Well, my back is almost, er, back to normal (I’m back to my regular activities, in other words, with no pain)…In a few words, I’m fine and feisty, as usual… 😉 

But my life in Firenze Italy is a bit busier, and crazier!, than usual. In this period, I’ve been submerged by some extra, unexpected work (= translations, mainly), which is great in some ways since it means extra money for cat food (what better cause could there be? 😉 Aren’t my kitties just THE cutest?), but it also means that I don’t have much extra time to spend on the blog. I compose posts in my mind…but just can’t get to them. Not right now. I’m working hard on one big, boring translation. Once I’ve finished, I’ll be all set…

But it’s not all work work work. Fun things happen, too. Tomorrow evening we are going to a friend’s party for which I’m making a yummmmmmy carrot cake. And we’ve been invited to have dinner and play games with other friends on Saturday. And we have plans for Sunday, too…

And then two nights ago Stefano came home from work and told me we should take advantage of a couple of holidays at the end of April to go to Edinburgh, a city we’ve wanted to visit for yeeeeears but have never gotten around to doing, for one reason or another (no direct flight from Florence, no money, blablabla)…

Needless to say, I said YES!!! Stefano had already found the best flight AND the best place to stay, so we went ahead and booked. We’re not normally spur-of-the-moment people, but lately this has seemed to be the case. As long as we can afford it, and as long as we have someone reliable to look after our furry babies…! 

Now, let’s get to the meaning of this post’s title. This morning I came across a series of articles on curcumin that I hadn’t seen yet…All in the same journal, called “Biofactors.” Here are a couple of examples: 

The abstract of the study on curcumin and aging can be found here: http://goo.gl/nVMQR Curcumin extended the average life of roundworms (!) by 39%, for example. Curcumin-fed fruit flies and mice also lived quite a bit longer than the controls (= no curcumin). Anyway, it gives us some food for thought, eh? 😉 

Speaking of mice, I’d like to highlight a New York Times article titled “Mice fall short as test subjects for humans’ deadly ills,” which I was able to read thanks to blog reader H.O.: http://goo.gl/I1B3V As you know, I’m VERY strongly opposed to vivisection (especially in the cosmetics industry, of course…horrible stuff goes on there…should be ILLEGAL!!!)…Well, this article certainly gives us all pause for thought…

Another “Biofactor” abstract deals with curcumin and its effect on a variety of cancers: http://goo.gl/nr8OI Nothing too new, here, but it’s always good to read other studies confirming what we already know, that is, that curcumin inhibits an amazing amount of pathways that help cancer cells survive and grow…When I have time, I’ll see if I can get my hands on the full study…

Okay. That’s it for now! I’ve got to go make the icing for my cake. Ciao! 🙂