What are Meaning of Sticker’s Colors in Barnes & Noble Bookstore?

Discounted books in front of Barnes and Noble bookstore

In the middle August was so hot, about F 102 degree, enjoy reading book with a cup of ice tea in a coffee shop is a good choice.

I was so excited to have some cold drink and sit for couple hours in Starbuck at Barnes and Noble, Citiplace, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

In front of the building, on the left side of the door to get in the bookstore, one cart “welcome” with a bunch of books with a sign sit on the cart.

The sign is about the sticker and price of books. The sticker is either orange for $5 or Yellow for $10.

Some of book are already reduced price for some percent into “Bargain Priced,” and now the price for sale for either $10 or $5, depend on the sticker stick on them.

Very good deal. The price of books with stickers many folds lower than original prices.

I can see in the cart that one half of books are with orange sticker and another one half with yellow sticker.

Orange sticker’s books

Early September, the weather was not cool enough. I still went to Starbucks at Barnes and Nobel to got ice latte.

The cart was still there. Kind of stationary had gone. Some creativity book, history, novel, and cook book also gone. Finally I decided to buy some of books with orange stickers.

I got a cookbook, so I can use often my slow cooker, a gift from my friend as a Christmas gift two years ago. 

Children books

Many good books for children, I bought 2 of them for Cassie, a grand daughter of Ms L., my ex-coworker, but we are still keep in touch.

Last two week, I went to my favorite Starbucks again, walked by the cart, great deal. Almost all books left are with the yellow sticker.

I was so happy got some good books with good deal with orange stickers. How lucky I am!

Lower price books

Another latte for today, I parked my car in the same spot, and walked close to the cart to get in the coffee shop. But, oh no!

The signs has been changed lower than couples days ago! Orange for $3 and Yellow for $5. I am still happy, but I'm not that lucky.

Many Wild Bees are Visiting My Backyard

He's coming, pollination will be in progress.

The number of bee species is quite great, it is estimated about thousand different species both in the world and in North America:

- 16,000 species in the world.

- 4,000 species in North America.

Of thousands, I wonder why one species only to produce honey called honey bee with scientific name Apis mellifera.

Another species, bumble bees produced honey as well, but just small amount for their own used only. Hence, the honey can’t be collected by beekeepers for commercial purposes.

Moreover, Honey bees live in collective for years, while wild bees live collective for short period, one season.

Honey bees live in the hives which have honeycomb.

One bee insides the flower and another under leaf.

Honeycomb has multiple purposes:

- housing for brood, included capped larvae, larvae and eggs

- storing pollen, nectar and honey.

Honestly, I do not know differences of honey bees, bumble bees and wild bees. I just saw many bees come to my backyard.

They were abundance in the spring, then the number reduced in the summer. But, bees still appear in the early fall.

They seem to pollinate my fruit plants:

- orange quash,

- satsuma orange

- figs.

- blackberry

- strawberry

The bees also collect pollen and nectar from plant flowers and wild flowers.

It is said that honey bees are outnumber the other bees, hence they are most important of pollinators in nature.

Do you know differences of honey bees, bumble bees and other wild bees?

The SHIELD is a New Hope to Protect Our Brain Against Alzheimer's Disease – Alzheimer's 10

Hummus, one of Mediterranean cuisine.

The NBC TODAY just released a short video about a new hope to against Alzheimer's disease. A background of the message in the video is the sadness of a longtime journalist.

He has to write down everything because of the impairment of his short memory. Everything can be gone in 30 seconds. He can't remember them.

He was diagnosed Alzheimer's since 9 years ago. His mother dead from this disease, and now, his son fear of it.

This video remind me to a friend of mine, she is also a bit worry about her dad since her dad was diagnosed probably has Alzheimer's.

She said her dad is still okay, his forgetfulness is still in “normal”. She said her dad taking dexa (dexamethasone). 

Dexa is for inflammation.

Inflammation, that is what Dr in video TODAY mention about. He compares the images between the brain severe with Alzheimer's and the healthy brain.

In the brain with Alzheimer's disease, there is inflammation that cause tangles and plaques.

No current medicines can cure Alzheimer’s or stop it from progressing. They only help lessen symptoms for a limited time. Inflammation is a new target. 

Learning a new language.

Healthy Life Style habit is a new finding that can prevent inflammation of the brain cells. Healthy life can protect our brain. Dr call this brain protector is the shield.

We can reduce up to 60% risk of inflammation that can cause the Alzheimer's disease through healthy life style. Dr. Natalia Azar in an interview introduce acronym of the brain protector:

S H I E L D

Sleep

Handle stress

Interact

Exercise

Learn

Diet

Here her short explanations:

Sleep - We need to get enough sleep because sleep can clearing out the debris (or the thing is not good) from our brain. Sleep enough for 7-8 hours a day. A nap is counted!

Handle stress – Doing some meditation. Stress promotes inflammation, any meditation can reduce brain inflammation.

Interact with friends - Engaged with people you like. Loneliness can increases risk this disease two-fold. So stay active with people who like to be with socialize.

Exercise - Exercise and exercise. It can create new cells.

Learn - Learn new things. Try to learn a language or an instrument or music or dance, or anything we like to learn. It can increase new synapses and force the old synapses.

Diet - Try Mediterranean diet. Gut health tied to brain health. Healthy gut bacteria decrease inflammation.

So, keeping up the healthy life habit. Shield the brain. 

What is the Best Coffeehouse in My City, Baton Rouge?

The Coffee Call coffeehouse, Baton Rouge

We find many coffee shops in our town, Baton Rouge. Sure, famous coffeehouse franchises such as Starbucks and community Coffee are every where.

We have plenty local too, the name could be unique:

- Coffee call

- Brew Ha Ha

- Java Mama

- River coffeehouse

- Garden district

- Coffee bean cafe

I have two favorite places with two different reason to drink coffee. The places are:

- Coffee Call

- Starbucks at Barnes & Noble book store

Like family gathering Inside Coffee Call

I visit Starbucks because it locates in the book store, Barnes & Noble. Reading books, magazines or surfing internet accompanied by a cup of coffee. My favorite is cappuccino.

The best local coffee is the main reason to come to Coffee Call. It is a kind of traditional coffee shop in Baton Rouge. Kids, young and old sit together.

Sometimes, we have a new friend sit at the same table. 

Cafe au lit , my favorite

Two my favorite hot drinks are cafe au lit and chocolate milk. Buy one cup, and then refill free.

The shop also serves:

- finger beignet

- sandwiches

- soup

- salad

- biscuit

The coffee shop is opened more than 30 years ago. The shop is handled by son and grand daughter now.

453 reviewers gave 4.8 of 5 stars for Coffee Call. An excellent coffee shop in the city.

What is the best coffee shop in your city?

Weeds and Wild Flowers in the yards for the Healthy Sustainable Environment

Beautiful wild white flowers are eagerly to keep their existence.

We are in the third week of September. The weather is cooling down, but still in 92 F (33 C). It's a good time to work my yard that I left about over a month. Shrubs are growing in some spots and they are surrounding the house.

Normally, in early Spring whenever many kinds of plants spur up with lovely manner show their buds, I just let them growing and flowering.

My reasons are not only to enjoy the amazing views but also to keep small wild flower as the first flower to invite the bold bees and insects to pollinate my fruit trees.

So, I don't need to catch them or borrow from somewhere. Then, in the Summer, I avoid all weeds and wild flowers. 

This Summer was too hot and then flood from heavy rain. Flowers and my four month avocado tree dried out, I couldn't save it and the fig tree is dying. 

Waiting for “helper” for sustainable.

Some fruits I have never picked up, squirrels and birds love to eat them.

Back to my yard, I have planned to clean and clear it form weeds and wild flowers. But I think back about sustainable environment as Christine mentioned in her posting (Please see at: Important for pollinators)

Weeds and Wild flowers on the ground

Then, I change my mind, so I will arrange the spot of weeds and wild flowers to look good and not really wild.

Another spot, I let the ground was covered with many kind of weeds and wild flowers. One of many ways to keep existence of mother nature.

I would like to participate in existence pollinator for all seasons.

Parks for Dogs in My City Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Dogs in one of parks in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Since I don’t have dogs, I didn’t aware that my city, Baton Rouge, Louisiana have plenty of parks for dogs.

I just knew one dog park, since I drive near by park when I go to work place. It belongs to private company, Raising Cane’s.

It is opened for public just few years ago. Then, the park looks crowded by day. I am curious to find out: is it the dog park only in the city?

Then, I got the list of more than ten parks, among the favorites are:

- Dog park at Burbank park

- Cypress lake dog park

- City Brooks Community park

- Forest community park

- Flannery road dog park

- Baton Rouge city park

Several dogs play in a park

I visited City Brooks community park several times. Not specific for dogs, but for families or every body: old, young and kids.

The park is administrated by an agency called Recreation and Park Commission for the Parish of East Baton Rouge (BREC).

The main purpose of the park is to provide recreational opportunities for families from nearby areas.

Size of park is more than 150,000 acres, in addition to green areas, it covers many facilities such as:

- tennis courts

- ball fields

- a swimming pool

- a fishing lake

The area for dogs is quite big, hence we can find separate areas for small and big dogs. The pups playing area is available as well.

How many dog parks in your city? 

Learning a New Language Against Alzheimer's Disease - Alzheimer's 09

CD to learn several foreign languages, illustration only

Can you speak more than one language?

Here, one of activities of churches and libraries is to facilitate communities to learn new languages.

This service is free and everybody can join them. A chapel on campus serves not only English (English Second Language) but also Spanish and Chinese. How fun!

For children, many of them grow up exposed to two languages from an early age. It does not hard for them to learn more than one language at the same time, even they tend to borrow one word from another.

We still remember the concepts in the past about bilingual. It said that bilingual was bad for brain. By then, many scientists have conducted researches about bilingual and multilingual. 

Learning Spanish

The researches had been done for bilinguals in all level of ages, from bilingual in baby to bilingual in elderly. Many amazing findings about them.

Brian Gold, a neuroscientist found that people who bilingual since childhood are better at the high-order thinking than monolingual seniors.

Craik and his colleagues conducted a research for 211 patients who diagnosed with probable Alzheimer's in clinics at Baycrest, Toronto, Canada. They classified the patients as bilingual (102 patients) and as monolingual (109 patients).

He said “We found that the bilingual patients had been diagnosed 4.3 years later and had reported the onset of symptoms 5.1 years later than the monolingual patients. Bilingualism thus appears to contribute to cognitive reserve, which acts to compensate for the effects of accumulated neuropathology”

The data confirm that lifelong bilingualism give a protection against the onset of Alzheimer's Disease. 

Have you Eaten Alligator Meat?

Alligator fillet sold in Walmart

I went to Walmart Neighborhood yesterday, I wanted to pick fish fillet, and I saw filet of alligator accidentally.

I thought this kind of “meat” sold in the specific market, never expected that they are available in grocery stores like Walmart.

Yes, Louisiana has a great number of alligators:

- 2 million wild alligators

- 300 thousand farming alligator.

Several other states have alligators as well, the number from millions to thousands, they are:

- Florida

- Georgia

- Alabama

- Mississippi

- South Carolina

- North Carolina

- Texas

- Oklahoma

- Arkansas

Recipe to cook alligator fillet (back packed)

When I asked friends of mine from Louisiana, they said that there are alligator burgers and cooked alligator sold in the certain seafood markets as well.

I tried to “googling” to find out Louisiana’s recipe for alligator meat. Surprisingly, many recipes and dishes relate to alligator meat.

One of Louisiana dishes called Cajun with alligator meat

(Credit to Louisiana Cookin’).

It is said that alligator meat is good for health because of low fat and highly protein content.

Favorite parts of alligator to eat are:

- tenderloin (inner tail)

- legs (called as white legs’ meat)

The meat are processed like other cow or chicken meats, they can be found in the market in the form of:

- fillet

- sausages

- soup ball

- used for steak or stew.

I've never eaten or planned to eat alligator meat in near future. I just feel odd.

Have you eaten alligator meat? 

Will Wild Horses Able to Ride Out Hurricane in North Carolina?

Wild horses on beach, North Carolina (Credit to Google)

I knew the wild horses are living in the forest or jungle close by mountains. It was surprising me, herds of wild horses wandered on the beach.

They are feeding on wild grass that growing lightly on the sand or sand dunes. Grass looks green and fresh.

The horses, colonial Spanish Mustang have lived on the Outer Banks beach, North Carolina for around 500 years.

Tourists have come to beach not only to observe the horses, but also other purposes:

- warm summer

- beautiful sandy beach

- awesome waves

- spacy place (miles of beach)

- clear ocean waters during summer and fall

In respect to wild horses, visitors are prohibited to:

- pet the horses

- try to ride the horses

- approach the horses at 50 feet distance.

Herds of wild horses (credit to Google)

Feeding the horses is illegal conduct, it is because wild horses can’t consume human diets such as fruit, vegetable and off course burgers.

These diets have bad effect, and lead to serious health issues or even may cause to death to horses.

What stunning me that horses are not evacuated during Dorian hurricane currently. Will Wild Horses Able to Ride Out Hurricane in North Carolina?

Yes, the horses able to ride out the storms. This skill is inherited from their ancestors since 500 years ago.

The horses skillful to sense the bad weather such as hurricanes and heavy rains, then they respond by:

- grouping together

- going to higher ground

- finding sturdy trees for protection

Hope, the hurricane is over soon, and everything goes well and safe.