Hello, sun in my face.

Hello, you who make the morning

and spread it over the fields

and into the faces of the tulips

and the nodding morning glories,

and into the windows of, even, the

miserable and crotchety–

best preacher that ever was,

dear star, that just happens

to be where you are in the universe

to keep us from ever-darkness,

to ease us with warm touching,

to hold us in the great hands of light–

good morning, good morning, good morning.

Watch, now, how I start the day

in happiness, in kindness.

 - Mary Oliver

I'm the one in the red helmet, and this is the portage, not the rapid. A friend took the photo and just won a prize for it. Location: the mysterious Opal Creek in the upper reaches of the North Santiam.

Lewy, MD, PhD, been studying melatonin and light effects on sleep and depression xlongtime
cartoon: "Portland weather calls for severe depression with a 30% chance of suicide."
( more notesCollapse )

http://sierraclub.typepad.com/michaelbrune/2011/06/rooftop_solar_panels.html
"rooftop revolution"
( notesCollapse )

(melanoma education for youth)

I haven't used sunscreen since I moved to Oregon. Here, the sun feels weak to me. I also haven't had a sunburn since I moved here, though a few times my shoulders or nose has got pink. In Arizona I used to wear sunscreen but gradually transitioned over to using long sleeves, long pants, and a big hat. I would put sunscreen on my lower face, nose, ears, neck, and the backs of my hands and tops of my feet. Here I still favor a hat and sleeves: the lotions always felt gross to me. The ones that didn't feel gross washed off too easy (kayaking) and didn't do any good. So that's my take on sunscreen. Not highly educated---I didn't even really dig into the site linked below I have a few types around the house and I'm afraid to look them up and see how carcinogenic they are. I know some of the chemicals used aren't great. I've heard that the zinc-containing kinds are most effective and least dangerous.

Sunscreen picker:
http://breakingnews.ewg.org/2011sunscreen/?inlist=Y&utm_source=2011sunscreenfull&utm_medium=email&utm_content=image&utm_campaign=toxics

BALNEOTHERAPY MUD AND CLIMATOTHERAPY AT THE DEAD SEA
lecture by Shaul Sukenik - Soroka University Medical Center and
Faculty of Health Sciences,
Ben Gurion University of the Negev
Beer-Sheva, Israel
( notes from recording of this presentation which was given in October 2008Collapse )