Gratitude Bell and Cascades Walk

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On Saturday, the 2nd of March 2019 Peter and I did walk up to the NAN TIEN GRATITUDE BELL. This bell is being chimed in gratitude for our ancestors. I love the sound of this bell. It travels far across the surrounding country.

The walk was quite exhausting for us oldies. But we enjoyed it. We walked slowly and took frequent rests. Later on we met up with our granddaughter and her friend at the Nan Tien Tea rooms. We were happy that they had come from Newcastle to visit us for the weekend. Son Martin had also come for a weekend visit from Benalla in Victoria and was happy that he could meet up with his daughter.

Saturday night we went for dinner to the Dapto Leagues Club where we met up with our daughter Monika and a lot of her family. The next day, on Sunday, we went with our visitors to the foot of Macquarie Pass for a little walk called the Cascades Walk.

 

 

https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/5303939/video-tour-of-illawarras-best-waterfall-walk-for-beginners-and-kids/

 

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I took this picture while Peter holds my walking stick!

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I wrote in a comment on the 12th of March 2019 the following:

. . . to be reminded of our ancestors is always special to us.
A week later, on Sunday (March 10) we had another beautiful day with Caroline, Matthew and Matthew’s Mum. It was a lovely late summer day and we all went to the Port Kembla Swimming Centre. Later on we had a great lunch at our place.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Port+Kembla+swimming&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi3uuOwgfzgAhWCj-YKHU1eAp0QsAR6BAgEEAE&biw=1229&bih=603

Om the 13th of March 2019 I wrote in a comment:

We find that early in the morning it is never too warm to go for a little walk, that is we walk for a little bit every morning before breakfast. I take only about 4 or 5 minutes to walk to my favourite trees in the park behind our complex of villas. Peter and I usually leave our place together. I do walk very slowly just to stretch my legs a bit. Walking back home I can usually walk a bit faster. Peter uses some spray on his tongue that helps his breathing. He aims to walk straight away at a faster pace for 8 minutes. He walks quite a bit faster than I walk. I watch him walking in the park in the distance. On the way back, when he passes me, he calls out (just for fun!) Good Morning! And I call back: Good Morning! The whole park area feels to me very private, meaning even if I owned the whole area, I could not make any better use of it than walking there for a few minutes every morning! These days the sun comes up later and later. So often we miss out on some sun when we walk early in the moring. However, I love the mornings, when the sun does shine through the trees! When daylight saving is finally finished, the sun will be up a little bit earlier again. 🙂

Here is another comment I made on the 12th of March 2019:

. . . we had two beuatiful walks on that weekend, one on Saturday and another one on Sunday. The best thing was that some family took us to these beautiful places. 🙂
Since Peter and I are very elderly, we went at our own pace, while the others could roam about at their much faster pace. 🙂

https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/5303939/video-tour-of-illawarras-best-waterfall-walk-for-beginners-and-kids/

 

 

 

This is actually the same walk that is mentioned in this post:

https://auntyuta.com/2020/04/12/easter-2015/

I think I was very brave last year to venture on this walk with Peter. When I started walking I knew I could not very well have made it as far as to the waterfall. The others were of course much too fast for me. I was grateful that Peter stayed with me. When the others returned, we took a path that goes right back to that large meadow at the entrance. Peter chose then to walk ahead with the others towards the meadow. However I did get some support from a younger very fit person. I think she thought nothing of  it giving me a helping hand. I was so grateful for that!

Easter 2016

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Lucas looked around in our backyard and called it a “forest”. He loved running from the side gate on the south side of the house back to the table on the north side. He kept running, and running, and running with little Alexander always following him. That was after they had been looking for Easter eggs. Alexander was happy, when he found just one little egg. He did eat it straight away and let his big brother look for all the other eggs!

Our Granddaughter Natasha, the boys’ Aunty,  took some pictures of her Nephews while sitting at the table with them.

Some weeks ago we went to the Bulli markets, where Peter bought some gelato. Daughter Caroline took some pictures of Peter buying the gelato and of me trying to take a picture of it. I also took a picture of Caroline walking towards us.

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Easter 2015

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We were lucky yesterday, on Easter Sunday: There was beautiful sunshine all day after a lot of rain during the previous days. Early in the morning we went with Caroline and Matthew to the bottom of Macquarie Pass. It was easy parking there. At the other end of this beautiful green grass area is a path that leads to a waterfall. Everyone wanted to go on that walk to the waterfall. They all said I should come too. But I decided against it. I thought the path might be too slippery for me. I did not want to risk it. I had taken a picnic rug along and made myself comfortable near a table with bench. Peter took this picture of me:

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I thought it was very pleasant to sit for about an hour in the morning sun. I did not mind this at all while the others disappeared to walk to the waterfall. All the following pictures Peter did bring back from their walk.

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In preparation for breakfast . . .
In preparation for breakfast . . .

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For breakfast we had filter coffee, boiled eggs, warm bread rolls out of the oven, as well as some orange juice.
After breakfast at eight we left for the drive to the bottom of Macquarie Pass from where Peter, Caroline and Matthew went on their nice little walk to the waterfall while I stayed outside in the beautiful, warming sun. Towards 11 o’clock we were on the way back home. Matthew was driving. He stopped on the way at a Pie shop in Dapto that was open! Several pieces of cake and a few pies were purchased.

So at eleven at was time for us to have our morning tea and to eat some of the things from the Pie shop. For lunch we had to wait quite a while for Monika and her family were a bit late in arriving. All in all we expected six additional persons for lunch.

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Monika came in her car. She has a special child’s seat in her car. Her daughters Tash and Krystal came along too, as well as Tiana, the daughter of Mark. Krystal and Tiana are university students, whereas Tash has a job with the Postal Service. Tash is going to have an engagement celebration this coming Saturday. Krystal turned 18 on Easter Sunday. She had a birthday party the night before her birthday. She started university at the start of this year when she was not even 18 yet. Monica’s daughter Roxy did not come yesterday. But we are going to see her for sure at Tash’s party next Saturday. This is also when we are going to see Troy as well as Ryan and Ebony with their two little sons. It was so lovely that we could see Lucas already yesterday. Tiana kept carrying him. She said he was so cuddly. He did feel a bit tired for a while after they arrived. I think he had already seen Ebony’s parents in the morning and then he was at grandma Monika’s place  for a while. After lunch Lucas went outside for some egg hunting. Everybody watched him as he was doing this! Tash and I took pictures.

Back to lunch now. Caroline and Matthew had earlier baked the leg of lamb.  We had bought this meat, 2.7 kg of it,  at Aldi’s the morning after Peter’s eye op.  It only needed heating. Matthew sliced it. I had cooked some red cabbage the previous day. This also needed just some heating up. Caroline cooked green beans and sweat potatoes. Some other potatoes were baked in the oven together with the meat. Caroline filled up a jug with tap water and set the table with this jug, glasses, plates and cutlery. Peter sat up some extra chairs around the table. I think all I had done was to cut the sweat potatoes and to help with the tablecloth. I also took a few pictures of the lunch table.

In between I had another turn of rapid heartbeat. So I stretched out a bit on the sofa to calm down. A few times I did get a bit short of breath. When this happens, I know, I have to take a rest. I am always worried, others might think, I am just lazy! Anyhow, here are the lunch pictures now;

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I served myself only vegies, not meat for me please.
I served myself only vegies, not meat for me please.
Lucas had no problem with counting all this eggs in his basket.
Lucas had no problem with counting all this eggs in his basket.

Yes, he knew at every stage how many eggs there were in the basket. Later on Tiana made him count all the chicks he could see. I think he counted right up to twenty!

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The girls left early with Lucas to take him home. Tiana drove. She took Monika’s car. Monika went home later with Mark who had come in his car. He had come a bit later for he first had to do something for his mother.

We had a nice coffee afternoon with Monika, Mark, Caroline and Matthew. We animatedly talked about a lot of things. And we did not even drink one bit of liquor! Nobody thought of doing the dishes that had piled up in the kitchen. I had no idea Caroline and Matthew wanted to travel back to Sydney soon after Monika and Mark left. I thought they would stay till Easter Monday. Nobody had told me they wanted to be home on Sunday already. I am afraid I said in a probably snappish sounding voice: So, you are going to leave us with all the dishes!

Caroline became upset. Peter said she cried. Peter said he could do the dishes. I would not have to do a thing. In the end Caroline and Matthew decided they would catch their train one hour later and do the dishes in the meantime. I was very happy that Peter did not have to do the dishes. I probably could have helped him with putting away some of the dishes. However it would really have been such an effort for us oldies. I felt we needed a more restful evening.

I was very grateful that Caroline and Matthew cleaned up the kitchen. They did it very quickly and efficiently. I thanked them for it before they left and apologised that I had been playing up so much. When Caroline had arrived back in Sydney she sent Peter a message on his phone, saying that she loved us both.

When Peter accused me of treating Caroline like a slave, I felt really awful.

High Dose Intravenus Vitamin C to Save Lives in China – Centre for Research on Globalization

https://agrdailynews.com/2020/03/29/western-media-focusses-on-big-pharmas-search-for-a-coronavirus-vaccine-while-suppressing-coverage-of-high-dose-intravenus-vitamin-c-to-save-lives-in-china-centre-for-research-on-globalizati/

Western Media Focusses On Big Pharma’s Search for a Coronavirus Vaccine While Suppressing Coverage of High Dose Intravenus Vitamin C to Save Lives in China – Centre for Research on Globalization

Dr. Andrew W. Saul, Editor in chief of the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, sums up the Western big pharma approach nicely when he says:

“Medical orthodoxy obsessively focuses on searching for a vaccine and/or drug for coronavirus COVID-19). While they are looking for what would be fabulously profitable approaches, we have with vitamin C an existing, plausible, clinically demonstrated method to treat what coronavirus patients die from: severe acute respiratory syndrome, or pneumonia.’’

Over the last decade Dr Mao has been using high-dose intravenous vitamin C (IVC) to treat patients with a variety of acute medical conditions ranging from pancreatitis and sepsis to surgical wound healing. When the coronavirus epidemic first broke out he and several other colleagues thought that high-dose intravenous C could be a potential treatment for patients presenting with the coronavirus. Their recommendation for the use of high-dose intravenous vitamin C as a treatment was adopted by the Shanghai expert team.

Dr. Richard Cheng, an American-Chinese doctor currently based in Shanghai has given a report of this meeting. He notes that:

“Dr. Mao stated that his group treated ~50 cases of moderate to severe cases of Covid-19 infection with high dose IVC. The IVC dosing was in the range of 10,000 mg – 20,000 mg a day for 7-10 days, with 10,000 mg for moderate cases and 20,000 for more severe cases, determined by pulmonary status (mostly the oxygenation index) and coagulation status. All patients who received IVC improved and there was no mortality. Compared to the average of a 30-day hospital stay for all Covid-19 patients, those patients who received high dose IVC had a hospital stay about 3-5 days shorter than the overall patients. Dr. Mao discussed one severe case in particular who was deteriorating rapidly. He gave a bolus of 50,000 mg IVC over a period of 4 hours. The patient’s pulmonary (oxygenation index) status stabilized and improved as the critical care team watched in real time. There were no side effects reported from any of the cases treated with high dose IVC. ‘’

Dr. Andrew G. Weber, a pulmonologist and critical-care specialist affiliated with two Northwell Health facilities on Long Island, has said that coronavirus patients admitted to intensive care immediately receive 1,500 mg of intravenous vitamin C. This dosage is then repeated 3-4 times a day.

According to Dr. Weber this treatment regime is based upon the experimental use of high-dose vitamin C in Shanghai’s hospitals. He told the New York Post:

“The patients who received vitamin C did significantly better than those who did not get vitamin C. It helps a tremendous amount, but it is not highlighted because it’s not a sexy drug.”

via Western Media Focusses On Big Pharma’s Search for a Coronavirus Vaccine While Suppressing Coverage of High Dose Intravenus Vitamin C to Save Lives in China – Global ResearchGlobal Research – Centre for Research on Globalization

Cop26 climate talks postponed to 2021 amid coronavirus pandemic

Cop26 climate talks postponed to 2021 amid coronavirus pandemic

Postponement will help clarify US climate policy – Trump is pulling out of the Paris Agreement but Biden or Sanders would rejoin if elected in November

The Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow where Cop26 is due to take place. (Pic: Flickr/Stevie Brown)

By  and 

The UN has postponed a critical summit meant to jumpstart global climate action until 2021 as the world reels from the coronavirus pandemic.

The UN talks, known as Cop26, had been due to take place in Glasgow from 9-20 November with the goal of spurring deep cuts in greenhouse gases in the coming decade to rein in rising temperatures.

Up to 30,000 delegates were expected from around the world in the biggest diplomatic event the UK has ever hosted.

“The world is currently facing an unprecedented global challenge and countries are rightly focusing their efforts on saving lives and fighting Covid-19,” Alok Sharma, UK president-designate of Cop26, said in a statement. “That is why we have decided to reschedule Cop26.”

“Covid-19 is the most urgent threat facing humanity today, but we cannot forget that climate change is the biggest threat facing humanity over the long term,” said Patricia Espinosa, head of UN Climate Change.

A UN statement seen by Climate Home News said the summit would be postponed into next year, but did not set a new date. A preparatory session of talks due at UN Climate Change’s headquarters in Bonn, Germany, in June were also put off until preliminary dates of 4-13 October, with a review in August.

The session of mid-year talks is due to lay some of the ground work ahead of the Cop, giving negotiators time to advance on technical issues. A number of topics including the reporting of countries’ climate plans and efforts to create a new global carbon market were left unresolved at the last round of talks.

The decision to postpone the talks was taken by the UN Climate Change bureau – which is comprised of top climate diplomats from various countries, including Cop25 president and Chilean environment minister Carolina Schmidt and UN Climate Change head Patricia Espinosa.

Zoom climate diplomacy: ‘Technology doesn’t help build trust’

UN Climate Change and the UK government “agreed to work closely with the COP Bureau members over the next few weeks to identify a suitable date for Cop26,” the statement added.

As of 1 April, coronavirus had killed more than 37,200 people worldwide, according to the World Health Organisation. The Cop26 venue, the Scottish Event Campus, is being turned into a temporary hospital with an initial 300 beds to increase patient capacity in Scotland during the Covid-19 crisis.

The postponement will give some clarity to governments and diplomats who have been waiting to know the impact of the pandemic on this year’s climate timetable.

It also means governments around the world will have more time to assess the likely stark impact of the US presidential election, on 3 November, on global efforts to avert more heatwaves, wildfires and rising sea levels.

The US will formally leave the Paris Agreement on 4 November, under a decision by President Donald Trump. Democratic candidates to take on Trump – Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders – have pledged to immediately rejoin the Paris Agreement if they win.

That means a Democratic victory would make the US a leading voice for climate action at the postponed Cop26, and a mere observer if Trump wins a second term.

Coronavirus pandemic threatens climate monitoring, WMO warns

“Soon, economies will restart. This is a chance for nations to recover better, to include the most vulnerable in those plans, and a chance to shape the 21st century economy in ways that are clean, green, healthy, just, safe and more resilient,” Espinosa said.

“Postponing Cop26 … is the right thing to do – public health and safety must come first now,” said Laurence Tubiana, an architect of the Paris Agreement and CEO of the European Climate Foundation.

Speaking to reporters before the announcement, Tubiana said the pandemic had made carrying out the formal international diplomacy necessary for countries to ramp up their climate plans “really difficult”.

“I think we have to be innovative on the way we keep the momentum going,” she said, adding that governments would have to move away “from a diplomacy only focused on UN Climate Change” and coordinate with others on how stimulus packages can help accelerate the green transition.

Christiana Figueres, former head of UN Climate Change, added “there can be no pushing off the urgent need for climate action in 2020”.

Earlier this year, the UK called the summit its top international priority for 2020, a year when London is also trying to sort out a new relationship with the European Union after Brexit.

In 2021, the UK is due to preside over the G7 and Italy, which submitted a joint bid with London to preside over Cop26 and is due to organise preparatory events known as the pre-Cop, the G20.

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Governments are under pressure to submit tougher climate plans to the UN this year to bridge the gap between current levels of commitments to cut emissions and levels needed to limit global temperature rise “well below 2C”, in line with the Paris Agreement goals.

So far, only four countries – the Marshall Islands, Suriname, Norway and Moldova – have submitted more ambitious climate plans to the UN. On Monday, Japan became the first G7 country to submit an updated plan, but it merely reaffirmed its existing 2030 goal, set in 2015.

If the talks are postponed well into 2021, governments will also have what is likely to be a bleak report about the mounting risks of global warming from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), due to be published in mid-April.

The virus outbreak is also threatening developing countries’ plans to step up climate action this year as expert meetings are being postponed and resources are mobilised to address the public health crisis.

Speaking to Climate Home News, Tenzin Wangmo, of Bhutan and the lead negotiator for the group of Least Developed Countries (LDC), said most countries had only started to work on this climate plans when the virus spread across the world.

“It’s going to be tough to submit climate plans this year,” agreed Carlos Fuller, of Belize and the lead negotiator for the Alliance of Small Island States.

 

Could chloroquine treat coronavirus? 5 questions answered about a promising problematic and unproven use for an antimalarial drug.

https://theconversation.com/could-chloroquine-treat-coronavirus-5-questions-answered-about-a-promising-problematic-and-unproven-use-for-an-antimalarial-drug-134511

An employee in Nantong, China, checks the production of chloroquine phosphate, an old drug for the treatment of malaria. Feature China/Barcroft Media via Getty Images

An Arizona man died, and his wife was hospitalized, after taking a form of chloroquine, which President Trump has touted as an effective treatment for COVID-19. The couple decided to self-medicate with chloroquine phosphate, which they had on hand to kill parasites in their fish, after hearing the president describe the drug as a “game changer.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of NIH’s National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases, quickly corrected the statement, explaining that Trump’s comments were based on anecdotes and not a controlled clinical trial.

Donald Trump’s Twitter feed. @realDonaldTrump

I am a medicinal chemist who specializes in discovery and development of antiviral drugs, and I have been actively working on coronaviruses for seven years.

However, because I am a scientist and I deal in facts and evidence-based medicine, I am concerned about the sweeping statements the president has been making regarding the use of chloroquine or the closely related hydroxychloroquine, both antimalarial drugs, as cures for COVID-19. So let’s examine the facts.

What are chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine?

Please go to original

 

Coronavirus: ‘Nature is sending us a message’, says UN environment chief

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/25/coronavirus-nature-is-sending-us-a-message-says-un-environment-chief

“There are too many pressures at the same time on our natural systems and something has to give,” she added. “We are intimately interconnected with nature, whether we like it or not. If we don’t take care of nature, we can’t take care of ourselves. And as we hurtle towards a population of 10 billion people on this planet, we need to go into this future armed with nature as our strongest ally.”

 

New South Wales reaches more than 500 cases of COVID-19 with 97 new infections By Sarah Thomas

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-22/nsw-coronavirus-cases-rise-beyond-500/12079208

Figures published by the health department showed that as of 8:00pm on Saturday there were 533 positive cases.

NSW Health said several new diagnoses of COVID-19 had occurred among backpackers in the Bondi area.

It is warning that some new cases in Bondi are linked to two parties last weekend.

People who attended the Boogie Wonderland party at the Bucket List bar in Bondi and another event at Club 77 in Darlinghurst on March 15 are urged to be alert for symptoms.

If symptoms develop they should seek testing and tell the medical service that they attended one of the parties.

A childcare worker is also among the latest confirmed cases.

The employee worked at Smeaton Grange Young Academics Child Care Centre.

All staff and children who attended the centre between March 2 and 16 are being contacted and told to self-isolate.

The centre will be closed until March 30.

Two more cases have also emerged from a Sydney Church of Christ service on March 8 at Ryde Civic Centre, bringing the total to nine out of a congregation of 300.

NSW has of 8:00pm yesterday had 52,663 cases tested with 52,130 excluded.

Out of the 533 cases, 251 were acquired overseas, 131 were acquired through contact with a confirmed case, 46 came from unidentified contact and 105 are under investigation.

There have also been five cruise ship voyages linked to COVID-19 cases that have docked in Sydney this month: two trips on the Voyage of the Seas, and the Ovation of the Seas, the Ruby Princess and Celebrity Solstice.

All passengers and crew have been asked to self-isolate.

The latest rise in cases comes as authorities struggle to maintain social distancing, particularly across Sydney’s beaches including Bondi Beach which was closed yesterday.

Due to high numbers of people gathering the following beaches have also been closed: Manly (south end), Tamarama, Maroubra, Bronte, Coogee, Clovelly, Dee Why, Freshwater, Long Reef and Palm Beach.

The Northern Beaches Council warned that more public areas would be closed “if people don’t follow the rules”.

Yesterday, NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard insisted people heed advice on social distancing amid the rising number of infections.

He said cases had doubled in the past week and the problem was still “over the horizon”.

“Save yourself and save your family. Listen to the messages that are coming out, not just from Government officials but from doctors.”

A ban on travel to Lord Howe Island was also announced yesterday and came into effect at 5:00am today in a bid to keep the virus away from the small community of 347 people.

The borders are closed to all except residents, health workers and other essential service workers.

Uta’s March 2020 Update

A few days ago my blogger friend Judith said: “Quarantine and self-isolation are words that chill me. I am one of those people who are out and about most days. The thought of being confined to the house scares me.”

Here is what I answered: I reckon self-isolation can be a good thing if you want to read and write more. I am sad that at present I cannot hug my loved ones. Self-isolation means, they cannot visit me at my home. I am with Peter, my husband, who is suffering from bladder cancer and a heart condition. When we need new supplies, they’ll be left at the door. It is a blessing though that we can still see all our children on the phone! Here in the Illawarra is perfect summer weather right now, and this is very enjoyable indeed. 🙂