Valuable Information for Feet

Sara Dhooma is a young Canadian woman who had a life-threatening condition in 2015 and is still living with the risk of an embolism occurring. She decided to take a leave of absence from her work and embark on her life's bucket list of walks all around the world. She is an active YouTuber on these walks which is lovely for the rest of us at home, living vicariously.

Anyway, she has a LOT of experience in more than 70 countries with wild camping, hostels, abergues, trail etiquette and foot care. In the following video she offers her experience on looking after feet on the trail. I thought it was pretty useful information, especially compared to most of the stuff you find online. If you like to walk and want to avoid blisters and the dreaded trench foot, have a look. 

Trench foot, by the way, occurs when feet spend too long in wet footwear. It can crop up in the space of only one rainy day and requires immediate attention. 

P.S. I'm going to throw my 2 cents in here: the antiperspirant on the feet idea is new to me and makes some sense, but I wonder...if I don't want it under my arms, why would I put it on my feet. I have found that Bag Balm, a vaseline-type gel that is lightly medicated, works perfectly for me. I put it on just before I put my socks on and it keeps my feet lubricated all day long. Using it in the winter several times a week keeps my feet soft and my calluses strong until I'm on the trail again.

I get it at Lee Valley, but there might be places where you'd find it less expensive. A little goes a long way.

Valuable Information

Happy Pi Day

p = 3.14

I wish I had some fresh pie to share with you but I'll have to settle for this one I made a while ago.

I've been practising my pastry skills. After more than 50 years of baking, I'm finally getting (thanks to Smitten Kitchen)the hang of pastry - I know, I'm a slow learner. The cherry pie I made more recently looked much better than this one but we were in so much of a hurry to dig in I forgot to take a photo. 

Anyway, let's celebrate Pi and Pie - both awesome concepts and even related!

Don't Let Go

Don't Let Go
Michel Bussi
translated by Sam Taylor

It has been a couple months since the last book review on Favourite Things. Time to remedy that.

Michel Bussi is a Frenchman, a professor of geopolitics and a well-known best-selling author in France. He lives and works in Normandy where many of his mystery novels are set. Apparently, his other novels, which I haven't read, this one being the first for me, are absolutely terrific if you enjoy the genre. In fact, several reviewers said that, for them, Don't Let Go, by comparison, was a real disappointment.

I'm here to tell you that not only was I in no way disappointed, but I could hardly tear myself away when other duties called. 

Unlike his other novels, Don't Let Go is set in the tiny French Département of Réunion, a volcanic island in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar and southwest of Mauritius. 

 At only 970 square miles and with a population of under a million, Réunion is a popular holiday destination for French people, but a new place to discover for moi. I'd heard of it, but really knew nothing about it and last week I couldn't have told you even its location.

The island appears to be tropical, although volcanic mountains inhabit the interior. Exotic palms trees sway in the wind, sandy beaches extend along the western coast and a host of birds and animals not found anywhere else call the island home. Réunion also appears to be a melting pot of peoples, cultures, religions and languages. Although the inhabitants refer to each other by names which identify the group they belong to, they seem to get along fairly peacefully without the degree of racism you might expect. With the location as it is, there are Africans, Malagasy (from Madagascar), Europeans, Indians of Muslim extraction, Indians of Hindu extraction and so on, with mixing producing families with beautiful children.

One of the joys of the novel, then, is discovering something about the geography and inhabitants of Réunion. The other joy is the compelling story which at first glance seems to start with a family of tourists - husband, wife and 4-year old girl. The wife suddenly disappears in broad daylight, leaving behind a bloody hotel room and the husband soon comes under suspicion. He is, at first, cooperative with police, but then he takes off with his little daughter and from then on, there is a chase, and other victims along the way. All is not what it seems at first with this French tourist and there is a slow revealing of the truth during the frantic attempt to save the little girl's life that involves all of the cultures that inhabit Réunion. 

I loved the novel and for sure will be looking for more Michel Bussi books.

International Women's Day March 8

Happy International Women's Day!

Here's to all the strong women who have brought us to this place and time!

Here's to all the amazing women present and future 

who are/will be 

role models to so many!

Katrina Megget

I don't think I've introduced you yet to Katrina Megget. 

She's a "Kiwi" health journalist currently walking from the very north to the very south of New Zealand, raising awareness and funds for mental health. 

I started following her journey last fall as she was finishing her pre-trek preparations and have quietly celebrated all her small victories as she encountered the seemingly endless miles of 90-Mile Beach (difficult walking, sometimes very wet) 

miles of road-walking (again difficult -  hard on the feet)

 thick forests

 mountains

and mud. VERY deep mud. 

Kat started the 3000 km journey last November at the north end of the North Island and has just recently arrived in the South Island, ready for more adventure on the Te Araroa Trail.

It's fun to read her highlight of the first 49-day blog post. She has had some amazing and unexpected adventures.

Now on the North Island, she is encountering trails that are closed or blocked due to fire risks and lack of water sources. But she'll carry on, undeterred, and stronger by having already come so far. 

Katrina has many "followers" and admirers thanks to her regular blog posts and also by being a frequent presence on Facebook,  Twitter and Instagram. Again, she is walking solo on the Te Araroa Trail, 3000 Km. in her own words, "to raise awareness of self-doubt and low self-esteem and also raising money for (UK-based) Mind - the mental health charity" as well as NZ-based Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand.