This is peak season for foot pain. Feet swell and sweat in warmer weather, which changes the way shoes fit. And consumers are paying the price for this season's killer styles, especially the ballerina, the gladiator, the flip-flop and the wedge. Manufacturers are flooding drugstores with solutions, products designed to cushion the foot against cuts and blisters while accommodating summer style. They include adhesive gel pads shaped like toes or narrow sandal straps, and cotton moleskin that can be trimmed into inserts. Glide-on stick products, applied like a solid antiperspirant, are supposed to reduce foot friction and prevent sore spots. Blister care appears to be a growth business at retail. Dr. Scholl's introduced three of its four blister products in the past three years, based on research indicating some 7% of U.S. adults age 18 or over suffer from blisters annually, according to Merck & Co. Sales of Foot Petals devices in supermarkets, drugstores and other mass retailers (excluding Wal-Mart) rose 113% over the past 52 weeks, according to SymphonyIRI Group, a Chicago market research firm. Alison Garten, a Washington D.C. podiatrist and co-vice president of the American Association for Women Podiatrists, says most of these foot-pain products function well enough, but the goal is to have no use for them at all. Prevent blisters by wearing shoes that fit and that are designed for the day's activity. "Dress shoes weren't meant to walk a quarter-mile from the metro," Dr. Garten says. "That's exercise. Nobody would dare exercise in a pair of high heels." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304319804576387580363335222.html

Foreign Country Land Mass Compared to United States
Afghanistan - slightly smaller than Texas
China - slightly smaller than the U.S.
France - slightly less than twice the size of Colorado
Iraq - slightly more than twice the size of Idaho
Malta - slightly less than twice the size of Washington, D.C.
Netherlands - slightly less than twice the size of New Jersey
United Kingdom - slightly smaller than Oregon
Zambia - slightly larger than Texas See other comparisons at: http://www.insidervlv.com/landmass.html

Elizabeth David (born Elizabeth Gwynne, (1913–1992) was a British cookery writer who, in the mid-20th century, strongly influenced the revitalisation of the art of home cookery with articles and books about European cuisines and traditional British dishes. David won the Glenfiddich Writer of the Year award for English Bread and Yeast Cookery. She was also awarded honorary doctorates by the Universities of Essex and Bristol, and the award of a Chevalier de l'Ordre du Mérite Agricole. However, the honour that most pleased her was being made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1982 in recognition of her skills as a writer. In 1986 she was awarded a CBE. David has appeared in fictional form at least twice. In 2000 a novel, Lunch with Elizabeth David, by Roger Williams was published by Carroll & Graf, and in 2006, the BBC broadcast Elizabeth David: A Life In Recipes, a film starring Catherine McCormack as Elizabeth David and Greg Wise as Peter Higgins. David's papers are at the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University. The writer Auberon Waugh wrote that if asked to name the woman who had brought about the greatest improvement in English life in the 20th century, "my vote would go to Elizabeth David. David's biographer Artemis Cooper concludes her Oxford Dictionary of National Biography article thus: David was the best writer on food and drink this country has ever produced. When she began writing in the 1950s, the British scarcely noticed what was on their plates at all, which was perhaps just as well. Her books and articles persuaded her readers that food was one of life's great pleasures, and that cooking should not be a drudgery but an exciting and creative act . In doing so she inspired a whole generation not only to cook, but to think about food in an entirely different way. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_David

Is Elizabeth David's recipe the ultimate spaghetti bolognese? See recipes and commentary at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/apr/03/recipes.foodanddrink

The recipes and wisdom of Elizabeth David, the 'Julia Child of England' http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11075/1129407-478.stm

Lugdunum (Lyon) in France was founded in 43 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus, a Gallic War general made governor of the province by Caesar. Located on the hill of Fourvière (Forum vetus, or old forum) at the confluence of the Rhône and Saône rivers, Roman Lyon became capital of the Three Gauls (Lugdunensis, Belgica, and Aquitania). While much of the Roman town lies beneath later construction, the remains of two Roman theaters may be seen on the Fourvière, overlooking the modern city of Lyon. http://www.athenapub.com/rhone6.htm

The first examples of traboules (from Latin meaning "to cross", a type of passageway) are thought to have been built in Lyon in the 4th century. Lacking water, the inhabitants moved to the banks of the Saône (in the 'lower town', at the foot of the Fourvière hill). The layout of Vieux Lyon is such that there are very few connecting streets running perpendicular to the river. The traboules allowed workmen and craftsmen to transport clothes and other textiles through the city while remaining sheltered from inclement weather. For many inhabitants, being a "true Lyonnais" requires being knowledgeable about the city's traboules. Nowadays, traboules are tourist attractions, and over forty are free and open to the public. Most traboules are on private property, serving as entrances to local apartments. Many, if not most, of the underground passages have been blocked off and are currently used as storage areas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traboule

In Lyon the walls tell stories, mostly very tall tales. While painting on walls is as old as time, the city has taken the art of modern urban wall painting to new heights with nearly 60 outdoor murals. Some are breathtaking flights of fancy; others are marvelous examples of trompe l'oeil, depictions of everyday life so realistic you could almost walk into them. Lyon's love affair with mural art is mostly due to a series of chance encounters more than three decades ago. In the early 1970s a group of local students got to discussing the closed nature of the art world, concluding that art was a form or expression largely confined to galleries and museums. Murals, they decided, would bring art to ordinary people. They would be direct, effective in portraying ideas, and free. See much more plus pictures at: http://www.francetoday.com/articles/2011/04/30/the-murals-of-lyon.html