In the summer, our natural decorating instinct is to select things that are light – pale colours, more white, and a generally cleaner look and feel to the space. But in fall, warm, rich hues capture the season naturally. Fall is a time for depth of colour and of textures.

Bring the ambiance of autumn into your home with these quick and easy decor ideas;

• Add or replace the front door wreath with one that features examples of nature's seasonal bounty; coloured maize, pine cones, acorns, gourds, and fall flowers.
• Exchange the summer candles and potpourri jars in your home for fall scents and candles of browns and oranges.
• Craft up a simple autumn centerpiece that can be moved from one area to another - adding an autumn glow wherever you are.
• Replace the rug at your front door with one that reflects the incredible fall colors found in nature.
• Adorn framed artwork, artifacts, and baskets you use around your home by adding seasonal touch; bits of vines, pine cones, twigs, seed pods, etc.
• Cover throw pillows with an appropriately coloured new fabric – the more nubbley the better.
• Add a wind chime or garden art to your front patio area to suit the season.

Captain Charles Moore, a veteran of ocean travels and the sea in general, veered of course one day while returning from a sailing race and came across an area of water littered with plastic waste. As it turns out, he had entered a 10-million-square-mile oval known as the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. With the circling ocean currents creating the gyre’s signature calm waters, it has become home to an astounding array of human-generated garbage, particularly plastics.

The North Pacific gyre is only one of five such high-pressure zones in the oceans. There are similar areas in the South Pacific, the North and South Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean. Each of these gyres has its own garbage patch, plastic gathered in the currents. Together, these areas cover 40 percent of the sea. “That corresponds to a quarter of the earth’s surface,” says Moore. “So 25 percent of our planet is a toilet that never flushes.”

We have all seen the pictures of plastic rings entombing sea birds and animals, but it goes much deeper than that, with Moore describing how tiny plastic fibers are 6 times more plentiful than plankton in these areas. They are working their way into our bodies, too!

Read the whole compelling article at http://www.bestlifeonline.com/cms/publish/travel-leisure/Our_oceans_are_turning_into_plastic_are_we.shtml. Check out 'Links from Liz' below for alternatives to plastics in the home. And please feel free to spread the word by sharing this newsletter with your friends.

It happens all the time. Children traipsing off to school lugging a backpack that can weigh a ton! Too much weight or an improperly adjusted pack can lead to head, back, neck and arm aches, or worse. Check out these backpack tips;

• Choose a backpack that has several individual pockets instead of one large compartment to distribute the weight evenly and keep contents from shifting.
• The backpack should have a padded back for added protection and comfort.
• Backpack should not extend past the top of the shoulder nor below the top of the hipbone.
• The shoulder straps should be at least two inches wide, adjustable and padded. Always wear both straps.
• A hip strap or waist belt helps equalize the strain on the bones, joints and muscles, not just the shoulders.
• Rule of thumb - weight in the backpack should not exceed 10 per cent of the child's weight.
• Pack so the heaviest items are closest to the body.

From a Microsoft Security site that is useful for students or any computer user.

1. The first step is covering the basics:
• Make sure you have a firewall
• Make sure your security software (anti-virus, anti-spyware) is up-to-date
• Make sure your computer is up-to-date as well by updating your operating system
2. Scrutinize all files sent to you through email and through Instant Messengers. Opening email attachments is still the most prevalent way in which viruses spread.
3. Viruses aren't the only annoyances out there. Two quick rules of thumb for handling spam are using email filters and deleting unwanted emails without opening them.
4. Keep your anti-spyware software up-to-date and scanning regularly.
5. Going wireless? Secure the connection, and learn how to ‘lock down’ your laptop when using other wi-fi connections.
6. Prevent unwanted access to your system by taking the time to develop a secure password system for all various password-protected programs and sites.
7. Back Up Your Data! Then you can always get back to where you started if something does happen.

'Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy;
the mad daughter of a wise mother.'
~ Voltaire

Bring house plants back inside – “We have house plants that enjoy a spell outdoors in the summer. But when I brought them in last year, a couple had a bad case of bugs and another died. I needed advice so that wouldn’t happen again this year. Check out this site for ideas.”

Cool school lunches – “My youngest asked me if I was going to make her the ‘same old lunches’ when she went back to school. But she doesn’t know that I have a surprise planned; Cool Lunches! It’s not rocket science; I just needed some suggestions like the ones I found at this site.”

Alternatives to plastics in the home – “If you have read the article above about Captain Charles Moore’s adventure in a ‘plastic ocean’, you will know why I am concerned and wanted to check options for things like food and drink containers. This site has some great ideas.”

Relationship Boosters – “A friend of mine hasn’t been getting along with her hubby for a while. I told her they should start dating – each other. I found this site with some great ideas for dates with your spouse.”

As falls approaches and cool nights become common across Canada, furnaces, fireplaces and radiators have returned to work from an all-to-brief summer vacation. It would be nice not to have to heat our world for most of the year, but its part of life in Canada and not about to change in our lifetime. Our choice for a reliable heat source in our homes has changed considerably over the past 50 years, though.

Did J’a Know these facts about the Evolution of Home Heating in Canada - how the proportionate use of the four main sources of heat in Canadian homes (wood, fuel oil, natural gas, electricity) has changed over the past 50 years;

In 1947…
83% — solid fuel (coal or wood)
12% — fuel oil
4% — natural gas
0% — Electric heating was virtually unknown at that time.

In 1965…
10% — solid fuel (coal or wood)
60% — fuel oil
26% — natural gas
1% — electricity

In 2005…
4.5% — wood. New Brunswick was the province with the highest proportion of homes heated with wood—at 21%—followed by Yukon at 18%.
13% — fuel oil, about the same as in 1947
50% — natural gas
33% — electricity, down from its peak in the mid-1990’s

Here’s hoping a new category called renewable or sustainable will soon take the lead.

Brain Teasers – Ben, age 13, says, “Dad says my brain is like a rubber band that needs to be stretched regularly. He thought I’d better stretch it doing some quizzes. These teasers are great!”

Gaming Cheats – Sam, age 11, says, “I like to have the advantage when I’m playing my friends or online. Some ‘cheats’ come in handy, so I try to stay on top of them by visiting this site. They have cheats for everything here.”

Spot the Differences – Hannah, age 10, says, “I love finding the differences between two pictures and I’m good at doing these games – usually. I could only find 9 of the 10 differences. Can you find all of them?”

Orangutwang – Aleisha, age 8, says, “I love this monkey guy! You stretch his arms and legs to the rings and snatch the bananas as you climb. You just have to be sure not to touch the spiders or you fall and have to start again.”

A "running" toilet can waste two gallons of water per minute. A silent leak in a toilet can waste up to 7,000 gallons of water per month. That is a lot of water! It’s time to check for leaks. It’s easy!

To find silent leaks, put some food colouring in the tank. Do not flush. Check the toilet bowl ten minutes later. If you see colour in the bowl, the tank has a silent leak.

Toilet leaks are typically caused by either a worn out flapper valve or a fill valve that doesn't completely shut off when the tank is full.  The flapper valve is the stopper in the bottom of the tank that lifts up when you push the flush handle and is the most likely cause. It’s also easy to replace.

Shut off the water at the toilet (not the main line so you can still use everything else) and remove the worn flapper. You will probably get black all over your hands, so be prepared. Take the flapper to your hardware retailer for the proper replacement. Reinstallation is just as simple. And don’t forget to turn the water back on.

Autumn Leaves Clean-up Quick Tip - This year, relieve yourself of the strain and pain of fall’s most taxing task; raking. It’s quite simple really. Just don’t rake – at least not yet. As you continue mowing on into the fall, you can mulch the leaves in if you have a mulching mower.

Once you’ve stopped mowing for the season, however, it’s not recommended to mow only to mulch the leaves. When your grass has stopped growing, that’s the time to get out the rakes – and roust the kids from their hiding places.

"If it's the Psychic Network why do they need a phone number?" ~ Robin Williams

"Husbands are like fires--they go out when unattended." ~ Zsa Zsa Gabor

"I've never been married, but I tell people I'm divorced so they won't think something is wrong with me." ~ Elayne Boosler

"Every man is a fool for at least five minutes every day; wisdom consists of not exceeding the limit." ~ Elbert Hubbard