Flowers, Friends and Anguimorphs

This photo was taken by my Mama on the morning of the rickshaw mishap day.
Our winter garden (I should call it Christmas Garden) looks so colorful

A few more windows and iron frames are left to be painted. (In India one has to fortify their house with iron frames on the windows and verandas for security sake.) Then we will have to clean the stains, spots and spills. I bought some very expensive industrial level cleaning liquid for that -hope it does the job. I am taking my own sweet time to re-settle everything. Rushing tires me. But I am missing some nice Christmas music programs in various churches.

In India people start decorating their homes very close to Christmas or on Christmas Eve like we did. We have lots of music, church and institutional socials and dinners before that. And of course shopping and baking of cakes. Remember from last year, (photos too) I told you , people take their raw ingredients to the baker 's workhops and they bake their cakes etc for them. Rich Christmas fruit cakes are a must for North Indian Christians. A legacy of the British Raj. Wedding cakes are also baked this way.

These cute graphics are my friend Holly 's creations. She offers them free on HER BLOG
Penniwigs. She will brighten your celebrations.

You can also visit her Etsy shop and order graphics and special handmade jewelry. Holly very kindly sends me lovely gifts to brighten and cheer up Mama and me and good ol ' Sheeba.

Now for everyone like me who hates lizards there is good news.

LIZARD VENOM CAN TREAT HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

Scientists claim to have found evidence that newly discovered venoms from 'anguimorph' lizards contain toxins which can be used to treat high blood pressure levels in people.
For its research, an international team, led by Dr Bryan Fry of University of Melbourne examined the unexplored group of venomous lizards called anguimorphs -- a group that includes monitor, alligator and legless lizards.
"We only recently discovered that venom in lizards was not restricted to the gila monster and beaded lizard, but it is in fact much more widespread - so we set out to examine this unique group, and discovered completely novel toxins.
"We showed a great diversity of toxins in anguimorph venoms. The drug design potential of these novel venoms is highlighted by the fact that three of these new toxins act to lower blood pressure," Dr Fry said.


The research took four years to complete and involved collecting venom from lizards all over the world, followed by complex laboratory studies to analyse the exact properties of the venom.
"It was a huge undertaking but the result is well worth the effort - we have discovered completely novel venoms, and shed light on evolution of venom systems in animals.
"The results obtained highlight the importance of utilising evolution-based search strategies for biodiscovery and emphasise the largely untapped drug design and development potential of lizard venoms," Dr Fry said.
The findings have been published in the 'Journal of Molecular and Cellular Proteomics'

(Taken from Indian Express)

We have a bunch of resident lizards in our house. They are quite friendly but assume they own the property. At least they can be put to proper use . (smile)

I am so glad India snubbed China and is participating in the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony for the Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo in Oslo today

Read the story HERE and more HERE