YOU
Design your
own Christmas Card message this year
Nature makes you feel better
Winter is coming – is your car ready for it?
Looking for a new, outdoors hobby that will keep you sweet?
This winter – win the cold war!
Make a bird nut ball
Design your
own Christmas Card message this year – with help from the
Children’s Society
Add a personal
touch to your Christmas cards this year with a message designed
by you. If you’re planning to buy at least 100 cards, you
can personalise all of them with The Children’s Society’s
online greeting card service and help raise cash for children in
need.
Online
ordering and personalisation is available at www.childrenssociety.org.uk/cards.
Money raised through the sale of the cards will help fund The
Children’s Society’s work with isolated and neglected
children and young people across the country.
Cards can be
personalised with up to eight lines of text or simply your name
and address. There are nine card designs, ranging from the
traditional to the contemporary.
All cards come
in packs of 10 and prices start from £3.00. There is a charge
for personalisation, plus postage and packaging.
Orders for
personalised cards will be accepted up to
Nature
makes you feel better
Recent
research points to something you would have guessed anyway:
that getting close to nature can make you feel less stressed
about your life, and better about yourself.
‘Green’
exercise such as angling, bird-watching, walking, mountain biking
and canal boating can boost your mood, physical fitness and self-esteem.
One professor involved in the research at the
In biochemical
terms, the enhanced moods came from the increased level of
hormones such as oxytocin and endorphins. These activate the
pleasure centre in the brain, and lead to a deep feeling of
wellbeing and relaxation.
Winter is
coming – is your car ready for it?
Don’t
risk breaking down by the side of the road - give your car the
once-over before the really cold weather sets in. The RAC
suggests that you:-
1. make sure
your headlights and indicators are in perfect condition –
and clean them
2. check your front and rear wiper blades for wear or splitting
3. check your windscreen washers – use screen wash additive
to prevent freezing
4. ensure your dashboard warning lights are working properly
5. check that your oil and water are topped up - and how’s
your anti-freeze level?
6. make sure that your battery electrolyte level is okay - top up
with distilled water
7. see if your fan belt is set at the correct tension
The Guild of
Experienced Motorists, a road safety association founded in 1932,
has a free leaflet on winter driving which includes hints for
driving in snow, ice, fog, etc. Visit: www.roadsafety.org.uk
Looking for
a new, outdoors hobby that will keep you sweet?
There is a
childhood rhyme from the south of the
C D B’s?
(see the bees?)
M N O Bs!
(those aren’t no bees!)
O S A R!
(oh yes, they are)
O S, I C D Bs
(oh yes, I see the bees)
If ‘seeing’,
or watching bees interests you, have you ever considered keeping
bees? In recent years bee-keeping has enjoyed a revival
– now that the health properties of honey are in vogue again.
Honey is VERY
good for you; its medicinal uses are nothing new: the earliest
known mention was found on a clay tablet in Sumeria, dated circa
2100BC, in which honey is recommended for skin ulcers and wounds.
The ancient
Egyptians, Greeks and Romans all loved honey. The Egyptians
even mixed it with crocodile dung to use as a contraceptive. (This
probably worked well – just the smell of crocodile dung
would be a great deterrent to romance, if nothing else!)
In any case,
honey has an anti-microbial effect, which kills harmful bacteria
and is a balm for inflammation. It has even been found to
work against antibiotic-resistant ‘super-bugs’.
Bee-keeping is
not recommended for small town gardens, but if you live on the
edge of farmland, or have a very sizeable garden, the rewards can
be worthwhile.
Setting up as
a beekeeper will cost you about £600 if you buy all your
equipment from new. This includes about £150 for a queen
bee and colony of workers.
For more
details, please visit: the British Beekeepers Association
at www.bbka.org.uk
This winter
– win the cold war!
There is still
no cure for the common cold – which won’t cheer you up
if you are sneezing at present. Most of us are doomed to
get at least one cold this winter. But there are ways to
build up your immune system to stop germs invading.
Five ways to
avoid colds:
1. Eat five
portions of fruit and vegetables every day. Zinc, in
seafood, meat and peanuts, will help build up your immunity.
2. Avoid
a lot of saturated fats and sugar, which can impair immune
function.
3. Drink plenty of water – preferably eight glasses a
day
4. When you wash your hands, scrub under the nails –
where cold viruses like to lurk. And be careful whose hand you
shake.
5. Try and avoid anyone who is sneezing all over the place!
Make a bird
nut ball
You will need:-
1. equal
quantities of melted fat and breadcrumbs
2. nuts, seeds and dried fruit
3. string
4. dried apricots
5. peanuts in their shells
Mix together
the melted fat and the breadcrumbs, and stir in half of the nuts,
seeds and dried fruit. As the mixture starts to solidify,
shape it into a ball around a length of string and place it in
the refrigerator to harden.
Place the
remainder of the fruit, seeds and nuts on a piece of newspaper
and roll the hardened ball around on it until it is completely
covered with the mixture.
Make a loop
from the string that protrudes from one side of the ball and
thread apricots and peanuts in their shells onto the string on
the other side of the ball.
Hang the bird
treat from your bird table of the branch of a tree.
From Country
Traditions by Stephanie Donaldson (Southwater, £8.95 ISBN
1842151789)