Taking the opportunity of the last fine day of the year and the last weekend before the kids went back to school, we stayed a bit closer to home and visited the Heights of Abraham in Matlock Bath, Derbyshire.

One of it’s main attractions is the alpine style cable car ride to the ’summit’ and the visitor centre and cavern tours though old lead mines. Originally mined by the romans!

Of course yours’ truly can’t stand heights so we took the very invigorating walk up the hillside instead.

I was doing fine in the cavern tours as well until the second one at the top of the hill - towards the end after the last cavern, we were shown up a metal stepway that led to a set of steps back up to the surface.

Everyday folk would have had no problem but for me - I just couldn’t let go of the rail for dear life. So i opted for a walk back the way i’d come, scaring the life out of the next party coming through - perhaps I should have hid and made moaning sounds????

It was a great day, we all enjoyed it and I’ve blogged about it and Matlock Bath in more detail over at ‘our place’.

http://purple13.blogspot.com/2008/09/office-day-out-to-heights-of-abraham.html

Think is the heights thing did get in the way. What days out have you had recently that a fear or phobia affected you?

It seems over here in my neck of the woods that there really is no temptation to eat bad foods, because it’s just a part of the culture.  We eat pizza, tacos, deep fried carnie confections and more on a daily basis because it’s there and it’s good.  Did I mention it’s good? 

Of late though, I’ve been overdoing the eating of bad foods thing.  I just don’t seem to realize until it’s too late that I’ve overdone it and my stomach is periously close to rejecting those tasty treats. 

I’m going to make a concious effort to eat more veggies and less swill for a while to see if that improves the way I feel.  Have you noticed a direct coorelation to the way you feel what you’ve eaten or in the case of some flower smellers detoxed from your systems?

We’re not bad people, we just eat bad things.

Jim here with news that I am blessed with TEN TIMES more moles than the average person. The downside is I’m far more likely to contract skin cancer so I wanted to share with you what I learnt today after a check up that I’ve been putting off for a while. The upside? Erm, I’m working on that one something along the lines of flowers in the sun, perhaps.

The Doc checked every mole (it was along day) and reported that none of them where a major concern as he examined my body for moles that exhibited:

1) Asymmetry  - Two halves of the mole don’t look the same.

2) Border - The edges of the mole are irregular, blurred or jagged.

3) Colour - Uneven with more than one shade.

4) Diameter - Wider than 6mm - the size of a pencil eraser. 

Each year more than 100,000 people in the UK (hardly a hot climate) are diagnosed with non-melanoma skin cancer and a further 8,000 with malignant melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer.

Finally, on my face is a red spot like blotch which has cropped up over the last 6 months. I’ve been assured that applying Fucidin cream twice a day will get rid of this minor blemish that could lead to infection if I don’t nip this little flower in the bud.

Do you have your skin checked? Do tell and be sure to apply UV cream in comments as your skin related comments are welcomed here.

I’ll pop this post into the health section at forums so feel free to drop in and shed some skin there from time to time and your health issues are welcomed there aswell - within reason, of course.

We recently had the “Where the hell is Matt” dance here and I came across another dance we can all take part in and get a good 2 minute cardio workout. Sitting at your laptop all day means you need regular breaks for stretching and general movement. So, do you care enough about yourself to get moving?

It’s high time for another free flowers caption competition here at Flowers - our 31st!

Your chance to win $60 of flowers delivered anywhere in the world courtesy of our partners Flora 2000, the International delivery experts.

To enter just pop in ONE CAPTION in the comments section AND include one random fact about yourself relating to either health or travel - something that your have experienced or something that others may find interesting. Your chance to have fun and  share something about yourself related to either HEALTH or TRAVEL seeing as we’re headed that way with the content here at GSTF.

You could always celebrate summer and send flowers to someone right now, anywhere in the world . Simply click on our spanking new summer flowers banners and use promo code GSTF99 and you’ll be entitled to a bit of flower smelling discount! Contest ends on  Saturday 6th September Midnight Dubai time. Good luck flower smellers!

**Remember - Only 1 caption per person please - if you think a more than one then get a friend to enter

Brazillian researchers have found that the more fat you eat each day, the less likely you are to get a good night’s sleep.

Studies in their sleep lab (not a place to party!) showed that overall, the more fat people ate each day:

• The more times they woke up, tossing and turning, throughout the night.
• The greater the chance of abnormal breathing while sleeping.
• The less time spent in REM (rapid eye movement) sleep each night. REM sleep is the sleep state during which dreaming occurs.

So, if you sometimes have trouble dropping off try cutting back on fat particularly with your last meal of the day.

Comments pleazzzz zzzz zzzz.

Anyone buy herbal supplements online? If so which ones?

Flowers have learnt via this U.S.A today article that some sold online frequently contain dangerous levels of lead, arsenic and mercury. In a  recent a study, led by Dr Robert Saper from the Boston University School of Medicine, 193 Ayurvedic products bought from 25 websites made by 37 manufacturers in India and the U.S. were examined.

 A fifth of Ayurvedic treatments - a traditional Indian medicine - contained doses of toxic metals and chemicals up to 10,000 times higher than acceptable limits, researchers found. The U.S.A today article also contains a table of the dangerous chemicals for those of you interested.

Ayurveda has been practised in India for thousands of years and is used by 80 per cent of the country’s population. It combines herbal medicine with oils, massage, yoga and meditation and is increasingly popular as an alternative to western medicines for a huge range of illnesses. Fans include Madonna, Naomi Campbell and Cherie Blair.

The dangers found in the study included Arsenic which can cause cancer, Lead and mercury which can damage the kidneys and brain, especially in children. More than 80 people have developed lead poisoning worldwide from Ayurvedic medicines since 1978, the study notes. Symptoms include fatigue, anemia and abdominal pain.

Should so called ‘health’ products with such high levels of dangerous metals be banned from sale or is it just time to regulate the manufacture and distribution of herbal supplements. Is this media hype setting out to proove a point as let’s face it what is really produced by man that isn’t toxic?

Do tell but keep on rubbing please, that’s it, right there!

Well I am back finally, hooray,

“FOR SHE’S A JOLLY GOOD SHEILA”

“Oh Aussie, I dont know how we survived with out you!” hehehehehe

“Where have you been?”

“What went on?”

“Oh we have missed you!”

Please dont burst this bubble.. let me delude myself a little while longer….

hehehehheheh.. just playing with you all…..

I have actually been rather crook.. yep even Aussies get ill, but this was not a bug, virus, or infection it was a peice of dust.

Last week just after posting my Update, I collapsed, then had periodic head spins. The next day I felt like I was walking on a boat sailing choppy seas, not to mention the motion sickness which reared its head, trying to vomit into a moving tiolet, whilst standing in a revolving room, situated on a theme park ride is not easy or pleasant.

I have had several tests and get results today, but it appears I have had thing called Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo. Full details on Aussie, but the short version is:

A tiny piece of wax stuff breaks off in your inner ear, instead of falling harmlessly away, it falls into the fluid and chambers in your middle ear and starts bumping around on all those tiny hairs which tell your brain which way your head facing…. because of this confusion your head spins, think of living on a permanent theme park ride which wont stop….

I have been dealing with this for the past few days and yesterday I moved my head and it stopped.. just as quickly as it started…. I dont know if I fixed it by moving these pieces to a safe area or if it corrected on its own, but I do know it can come back at anytime.

Apparently I fall into the top risk category….

I am over 40 (only 41, but it doesnt matter) and I am female… hmmmmm… both things I rather like about myself… grrrrrrr…

I must say my Hubby has been the most amazing person over this time, he has cooked and cleaned, waited on me so I didnt have to try and get up, sorted Junior, chased Moppet, and did all things I normally do as well as those he normally does… totally amazing man I have there…..

So flower smellers.. anyone else out there had strange health issues?

anyone had a scare as big as mine?

Do tell……..

Greetings pill-poppers! Apparently the middle-aged should take an aspirin daily to help to prevent heart attacks, research published in the journal Heart confirmed. The researchers found that, from the age of 47 in men and 57 in women, the ten-year coronary heart disease risk is 10 per cent - a risk worth treating, they said.

Heart attacks occur when a blood vessel is blocked by a clot, but aspirin makes it harder for blood clots to form. Some have speculated it may be easier to treat everyone over a specific age threshold such as 50 years.

The recommendations may not apply to people with diabetes or those at high risk of bleeding. Although diabetics are likely to benefit from aspirin treatment because of their high risk of heart disease, the evidence is not yet 100% clear.  The British Heart Foundation said that more research was needed before “blanket prescribing” could be recommended.

Would you start popping aspirin on the back on this research? Do tell along with any other heart disease related tips that may make others skip a beat. Cheers!

or should that be Wanda-rer?

Guess where we’ve been today? No? well I’ll tell you.

We just walked Baslow, Curbar (pictured) and Froggatt Edge’s today just above Chatsworth in Derbyshire - late lunch at a delightful pub before walking all the way back again - about 8 miles in total but the views from the ‘edges’ are magnificant, especially when it’s a clear day (like today) - even caught a bit of sun!

Mandy snapped off a few pictures of the landscape as well as some paragliders setting off from the edge of the edges and catching the updrafts.

Well that’s been our day - now back to work! But we’re so glad we took a day out of the hectic rush rush.