I haven’t felt like writing a post lately.

I begin writing, then I stop.

I begin again. And again, I stop…

No good.

Delete.

And so today I decided to write a NON post, in an attempt to “unblock” what I guess is a bit of writer’s block. I hope it works.

Part of my problem is the heat. I don’t do well in heat—that’s no secret. I really shouldn’t complain, since we are lucky enough to live in a lovely neighborhood of Florence, surrounded by the fields and rolling hills of Fiesole…So at night we sometimes get a breeze, while the rest of Florence swelters in the heat…

Plus, I have a lot of work to do on my blog, such as: update my Pages section (!), send TAB’s report off to all those who have requested it and other stuff. But I’ve been procrastinating…on that, too. Sorry!

Today is Paula’s funeral. In fact, by the time I publish this post, I imagine it will be underway…or almost…(yes, definitely underway now…)…

Well, let’s move on. Since this is NOT going to be a proper post, here’s a list of some of the things I’ve read/watched in the past several days…

Here goes:

SERIOUS STUFF:

A different take on stress and the immune system: http://goo.gl/LhsH2 Keep in mind that this study is talking about short-term stress, not chronic stress. Important to make that distinction. Still, interesting…I mean the idea that a wee bit of stress could be good for us…hmmm…

A blog reader sent me the link to a “Daily Mail” article on a woman who, following surgery, chose to change her lifestyle and diet rather than take Tamoxifen for her breast cancer. She has been in remission now for four years: http://goo.gl/NUFGs

Quercetin and doxorubicin: http://goo.gl/fQJPl The evidence in favor of integrative oncology is piling up left and right…ABOUT TIME TO TAKE NOTICE, DON’T YOU THINK? Oh oops…sorry, didn’t mean to shout… 😉

AMUSING STUFF:

Henri the cat, chapter 3, “Le Vet” (for me, the best is still number 2, though: http://goo.gl/1ooxq): http://goo.gl/y0XPk “They mock my French, but why?” Hehe.

How to walk a human, in case you’ve ever wondered: http://goo.gl/R4jYQ

“Shelf life,” another Simon’s Cat video: http://goo.gl/dFrfk

And now I’d like to send a big hug of encouragement to my friend Paul…Italy, you see, deservedly beat England in the Euro 2012 quarter-finals last night (too bad it had to end with penalty kicks, though!)…

And another hug to my blog reader Clare B., whom I met in London a few weeks ago. That was sooooo lovely! Many thanks to Paul for making the arrangements, by the way…

And that is precisely how I’d like to end my NON post of the day:

with hugs…

and with the photo of an amazingly talented songbird–a great reed warbler (taken by yours truly on Saturday at the Parco della Piana…).