By Meike Knol
Many people ask me where they could go to acquire a new pet.
If I know of anyone with puppies or kittens to give away, or if someone needs to re-home their pet. I always tell them all to go and adopt a pet from an animal shelter.
They usually take my advice and visit [...]
Following on from the first instalment last month, Sarah continues this enlightening look at the difficulties of learning a second language.
WHEN ONE LOOKS at the normal process of L A (Language Acquisition) in children it appears that the process described as ‘ learning’ to talk is acquired rather than specifically taught, rather in the same [...]
by Helen Rowe
I watched something last week that amused me at the same time it also solved a mystery. There are two very old police vehicles that I have noticed some mornings on my walk into Tortosa. They have the blue and white chequered bands around the sides and large blue lights on the roof.
The [...]
GOJI BERRIES
Lycium barbarum, also known as goji berries, grow naturally in the mountains of Tibet, in the heart of the Himalayas, and in several provinces in southern China. The literature on traditional Chinese medicine, the most notable about this food, reports that these berries have been consumed for hundreds of years and attributes them with [...]
Growing wild in many countries, including Spain, one such example appeared on my finca last month. Unchecked it can grow up to 2 metres in height, and has trumpet shaped flowers that may be white or purple. It also bears spiky green seed pods and it’s leaves are foul-smelling.
The plant’s seeds, leaves and flowers are [...]
CLEANING, PREPARING AND cooking a nutritious meal can cause the loss of a significant portion of the nutritional properties, but also during storage some foods can change their nutritional content. The environment in which we find foods can have a decisive influence on the amount of nutrients that they offer.
Light affects the nutritional content of [...]
The Cedula
Well, not exactly, but the elusive cedula is taking on mythical proportions, with tales so scary they could have been written by The Brothers Grimm!
We decided to apply for a cedula in preparation for a move back home to the UK. The first step was to engage the services of a good architect [...]
Reflections on the problems of second language acquisition:
A few months ago I read with some pleasure the article in an earlier Catalunya Chronicle on the problems of second language acquisition. This in turn prompted me to reflect, in part out of curiosity, but also in part as an attempt to understand my own process [...]
A timely word of warning to all pool owners.
I recently suffered a serious leak when the bottom of the skimmer chamber split away from the main body. I always used to put the chlorine tablets in the skimmer baskets. The very strong chlorine was absorbed by the grey plastic semi-flexible piping that ran from the [...]
If increasing muscle mass is one of your goals, then think twice before you go out for a night of heavy drinking. Consuming alcohol in large quantities has a direct effect on your metabolism, causing fat to be stored instead of being utilized as an energy source.
Alcohol contains seven “empty” calories per gram, meaning that [...]
