#187: Cornsilk and Banana Strings

Yessiree, Bob...today's oddball thoughts came from peeling a banana for breakfast to go with a red beet egg, coffee, juice, and my requisite Old Guy drugs and vitamin. While standing there munching on the tasty nanny, I thought, "What good are corn silk...an annoyance when shucking corn for a steak-and-on-the-cob dinner...and banana "strings" which have to be pulled off along with the skin?"

Captain Google, one of my alternate egos, learned that corn silk (called Zea mays) can be made into an herbal tea by pouring boiling water over it, letting it steep for 5 minutes, draining, then drinking. The list of things it apparently helps includes: it is a diuretic, helps bladder and kidney problems, water retention and obesity, prostate disorders, bed-wetting, reduces likelihood of kidney stones, PMS, clears boils, and carpal tunnel syndrome. Clearly, with the exception of the last two, it helps the human plumbing system and things connected with it.

Now, those banana "strings" are, according to Chiquita Banana's website, "called Phloem Bundles (pronounced flom). They are part of the system that carries nutrition to all parts of the banana." One thing wrong in this definition..."phloem" is pronounced "flow-em" (I knew that and Dictionary.com backed up my knowledge!!) and are related to xylem of the vegetable team you learned about in 10th grade biology...xylem and phloem. They are the pipeline of nutrients the Lord designed into all sorts of veggies that get stuck in your teeth, like the "strings" of celery. In Bob-bonics (one way to use mnemonics to remember stuff): Xy...lem tings make de good stuff phlo-em up de plant what needs um, Eh?!

Well, I hear the call of walls wanting to be painted and buildings wanting to be opened. It's my Feng Shui Day beginning... Hmmm...that gives a different twist to "In the Beginning..." where the Lord was doing some MAJOR Feng Shui arranging to "make it good"...including corn silk and banana strings!
Got Young Earth praise and worship service?