Vaboomer -- Baby Boomer Views & News

Lovely Lavender: The Universal Herb; new on Amazon Kindle

Check out Lavender: Universal Herb, a great Amazon Kindle primer on the fabulous lavender herb. Grow it, heal with it, meditate wth it, eat it, decorate with it, celebrate with it!!

http://www.amazon.com/Lavender-Universal-Herbal-Amicus-ebook/dp/B00CNT8K7G/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1368728959&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=Lovely+lavender%3A+the+universal+herb

Crammed with great information and illustrations.

 

Lavender is truely the unversal herb.  Way back in the middle ages, leather workers who used avender oil in the preparation of their skins for shoes and gloves were protected from the Bubonic Plague.  Who knows what healing power lavender would have now against many of the new pandemic plagues?  LAvender neat on burns cools immediately and slathered on a burn every few minutes until the burn/redness/heat dissappears, no scarring will happen!

Great Children's Books for Christmas

by Nancy Mehegan

"My Brave Year of Firsts"

In Jamie Lee Curtis’s latest book, My Brave Year of Firsts, a brave  heroine takes life head-on.  Whether it's the first time we put on big girl heels, embarrassed ourselves in public, or got caught in a lie, but the actress's tenth children’s title is a reminder of the courage it takes to be a kid.   It's not Pollyannaish -- the heroine screws up plenty, but she gets back up!  Lovely book.

 

 

THE GREAT BEAR by Libby Gleeson & Armin Greder

This book is one of the most interesting books I have seen.  It's about a cruelly-treated bear in a circus, who spends much time in a cage, and in front of taunting villages.  The images are like medieval art, mystical and beautiful.  The bear decides to make its escape.  I cannot say enought about this book -- it's a masterpiece.  Vew word -- mostly reliant on the incredible images. 

 

 

 

 

 

Charlie and the Christmas Kitty

by Ree Drummond & Diane deGroat

Charlie, a bassett hound who considers himself to be "King of the Ranch," finds an unexpected Christmas gift under the tree.  He puts up with a lot from the new kitty but it all ends well.  Adorable book.

(Ree Drummond is the author of "Pioneer Woman Cooks" & has a great blog) 

 

Recklessness of Youth: How Otters Resemble Teen-Agers

book review "Zoobiquity:  What Animals Can Teach Us About Health and the Science of Healing" - by Kathryn Bowers, Barbara Natterson-Horowitz

review by Nancy Mehegan

This well-researched book is a call to open minds and learn what the animals can teach humans about health, evolution and a deeper understanding of ourselves -- important lessons as the world enters its new era.

When the walls between veterinarians and medical doctors are dismantled, astounding discoveries arise.  Discoveries that will aid human health, psychologically and physically. 

 

Hunters are not Fat

Hunting is a Calorie-Burner. The sedentary modern man should know this. A study of obese grizzly bears in a zoo prompted this stunning insight by the author: 

"No animal evolved to have a plate of food placed in front of him/her.  They ran.  They dug.  They schemed.  They starved.  Eating was the reward for all that work." 

 

Our easy availability of food harvests is somewhat of a curse.  The Copenhagen Zoo was criticized for feeding carcasses to their animals, but devouring fur, bones and crunching on hooves may be more beneficial than the sanitized fare normally  provided by zookeepers.  Obesity, the author declares is a "disease of the environment", far different from a mere coloric approach.

Reckless Otters

Adolescent animals are risk-takers, impulsive, run in gangs and do the same obnoxious antics as human "teen-agers", researchers find.  

Example:   "Teen-age otters" will swim into shark-infested waters that adult otters avoid.  Youthful curiosity persists in all species, not just humans.  "Blending in" or teen-age conformity has evolutionary benefits:  travelling in groups is safer in the wild, etc.  (how interesting...)

The meaning of Fainting

Behaviors such as the fainting of some animals when confronted by a predator was analyzed in a novel way and shown to have true protective usefulness.  It also may explain fainting in humans.

The shakily constructed walls between humans and animals almost prevented the CDC from the recognition of the West Nile Virus.  It took a bird expert/pathologist to convince the CDC to re-examine their findings.

Native americans are documented as knowing that animals were close to humans on many levels and teachers.  It is time that modern day scientists realize  this eternal truth.  This book IS A MUST for animal lovers, scientists, nature lovers and the intellectually curiousl  Fantastic book.

 

note:  this book was provided by the publisher (Knopf) for review