There are many options now when it comes to choosing fireplaces or stoves for your home or for your backyard. While the conventional wooden stove is still quite popular, and the convenience of the gas stove has caused those to gain in popularity over the years, many people are discovering the solar stove. I cooked on a solar stove back in the 1970′s. My sixth grade teacher was a bit ahead of her time. We spent about a week making our own solar stove from a kit, it was a very simple project…we were 11 years old and we figured it out. The day came for our outdoor cookout, and it was amazing.

One of the considerations for solar stoves, is for use in countries such as Asia and Africa. In Africa, families spend more than one quarter of their income on attaining fuel, and throughout areas such as Kenya, there are just no trees left. These are countries that have had a hard time finding access to fuel for a very long time, but one thing that they do have, is an abundance of sunlight. This would have an effect on one third of the population on the planet, a great effect. Not only for cooking, but for boiling water, as all of the water collected must be boiled in order to make it safe to drink.

In the western countries, one of the ideas that is so appealing about a solar oven or stove, is the effect it has on the environment, and on one’s health. Solar stoves, are smoke free, completely. Granted, one would have to live in weather conditions, under bright sunlight to take advantage of cooking this way, but with technology ever advancing, there are now ways to store the solar energy for use on days which may be a bit cloudy or over cast. In all, every stove has its advantages, with the myriad of options on the market today, you will have no trouble finding one that suits your needs.

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I’m here in Singapore to attend a conference about garbage, yes I know, but this conference is about how the Singaporeans should adopt what’s know in garbage language, the garbage enzyme. When I checked into the Singapore hotel resort and got all settled in, I noticed a note card from the hotel asking that we all pitch in and keep Singapore green and not request our linens be changed until we check out. So, this tells me Singapore is definitely ready for garbage enzymes.

Using garbage enzymes will have many benefits for the environment. It will help reduce and recycle waste, which is a major problem, not only in Singapore, but in all major cities of the world. Garbage enzyme solution has so many uses. It’s non-toxic, an air purifier insecticide, anti-bacterial household cleaner, deodoriser, drain cleaner, organic fertilizer, car cleaner and, well the list goes on. It has uses not only in the home, but in the office, and even outdoors in agriculture and animal farming. It’s simple to use, inexpensive, earth friendly which does not involve burning fossil fuels or using complicated equipment or exotic ingredients.

I’m committed to life in harmony with the planet. I believe that a little bit done here and there by everyone will add up to making a difference, it doesn’t matter how small the effort either. Using and making you own garbage enzyme is a growing trend among those who know about it and care about the earth. The seminar I’ll be attending will give opportunities to create awareness and educate people on the importance of protecting our environment. Be the change you want to see in the world. I’m hoping, that this seminar will inspire and move all who attend to not only use and create their own garbage enzyme, but to show all their family members and friends how they too can do a little to save our planet.

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I didn’t know London could have a good nightlife, especially when I found out that all the pubs close around 11pm. But, when I walked into the Asylum in New Kingston, I felt like I was a Jamaican clubber. That’s where I found out where else I could go for the few nights I have here in London. I was so happy to get this list, I wrote them all down on a bar napkin and stuck it in my pocket, hoping to not lose it while I danced the night away in total club bliss.

London, has several clubs like Cameos on Margaret and W1, my fellow clubbers told me it’s more upscale and located right in the heart of London’s West End. But they told me is a must before I leave. The next place on my list is Buds, Lower Clapton road and Hackney, a small intimate club which specializes in ‘bashment’ style music. I didn’t know what that was, but I acted like it did, so I would still look cool in front of my new found clubbing friends. Third on my list was Subterrania, Ladbroke Grove, Chis Goldfinger and David Rodigan spin there on different nights, and oh yeah, I wrote, Chris Goldfinger also spins at Cameos. I do hope I managed to make it to Subterrania, that sounds perfect for me, a modern mix of music is played there.

I flipped my napkin over and wrote down, Nightmoves on Shoreditch High Street, it’s there favorite place that recently re-opened and caters to a more mature crowd, playing reggea, soca, dancehall and lover’s rock. I don’t know why a mature crowd is one of their favorite places to chill, but if I have the time, I’ll check it out. Mature crowds sounds to old school to me. Last on my paper napkin list was Illusions Club, on Streatham, a mix of hiphop, R&B, reggae is played there. Hearing about all these clubs made me happy that I booked a City Hotel http://www.cityhotel.co.uk, I was worried that London just wasn’t a clubber’s heaven. In these next few nights I’m hoping to be proving wrong, big time.

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Buxton, England is a beautiful place to holiday at and a great place to bring the entire family. There are many excellent Buxton Hotels to accommodate the most hard to please clients. If you plan to stay more than a few days in Buxton there’s plenty for you and your family to do, like explore Poole’s Cavern, spend a day walking and picnicking at the Pavilion Gardens or if you have no children, you can check out the Opera House.

For Poole’s Cavern, you’ll be surrounded by rich woodlands and Poole’s Cavern is by far one of England’s best show caves. The cavern is natural limestone and goes approximately 300 meters deep into a hillside. There are many astonishing stalactites and stalagmite formations. The visitors center will educate one with information about the cave dwellers during the Bronze Age, metalworks by the Romans and various other historical details.

Pavilion Gardens will be a nice treat after the Caverns. It’s located right in the center of Buxton and offers 23 acres of green oasis and handsomely landscaped gardens. There are several lakes to play around, and check for times when bands will be performing at the bandstand. The children will enjoy the adventure playground, the miniature train rides, the adults will enjoy the newly renovated Victorian conservatory where there’s a quaint cafe’.

If Opera is your thing, then by all means go to one of the Opera’s at Buxton’s Opera House. It opened in 1903 and is one of the best examples of a surviving and thriving theater. The architecture is Edwardian and at one time was turned into a movie house, but with much restoration and fanfare, it reopened as an Opera House once again in 2001. There are now over 450 performances every year, and it’s not just only Opera. They have dance, drama, comedy and music. Plus, annually holds the prestigious Opera Festival and the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festivals. So, no matter what time of the year you take your holiday in Buxton, there will be something fantastic going on at the Opera House.

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One can not go wrong when decided to add a spa or hot tub into the design of their yard and into the style of their life. So much research has been done on the positive effects hot tubs have on ones health, and many hot tubs, choosehottubsdirect.com, from this company are offered at such reasonable prices, that this is fast becoming a luxury that the working person is able to afford. Home spas are no longer for only the wealthy, and the relaxation provided alone is worth it. Not to mention, if one is physically active or involved in sports that may result in injury from time to time, this is just about a necessary appliance in ones lives. Many injuries do not require the care of a doctor or a trip to the hospital, but just simple and gentle time soaking in the hot water and floating weightless, relieving the pressure on the injured area and allowing the healing process to take place.

When one wishes to create an oasis or a desert paradise to surround their spa, it is easy to find plants in the desert that create not only visually beautiful gardens, but those that provide the added therapy of delicious smells, without the smoke of incense or candles. Just nature. One of the hearty varieties that requires just a bit of water during the warm summer months, is the Jasmine. The scent is intoxicating, especially during dusk, the time when most people are just getting home from their hectic day, and ready to relax in their spa. This particular plant will fare better if planted in partial shade, so if one has a gazebo built around their hot tub, just along the borders would be the perfect spot for the Jasmine. This plant in the extreme summer heat of Arizona, will generally bloom only twice, once in the spring and once in the fall, and it is worth the wait throughout the rest of the year.

Another such plant is the Mexican anise. The entire plant, with or without the blooms, will fill ones garden with the gentle smell of licorice. The leaves of this one can also be dried and made into a tea, which will have the combined flavor of licorice and vanilla. Perfect tea to sip during the cooler months soaking in ones spa or hot tub. This one will bloom once during autumn, and must be covered during the coldest of winter nights to prevent frost damage. These are just two of the many options for creating incredible desert gardens to surround and add comfort to the spa and to the entire backyard oasis.

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I awoke around 5:30 am, got ready and headed north. I picked up 2 of my fishing buddy’s, Steve 1 and Steve 2. We drove to our favorite fishing stream, Toccoa River, one of the only streams in Georgia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_(U.S._state) that remains chilly even in the middle of summer. We picked a nice day to go, the weather was perfect. We put on our waist-high waders and went walking toward the middle part of the stream.

Fishing was good for all three of us. We caught the few dozen fish using a zebra midge, a pheasant tail nymph and a olive hare’s ear dropped beneath a grass-hopper pattern. Half the fish we caught were fingerling’s and the other half being rainbows and browns around 8 to 15 inches long. I caught the 15 inch rainbow using the hopper pattern and the 13 inch brown using the pheasant tail. I knew we were all having a good time catching fish by listening to the steady stream of Wooo-Whoos coming from Steve and Steve 2.

We drove on up a bit more to Steve 2′s cabin. I nice little place set way back off the main road. We unloaded our gear and proceed to get the fish cleaned. We told Steve 2 that with all the fish we caught that he sure could use a couple of more outdoor sinks. But, the one will do for now. Steve 2 fired up the outdoor grill and we placed has many fish on top the grill that would fit, sat down with our beers and started telling each other our fish stories while the fish cooked. Steve 1 told us a fish story that wasn’t even a fish story. He said while he was down stream of us that he spotted something floating towards him, it was too far for him to reach out for it, so he wondered if he could use his fly technique to catch what it was floating past him. He did and the fly caught the object and Steve 1 reeled it in, it was Steve 2′s sunflower bag. Steve 2 didn’t even knew he lost it. What a perfect evening to top off a perfect day.

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A colleague of mine, working in Dubai UAE for an extended period of time just emailed me that he was bitten by a snake. Luckily, it was a harmless snake, he wrote. I immediately emailed him back asking him how he could distinguish a dangerous snake from a harmless one and is there a serious problem with snakes in Dubai?

He told me that I can’t use his incident with the snake bite from joining him next week to finish the work we started for the Hotels Dubai UAE. He assured me it was his fault he was bitten. He said in the UAE the harmless snakes are long, thin and fast moving. Their heads are shaped like a bullet with a hardly visible transition from the head and body. He said that the dangerous vipers are rarely more than two-feet long and are thick and much slower than the harmless snakes. Their heads are in the shape of an arrowhead and that there is a distinctive separation from the neck to the body.

I asked him what on earth made him an expert all of a sudden? He said that it was necessary where we going when I arrive to survey the land for our companies next project. Crap, I thought, holy cow. It never crossed my mind when I took this assignment that I’d have to deal with snakes. My colleague for this amusing to say the least. He proceeded to tell me he’s done all the research about the snaked we might encounter and wrote saying we could possibly run into the Pseudocerastes Persicus (the Persian Horned Viper) which produces a neurotoxin which attacks the motor nerves and paralyses the muscles and will cause breathing and swallowing difficulties. He told me not to worry because the snake isn’t very aggressive. Then he added that I should be worried about the sand vipers, the saw-scaled vipers and the carpet viper because the venom of any of these snakes contains haemotoxins that would eliminate my blood from clotting and cause me to bleed to death.

My next email was sent to my boss asking if I could be reassigned

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The city of Singapore boasts some of the most beautiful gardens of the world. Many are designs with not only the plant life in mind, but the architecture as well. One such is the Chinese Garden. In 1975, this garden was designed by a well known man from Taiwan, Prof Yuen-chen Yu. He created it with the model of Imperial China. One enters the garden by way of the White Rainbow Bridge. Once inside the pagoda there are fishponds, courtyards and a building that replicates the temples used by ancient Buddhists for the burial and containment of human remains. Two aspects that personify the traditions of ancient architectural design of China are the Tea House and the Stone boat. The streams and paths and the design and manipulation of the plants create a tranquil and well balanced scene. There is also a Bonsai garden with more than one thousand trees. Here one can view their tiny and perfect beauty or take a class in caring for them.

Two more such gardens are the Mandai Orchid Garden and the Singapore Botanic Garden. The Mandai is conveniently located around other Singapore attractions, including a variety of restaurants, 5 star Singapore hotels, and the Zoo. This garden is a fifty year old sanctuary. On the hills of the garden, among natural landscaping and waterways there are orchids upon orchids, a variety of different hybrids. There is an incredible restaurant within the center of the garden so visitors may enjoy fancy meals in the midst of the incredible flowers. The Botanic garden is located in the middle of the city. There are many rare species here, and the garden also contains over 20,000 orchids in bloom. The first garden specifically created for children is located here and offers classes and lectures dedicated to the study of plants and flowers and the continuing dedication to the protection of the environment. The garden offers musical concerts at the outdoor amphitheater as well as gourmet dining establishments. The care of the gardens by the city of Singapore is no doubt a reflection of the fact that Singapore is in the rain forest. One of only two cities in the world located in the rain forest, the environment and the care of it is of the utmost concern for this country. The gardens offer not only tranquility and peace but a reminder as to just how important the plant and animal life is to the survival of their culture and the survival of all cultures around the world.

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