Skin Disorder, Etiquette, and Bee Stings

I was going to write today about an article from teh Medical College of Georgia about green tea holding promise as a new treatment for skin disorders such as psoriasis and dandruff, but I got side-tracked by this piece fro the UK Telegraph:

"A seaside tea room is throwing out customers if they commit that most cardinal of sins - dunking their biscuits. Resting elbows on tables, clinking spoons on the sides of cups while stirring, using a mobile phone and being rude about the Queen or other Royals are also likely to lead to ejection from the Tea Cosy in Brighton. Now the strict code of 'tearoom etiquette' introduced by co-owner David Daly - and prominently displayed on every menu - is prompting debate on a Facebook site with some customers describing the rules as 'fascist'. "

For the full story, click: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/07/ntea107.xml.

I am glad that we are not taking ourselves so seriously.

This may be my last garden update -- I am not sure. Viewer mail seems to say, "Stick to tea." I foolishly mentioned my bees last week and as you would guess promptly got stung this weekend by an angry one (probably not a reader of this blog). Anyway, the bite was on the ear, and yes it is quite painful. Ice. Lots of ice, right away. Oh, yes, I was mowing high weeds near my garden to prevent the weed seeds from landing in the garden and I must have disturbed a nest or hive.

We live and we learn.

Green Tea, Lung Cancer, Rabbits & Compost

Small-cell lung carcinoma (SCLC), represents 15-20 percent of all lung cancer cases, and is fatal within five years in more than 85 percent of the patients who develop it. The disease typically becomes resistant to drug therapies, and is particularly insidious and difficult to treat.
That’s the bad news. The better news is that the active ingredient in green tea appears to arrest the disease’s progress at the cellular level. We've reported the studies before and posted links to relevant articles. This article is in the new issue of "Cancer News" and rather than republish it, we offer the following link: http://www.cancermonthly.com/iNP/view.asp?ID=183.

Now I digress. A rabbit has found its way into my vegetable garden. I noticed the tops eaten off my carrots, my peppers peppered with chewmarks, and my low hanging tomato branches nibbled. I have looked for the opening in my fencing, but I fear the rabbit is burrowing its way in. I have only seen it once or twice, but I believe it has taken up residence. I don't mind sharing within reason, and would not consider harming the rabbit. Any ideas on how to minimize my garden losses would be appreciated.

By the way, my wife and I make several pots of loose leaf tea every day and add the spent leaves to our compost pile. The plants seem to really thrive with our tea enhanced compost.