Friday--

Good morning, all. Cold enough to put frost on the rooftops but than means it is about normal for mid-March. Nothing much planned for the day--just tending some of the plants and repotting a few of the larger ones. Maybe I'll put a few more stitches into one of the needlework pieces.

The news this morning said the Republican "debate" was actually a civil affair last night. I haven't seen what other commenters have to say about it. The adds however are very much uncivil. We are avoiding those as much as possible largely because our TV is mostly off these days.

The TV news yesterday referred to a new dietary study which reported that most calories Americans consumed came from "processed foods." I put that in quotes because our first question was how did they define "processed" and how was the study conducted. I found that study linked in one of the blogs I normally read and its authors used far more nuanced definitions than the news reported. Their categories reflect our own classifications of what we buy when we shop for groceries. We have cut out nearly all of the ultra-processed foods listed. Most of what we buy is in the unprocessed or minimally processed categories and what we get from the list of processed foods have little to no added sugars, salt and fat. And we do spend a lot of time reading the labels. We would have to move our breads, cakes and pies to the minimally processed list because they are made from scratch. We do use a small amount of cane sugar but most of our sweeteners are molasses, honey, and pure maple syrup. I am not surprised at the findings considering what a big part of life so-called convenience foods have become.

Cute animal picture and a very interesting story. Enjoy!

Something to think about in this political season. Where are we in the process where little changes accumulate till everything changes?