【推荐2】When my dad was first diagnosed(诊断)with cancer and had radiation, I pushed my folks to start eating more fresh produce and preferably organics. My mom really improved her cooking from the roasted slice of pork and frozen-veggies dinners that I had fallen in love with. Dad said he had never eaten so well.

“People never change,” my dad often said but he became skilled in overall treatments and began to take well-informed control of his own course of action. I wasn’t thinking too much of his changes, but he had survived cancer for over 10 years, constantly learning, doing a bit of travel, and always looking pleasant and smiling.

My dad and I decorated a farmhouse in 2012, and I started taking care of the orchard(果园), and the garden, and learning to care for some chickens. Bringing farm-fresh food to my folks was a way I could contribute to dad’s health as well as his enjoyment of life.

The idea for this business came from what we learned about the role of food in health. My dad’s doctor told him that eating fresh produce could help resist cancer. Dad helped me set up the farm and worked till just a few days before he passed. But all of what I do here is based on experience, research, and strong values.

The goals of this farm developed as we learned, and here we have it: Produce with a purpose—fresh produce grown for disease-fighting and preventive health value, delivered with easy but delicious recipes as well as support, encouragement, overall thinking and even a bit of humor.

【推荐3】Before I can tell you what happened to me, you first must learn about my job: perform underwater repairs. As you know, my office lies at the bottom of the sea. I wear a suit to office. It’s a wet suit.

This time of year the water is quite cool. So what we do to keep warm is a water heater. This $20,000 piece of equipment that sucks the water out of the sea. It heats it to a delightful temperature. It then pumps it down to the diver(潜水员) through a garden pipe.

Now, this all sounds like a wonderful plan, and I’ve used it several times.

What I do when I get to the bottom is take the pipe and stuff it down the back of my wet suit. This floods my whole suit with warm water. It’s fantastic.

Everything was going well until all of a sudden, my butt(屁股) started to itch(痒). So, of course, I scratched it. This, of course, only made things worse. Within a few seconds my butt started to feel hot. I pulled the pipe out from my back, thinking that maybe the water was too hot, but the damage was done.

In pain, I realized what had happened. The hot water machine had sucked up a jellyfish(水母) and pumped it directly into my suit. Now, since I don’t have any hair on my back, the jellyfish couldn’t stick to it.

I immediately informed the dive director of my situation over the communicator. His reply was unclear due to the fact that he, along with five other divers, were all laughing hysterically.

Needless to say, I gave up the dive. As I climbed out of the water, the doctor, with tears of laughter running down his face, handed me a tube of cream and told me to rub it on my butt. The cream put the fire out, but I couldn’t poop(排泄) for two days because my bottom was swollen.

So, next time you’re having a bad day at work, think about how much worse it would be if you had a jellyfish shoved up your bottom.

Now repeat to yourself, “I love my job, I love my job, I love my job.” May you NEVER have a jellyfish bad day.

【推荐2】Summer is slipping away from me. Some days, it makes me want to cry. Other days, I feel a sense of expectation within me just thinking about fall that makes me want to burst. Tonight, all five of us were in the family room doing our own things.

At this moment, my littlest kid is my number one trouble and my number one joy. He has a tooth on the way and although it’s such a tiny thing, it’s causing so much grief. I’m holding him a lot and I’m not going to lie. I live for his afternoon nap (小睡) so I’m able to actually get dressed and use the restroom.

The big E is starting school soon. The other day, I found myself a bit depressed about the end of summer and the beginning of another school year. I looked out of our front window with eyes that were heavy and a bit teary. Then, I suddenly realized just how silly this end of summer depression of mine is. I can’t change time. But, I can change my emotions and my thoughts. I decided not to spend my final days of summer vacation walking around with a sad face. I decided to hug the last few days of summer and remind myself that before I know it, we will be back in our school routine and all will go well.

This week we plan on meeting teachers. I'm taking my girl to have her nails done before her first day of kindergarten. We want to bake a few dozen cookies. We'll take our evening walks as usual and stay up late. And last but not least, I’ll get school clothes ready, I’ll pack lunches and write lunch notes, we’ll read “The Kissing Hand,” like we normally do, and I’ll tuck (掖好被子) my third grader and kindergartener in their little beds before the big first day.

Thank you summer, you’ve been warm and wonderful, you’ve been sweet and sticky, you’ve been refreshing and exactly what we need. And your sunsets have been amazing, so thank you.

【推荐3】I live in New York city and my neighbours are people I don’t know. My city, neighborhood and block are filled with people who don’t know me, don’t care to know me, and don’t talk to me. I find that it’s pretty hard to love people you don’t even know. And sometimes, we all, myself included, use that as an excuse not to try. I read Brendan’s story recently and was moved.

One day, Brendan, a young man in New York was on the way back to his Brooklyn apartment when a homeless woman called Jackie asked him for money. He said that he had no money. By the end of the week, she asked two more times, and each time he answered “No”. The woman looked sad, so Brendan said, “I am on my way to a job interview. If I get the job, I’ll take you out for lunch.”

Brendan got the job. He took Jackie out for lunch. That was when their friendship began. They built a strong friendship by supporting each other and spending their birthdays, holidays and difficult times together, over a period of eight years. When Brendan’s heater broke, Jackie made a blanket for him. Two days later when he told her that he had lost his job, she left and returned minutes later, bring him food to eat. She continued to do that during the whole winter. Even with so little, she often gave back.

Over these years, Jackie moved from the streets and subway stations into a halfway house, and is now moving into an apartment. To celebrate it, Brendan wanted to do something special for Jackie. He went with her and helped her to pick out everything she would need for her new apartment.

May Brendan’s story encourage us to find a new way to honour, serve and love the people around us.