Living in San Giorgio di Pesaro and Kingston

Anne from Mondavio told us some time ago that eating two Brazil nuts everyday protects against Alzheimers etc. Then while reading a food magazine over Christmas an article recommended that 1 Brazil nut provides all the selenium that the body needs. It also mentioned some possible beneficial facts including helping to protect against certain cancers including prostrate (always good news for men of our age), helping against arthritis and possibly protecting against Alzheimers.  So we have decided to give it a try.

Now a few days into our regime I was searching the net for more information on the beneficial effects and came across a paragraph about what happens to the body with too much selenium. I read the following:   high blood levels of selenium can result in a condition called selenosis. Symptoms of selenosis include gastrointestinal upsets, hair loss, white blotchy nails, garlic breath odor, fatigue, irritability. Sounds just like us. Better stop the brazil nuts.

We have been away from San Giorgio for a few weeks while we went to see family and friends.  Just started to read “The Volcano Lover” by Susan Sontag. It is the story of  Sir William Hamilton a British diplomat in Naples in the 18th / 19th centuries. He becomes the husband of Emma Hamilton and welcomes Lord Nelson into his house where Nelson meets Emma. When the book opens he is preparing to leave London after visiting family and friends. I was amused to read the following lines: “Everyone is relieved when demanding older relatives who live abroad conclude their visit.” Obviously our families were much too polite to say either that they were relieved that we were leaving or that we were too demanding.