ll be very tough for the judges to choose the winners.

The Dark Globe (Shifting My Diet) – The Holidays

HEALTH OR DIET – SHIFTING MY DIET (3) – THE HOLIDAYS

by DarkJade

 

 

I originally started Writing about my Focus on Reducing my Blood Sugar on my Main Blog The Written Word…

Here are those Articles for those of you who want to start from the Beginning

Oct 22nd - Lettuce Sandwiches? – Shifting Your Diet 2 (This Article Was Posted on The Written Word) – by DarkJade

Oct 18th – Blood Sugar – Shifting Your Diet (This Article Was Posted on The Written Word) – by DarkJade

To Sum it up, a year ago I found out my Blood Sugar was a bit High… The First thing I did was reduce the amount of Regular Soda, and Juice that I was drinking.

I checked it again a month or so back, and it had gone down, but still not low enough… So since then I started to reduce Breads, Regular White Potatoes and White Pasta in my Diet.

And that’s where I’m at. I’ve now been reducing Potatoes, Breads and White Pastas for about 6 or so weeks. It actually hasn’t been all that hard. With the Potatoes I’ve been either eating Yams or Sweet Potatoes instead, which are lower in sugar… Or what I really like to do, is blend Yams and Regular Potatoes together in both Breakfast Potatoes, and Mashed Potatoes… So my Mashed Potatoes are often Orange these days, which is actually pretty cool. And they taste great.

However, the Holidays have arrived, and as I’m sure you know, that makes things a bit more difficult/challenging.

I’m the one who generally makes the Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes and Vegetables for Thanksgiving… My Mom or Oldest Sister generally makes the Turkey. Well, I’d say I ended up eating a decent amount of Stuffing over a 4 day period, and a fair amount of Mashed Potatoes.

Breads really aren’t all that hard for me, as I’ve never been a huge Bread Eater. Chips and Crackers have done their best to sneak their way back into my Diet, but I am combating them as best I can. The trick is to just take a small hand full, and that’s it… Put the bag away, lol.

Soda hasn’t been all that hard, especially since I like Bottle Water, and I’ve found that Diet 7-Up, Diet Pepsi, and especially Diet Root Beer are all quite good.

As far as Juice, I sometimes have a small glass of Orange Juice, or Apple Juice. Basically stopped drinking the High Corn Syrup Cran Drinks, as much as I love them.

I also Love Milk, but you need to keep in mind that Lactose is also a form of sugar, so I try to manage that as best as possible as well… Which I find is even harder than Soda or Juice, as Milk has always been my Favorite Drink. 2% Milk that is, Straight Whole Milk is a bit much.

All and all I think I did okay at Thanksgiving, some Stuffing, some Mashed Potatoes, and some Pie… And now back to what I was doing prior to that week, lol.

Christmas is the next challenge, we generally do Mexican for Christmas, as we do the all out Turkey Feast on Thanksgiving.

Fortunately I’ve never been a Huge Sweet Eater, so I should be okay in the Cookie Department. And other than that, Mexican’s not all that bad, as longs as you don’t eat 200 to 400 chips at one sitting, ha.

I’m supposed to go see the Doc in December, if I get any Blood Work done at that time, I’ll let you know how my newest changes have gone.

Thanks for Listening/Reading, and Good Luck with all that yummy Holiday Food! lol

DarkJade-

PICTURE CREDIT – The History of Thanksgiving

The Dark Globe – Holiday’s Are Here! Almost…

THE DARK GLOBE – EDITORIAL – THIRD EDITION

by DarkJade

The Holiday’s Are Here! Almost… Some of us start to Celebrate Earlier than Other’s

 

 

Go ahead and file me under one of those people that start to Celebrate Christmas too early… Go ahead, get it out of your system, HALLOWEEN WAS YESTERDAY!! lol

Oh well, I’ve just ripped open a fresh bag of Dorito’s, and turned on my Pandora Radio Station… Oh not my Normal, “Today’s Hits” (You know, Bubble Gum Pop to Mentally Chew whilst Writing Away), nor my “Trance Radio” (Transport Me Into the Deeper Regions of the Subconscious Tunage) nor “Wolfgang Amedeus Mozart” (The Classics) Chanel… No, this is a New Chanel, simply called “Christmas Radio”.

Something I’ve been listening to for three days now.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Halloween, and Thanks Giving… But not like Christmas.

Picture if you will two little tired eyed boys waking up at 7, 8am on Christmas Day, only to find boxes containing Evel Knievel Motor Bikes… One’s you wind the side ramp thing to, then stop, and watch em fly/drive away… Maybe 100 Feet… They were awesome.

Not only that, but they had actual mini shocks on em, so they could ride off road, hit jumps, etc. Some of you are probably like “Who the Hell is Evel Knievel”, lol. Yeah well… It was the 70′s, lol.

It wasn’t until the year after I had moved out of my Mom’s that I realized I was the Driving Force of our Christmas’s, at least beyond when I was a kid. As we came home for Christmas one day, only to find a Tumble Weed with Lights on it, in the place of a Christmas Tree. Yes, my Mom had decorated an Actual Tumble Weed, and put it in the Living Room. That’s when I realized, for now on, I needed to be the one that not only brought the Christmas Tree each year, but Decorate it too… But I really didn’t mind.

The other year that I didn’t get the tree, she got this White Wicker Reindeer from her work, which was lit by White Lights… And that was our Tree… This really needed to stop.

So for many years after I grew up, I was the one that Brought the Christmas Tree… Or at least initiated the going and getting of one.

It’s funny, ever since I grew up, I continued to want a tree that was taller than me… So I always pushed for a 7, 8 or 9 Foot Tree.

Meanwhile, my Mom, and Oldest Sister pushed for a 4, 5 or 6 foot one… It was a battle that never seemed to end. I didn’t want to be taller than the Tree, lol.

Usually I won, but sometimes I didn’t, lol. But they’d always look good after I, or we decorated it.

Basically I turned the whole House into the North Pole, with Giant Red Stockings Pinned up all over the Walls, Red Chili Pepper Lights in the Kitchen, and all kinds of other lights everywhere else. And on the day, I wore a Santa Hat for most of the Evening, lol

Now my Mom, and her side of the Family, never had much money… So gifts weren’t the thing for any of us at Christmas… It was the Food, the Family, the Music, the Spirit and the Lights.

We did however grow up with a Fireplace, and thusly, we had big Roaring Fires going during most of our Christmas’s.

And then there was Uncle Pat… He’d roll in about 9 to 10pm, bearing a Bucket of K.F.C., as he didn’t like showen up empty handed, and with him his only Son. In their arms would be Acoustic Guitars, a Bass, an Electric Guitar, and in some cases Bongo’s and Tambourines, lol.

Yes, at some point in the evening, there would be Music… And there would be Singing… Sometimes good… Sometimes… Not so good, lol.

Also, we celebrated on Christmas Eve once all the Kids grew up… This allowed for the one’s that had kids of their own, to still go home, and have Christmas Morning with their Children, in the peace and quiet of their own homes.

This Tradition has gone on for maybe 25 to 30 years now, and it is simply Awesome… Sadly, we lost our Uncle Pat a couple years ago, and it was, and is definitely hard adjusting to him not arriving late, with his K.F.C., and Instruments… Oh, and did I mention, he also wore a Santa Hat, lol… Though his was a bit more beat up than mine.

None the less we have carried on, and continue to have amazing Christmas Eve Celebrations… So now maybe you have a bit more insight as to why I start Celebrating Christmas Early… I simply love it, and what it means to our Family.

And with that I say, MERRYYY!! Nahhh, not yet… I’ve/we’ve got two more months for that.

DarkJade-