The Splendid Spud
I was chatting to a good friend the other week on the phone. She is a similar age to me. Somehow, and I am really not sure how, the conversation turned mashy! We found ourselves talking about potatoes! My friend has become a potato convert! From hardly ever eating them she now has them two […]
Opinion: Un-Retirement
There are is increasing band of evidence that retirement may not be all that good for you.After 20 years at drugmaker Eli Lilly, Ed Franson thought he was quietly retiring but that was nearly 10 years ago.For the first month or so, Ed said, he mostly slept. He wasn’t depressed, he just felt mentally and […]
The Good Oil – Part 1
The first 5 of 20 good things about olive oilLongevityCan olive oil make you ‘forget to die’? It’s true that people live longer in some regions where they follow the Mediterranean diet, and scientists have studied the benefits of olive oil – specifically extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) – with respect to this phenomenon. “Olive oil […]
Opinion: why we should celebrate birthdays
When I cast my mind back through the decades to the time that I was little more than an ankle-biter, I recall that I was constantly focused on two things, Christmas and my birthday. Both were extremely exciting events for me. They signified presents! And cake! And although I wasn’t really aware of it at […]
Getting Rid of Clutter-Calamity Farm Style
My son in law is a builder and when you live on your own and you are in your late 60’s living in a ramshackle 1930’s settler’s cottage, his profession can be extremely useful! He decided to hire a skip for their lifestyle block. They have recently added a huge shed to their property and […]
E-Scooters – Should they be Restricted to Older Kiwis?
A relative of one of the Longevity Team ended up in hospital this week after his e-scooter hit a fault on a city street. This raised questions about whether or not, despite our increasing number of health and safety rules, we are actually creating a safer world as the accident resulted in a broken jaw, broken […]
Ripe for the Picking
I give my senior canines some dog biscuits packed full of South Island cherries. It says on the packet it may help with their joints – it does! Working on the theory “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander” I went cyber hunting for the health benefits of cherries for us two legged […]
Could a New National Anthem Unite New Zealand?
Lockdown allows time for the mind to wander beyond the desperate deadlines of the next hour, day or month.British comic and devoted student of psychology, John Cleese, would have positive things to say about this lockdown – the opportunity for creative thinking. The opportunity for grand ideas to evolve out of nowhere other than our […]
The Kumura Clocks up Health Benefits
Thanks very much to our Longview reader, Gail Carran, who read the snippet on spuds and pointed us in the direction of the Kumara! Kumara come in a variety of sizes and colours, white, orange and purple, they are all rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, as well as having a high fibre content. 1. […]
Refuge from Stress
I like to think that poetry began soon after humans first used words to communicate. Surely, someone found early on, that words could provoke emotions and reactions.The resonance of well chosen groups of words is strangely pleasing and there is real magic in the creation of complex images in our minds just from the combination of […]