Bettina Network's Blog - Table Talk at a Bettina Network Home - Page 42

A Guests’ Email re Stock Tips

July 21st, 2009

“Thanks for putting up the blog on stock tips. Otherwise I would not have written this one. Didn’t think it was anything of interest to your blog readers.

At breakfast at a Bettina home we had a great conversation about the stock market and the tip I picked up was SIRI – Sirius Radio. The general consensus was that SIRI would be a great stock to own over August-September. I hope so because I bought some at $ .425 and am hoping for a quick double. I did a lot of work researching before I bought it and found it had moved from about 16 cents to over 40 cents in a few months. My concern is that it is below the $1.00 requirement of the board so it is a bit risky if it doesn’t make that nice move. I also discovered that the board voted to do a reverse split only I don’t know who would decide if that vote should be implemented.
I put in money I could lose so I wouldn’t suggest anyone follow my actions with their serious money.
Breakfast in the Bettina home where I stayed was a great experience. It reminded me of the way private men’s clubs – which I used to belong to – functioned at mealtime. In this home it was roughly equivalent to the “open table” where members would sit if they were alone at mealtime at the club. More deals were made at the open table than I could reiterate in a month of Sundays.
Thanks for such a great concept in a way to travel.
A devoted guest who will return.
correspondence dated 7/4/2009
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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE try www.bettina-network.com

 

A Book on the Internet

July 2nd, 2009

I’ve kept up with Bettina’s Blog because of your strong interest in organic foods.

I looked for a long time for a book that hasn’t been available in book stores, house sales, nor have I found it after looking for several years.
Amazingly, I found it on the internet and it is well worth reading.
Try www.whale.to/a/wiley_b.html
The book is “The History of A Crime Against the Food Law”
the amazing story of the National food and drugs law
intended to protect the health of the people.
Perverted to Protect Adulteration of Foods and Drugs.
The author is Dr. Harvey W. Wiley.
The entire book is on the internet. It is an amazing book. You have to be pretty committed to read the book, but it is something we all need to give some commitment to if we want to stay healthy. It will shock you to find that some things we do routinely are illegal and were verified by the United States Supreme Court as illegal.
Thanks for your blog
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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE try www.bettina-network.com

 

Please Post the Cheesecake Recipe

July 2nd, 2009

I stayed at one of the homes in the Bettina Network in Harvard Square Cambridge and I will always stay there when I travel to the Boston area.

They made a cheese cake which was to die for! I think I ate at least half the cake and I am now too embarrassed to call and ask them for the recipe. Can I get it through you? It had an incredible lemon topping.
Thanks,
P.S. Please don’t put my name out into the public arena.

__________________________________________________

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______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE try www.bettina-network.com

 

 

 

Michael Jackson over Breakfast

June 27th, 2009

copyright 2009 Bettina Network, inc.

There were interesting and highly charged breakfasts the morning after Michael Jackson died. We received the following comments which I thought I would share with you. The comments sound straight forward because the emotion of the moment is missing and we don’t know how to convey that to you, but for those of you who have had breakfast at a Bettina home I am sure you can imagine the energy in the rooms.
“The media is trying really hard to make sure Michael Jackson’s legacy will be as besmirched and ugly as possible. Would you consider that to be racist?”
“The talk all over the media is a claim that Michael Jackson was addicted to prescription drugs. Some television channels even listed drugs to which they claim he was addicted. It is my understanding that for this come-back tour he had to have insurance and that included very grueling medical exams and he passed with flying colors. I haven’t heard that from any of the media reports. If he was addicted to drugs of any kind he would not have been able to pass the insurance health exam. That has gotten lost in the media’s gang rape of Michael Jacksons’ reputation.” (That was, we believe, February, 2009)
“I didn’t notice before how all the panels on these television stations are composed of Whites only. It is beyond bizarre in 2009 to hear a White panel trashing a Black man who has achieved to the level Michael Jackson has reached. I hear these panels all the time and they haven’t bothered me before. Being White I guess a White panel seems normal. During the reporting on Michael Jacksons death with the panels giving their commentary, the realization that they are all White all the time – it was like cold water in my face. That in itself is unbelievable racism.”
“Michael Jackson, in death as in life, has been turned into a negative black stereotype. Even Barbara Walters had to comment on his style of dress. Hearing her comment on his dress style made me wonder why the style of dress one wears is so important for acceptance in this society. We dress in a Northern European style. If you go back several generations, you will see the dress we consider “normal” is handed down and changed, but you can follows its straight line inheritance from our Northern European ancestors. It is a cultural dress style from the old country. If you don’t follow that dress code and if you see yourself in any other light you are really badly trashed. I always liked to see Michael Jackson’s style. It was his style and not a slavish holding to a particular culture’s style of dress that I found refreshing – so all of these media people crapping about him for how he dressed, that is horrible. For his dress style he has been called lots of ugly names.”
“What I got out of all the media coverage was the fact that he integrated MTV and was responsible for clearing the racism out of the way so many Black artists would have a chance. I wasn’t into MTV or its music so I missed that. I’ve heard him sing and my children have all of his CD’s, but the fact that he had to break down strong and determined racial barriers didn’t hit me until I started hearing about his amazing accomplishments.”
“Michael Jackson was a good friend to many and had many very good friends. More than I will ever have in my lifetime, yet the media is constantly talking about this “lonely” man. How can a man be totally lonely with the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Quincy Adams, Diana Ross, Liza Minelli and on and on and on, all of whom have clearly been there for him. Friends, not acquaintances or fellow entertainers, but honest to goodness friends. No one even mentioned the really good solid friendships he has crossing the generational and racial divide.”
“I guess our media runs in a pact – follow the leaders lead, so to speak, or read what’s on a prompter written by someone else. You are reading it not because of your journalistic skills, but because of your physical appearance. How do you expect any of these journalists to do good, accurate reporting. That isn’t what our media is about anymore.”
“I’ve heard a lot about how Michael Jackson died broke, was spiraling down and was rescued from pennylessness by a great White firm. That was an amazing thing to say of a man who owns, in partnership with Sony, the rights to music valued at over one billion dollars. I also heard how his creditors were after him and he was living in this huge mansion which was way beyond his means. That was amazing since I heard before, when there were reports about this comeback tour, that the AEG people were picking up the cost of the mansion so Michael was living large without putting out a penny. That is something this society lifts up as a sign of knowing the system and being a shrewd negotiator, except in the case of an African American who has so totally outgrown his stereotype. “
“The stories about Michael’s abusive and dysfunctional family and how Michael had no childhood are out in fairy tale land. Those stories come from the claim that his father beat him, was abusive to him and stole his childhood – why – because he insisted that his children prepare themselves to be somebody. I remember, in counterposition to that, the interviews I’ve heard from Barry Gordy who knew the family right out of Gary Indiana. In those interviews Mr. Gordy talked about how well behaved the Jackson children were – how well mannered they were – how he could work with them without having to deal with discipline problems. It also struck me, as the media almost without exception, talked about how Michael was robbed of his childhood. That is probably a true statement. But what needs to be added is how and why he was robbed of his childhood. By his father? Or by a society who consigned a very talented African American family to a 30 by 30 foot house in the industrial town of Gary, Indiana for them to become what – on welfare, problems in school, poor readers, no future beyond what society would give them? These media people talked about how he missed being involved with Little League, football, basketball, all the toys of childhood. What kind of life and particularly what kind of childhood would Michael and his siblings have had if their parents hadn’t worked hard with them to insure that their talents were developed and appreciated. What if their parents hadn’t put them on the road to having whatever they wanted in this life? What kind of childhood would Michael Jackson and his siblings have had confined to an approximately 900 square foot house with very little money and no ability to be involved in middle to upper middle class American life and society? They certainly would not have had the childhood the media claims Michael Jackson missed! So exactly what childhood did Michael Jackson miss? The drugs they could be on are far more potent than any prescription drugs – and how would they have paid for their habit?”
“How Michael Jackson’s parents raised their children is something for which they should be honored, but in a racist society they won’t be because that is not supposed to be what happens to little African American children. Michael Jackson’s parents, especially his father, saw the musical talent in his children and did everything he could – from his resources and history – to make sure they had the opportunity to express themselves and to understand how to make a substantial living for themselves. No one expected them to be perfect – except those who only accept African Americans if they are perfect……… this society will never forgive Michael Jacksons parents for having raised such beautiful children and for having prepared them so completely to overcome their Gary, Indiana beginnings and find another way through life. “
“Michael’s childhood – as a talented musician – was spent working with, in the company of, playing with Barry Gordy, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, etc. etc. etc. The childhood most kids can’t even dream of. It is amazing to look at that history, at that childhood and trash the parents.”
My conclusion: I think racism and the white anger which goes with it, are alive and well and parading around this country on all of its media outlets for the world to see. The media coverage of Michael Jackson certainly shows the jealousy and racial hatred we still harbor.
From my observation, Michael went over the top when he bought the rights to the Beetles music. From that time on he was too big and the cutting him down had to start. I’ve watched African Americans being destroyed over my entire lifetime. If you achieve greatness you will be cut down and that is now happening to Michael and has been happening for many years. You very seldom hear of his achievements, but you hear a lot of negative, racist adjectives being used to describe him. “Whacko Jacko” is the one heard most often. And its accurate. He is an African American who transcended his race and turned around to encourage the rest of us to do the same and that is a real “Whacko” idea in this society for which you pay dearly. He is being compared to Elvis Presley and Anna Nichole. I think he has more in common with Billie Holiday, Martin Luther King, Jr, and many more in that line. Do you remember or did you know about the song Billie Holiday sang – after which she was trashed big time and she couldn’t handle the trashing – “Strange Fruit” – look it up and its history.
My grandfather had the skin disease that Michael Jackson had which turned his skin from dark brown to white. I watched my grandfather for years as he changed colors. His hands went first – and they became white – not light brown nor high yellow, but white. It went up his neck and began to show in patches in his face.
I remember going to summer camp in Oklahoma and listening around the campfire as young white teenagers talked about intermarriage. If you intermarry and have children they will come out spotted. I didn’t know what they were talking about until someone elaborated and I realized they were talking about a skin disease which has nothing to do with intermarriage. Somebody – some media – some groups – some relatives had put that idea into their heads so strongly they didn’t want to and couldn’t give it up. It was a part of their identity as White and a barrier their friends and family had thrown up to keep them from intermarrying and it worked. They defended racist nonsense as though it was fact.
I heard Geraldo talk on Fox News about Michael Jackson wanting to be white. I heard others saying the same thing. Pictures were thrown up showing Michael Jacksons color change. Nothing was added about his skin problems. That would have negated the boost to White identity that many got from claiming that this hugely successful African American, who in spite of all he had accomplished simply wanted to be White. I heard about all of his plastic surgery, but no one added the other side – the fire which singed Michael Jacksons hair while he was doing a Pepsi commercial; nor of the plastic surgery he had to have after that event. No one cared! It was too good an opportunity to parade out the old racist adage – “they want to be White” than to be even handed in your news coverage. If you veer away from a very negative black stereotype you are classed under those who want to be white. And then you are badly trashed some more. The only context in which we talk about this is in the context of Black students trashing other Black students for ‘wanting to be White’ because they are studious are doing well in life, etc. The real place from which that accusation comes is never put out there for all to see. It comes from a White racist society which needs to keep its identity as White and better than and superior to in tact and this is one way of doing that.
Michael’s children will be forever trashed because they are a living reminder, which won’t go away of mixed children. And goodness me, they are mixed children who look White! Black and White all mixed up together and right out there for all to see that the mixture can produce very White looking offspring. Half-White and Half-Black children are fine as long as they look African American without any confusion. Michael’s children are a huge threat to a racist society.
Now that Michael is dead, his children won’t be left alone. They will be harrassed, insulted, talked about and they will have to find it in themselves to walk through that fire and keep close inside a clear understanding that those experiences are racist and the problem of the person putting it out not their problem. They are free and clear and represent what could be in this society if we could break free from the awfulness that envelops a whole lot of us.
I read one media persons statements about how Michael Jacksons children were going to be evicted from their big house. It was so sad to see in that writing how ugly, how jealous, how vicious and racist the writer was and how she could not escape the racism that is deep within her soul, which she clearly showed to all who read her writings.
Thank you Michael Jackson, wherever you are. You have opened the door a little wider and raised a mirror so we could all look at our reflections and think about just who we are and how we’ve become so ugly, so vicious, so unable to see the good, the love, the gifts you have given to us all. May your eternity be filled with total joy and you hear the prayers being offered up for you today, tomorrow and always from those of us who appreciate what you have done and what you have sacrificed for us all. Thank you God for the life of Michael Jackson!!!! May we remember his work, his capacity to love, the work he did relieving the world of some of its racism and thank you for his humility in a life in which he could have been the most arrogant of men.
And to Lisa Marie Pressley – since you couldn’t say in public, while Michael Jackson was alive and needed you to make those statements, that you loved Michael Jackson and he loved you which is why you married, I think it is way too late to say it now. Keep that to yourself and deal with your failings!
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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE try www.bettina-network.com

 

 

 

Stock Market Action at Breakfast

June 15th, 2009

A guests response to a Bettina Breakfast

Hi Bettina People:
I stayed in one of your homes a couple months ago and enjoyed it thoroughly. The guest questionnaire is great, but I thought this note of thanks, in addition, was really needed. We had great breakfasts every morning, but one particular morning helped us financially.
We had a very lively conversation about the economy. I mentioned how much money my wife and I lost in the stock market. The immediate response was – Madoff? But no we just lost a lot of money! A great conversation ensued in which I wrote down two stocks – Ivan and Ivn – to look up when I got home. It was a hilarious conversation as well as lots of input as to what’s happening in the economy.
Long story short – I didn’t look up the stocks, I did buy them and they have now doubled so our trip was paid for and then some by this tip at breakfast. Wish all my days were like that. Needless to say I have become a Bettina fan. My next trip is to Washington, D. C. and I will call you to make reservations for a home in D. C. Who knows, maybe I will find another great stock tip waiting. (I know that won’t happen, but it was such a shot in the arm for us after mourning for so long over our lost money and not expecting to find such a boost at a bed & breakfast.) Thanks!! Keep up the good work!!!
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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE try www.bettina-network.com

 

 

Tidbits from A Scattering Sale

June 15th, 2009

copyright 2009 The Bettina Network, inc.

So many wonderful and not so wonderful things happen at a “Scattering Sale.” We would like to share with you a few things that happened at the last sale. Our common humanity, good-bad-and indifferent, shines through!
We took this sale in spite of the fact that the water had been shut off. This was a first for us and we weren’t sure what would happen, but – nothing ventured, nothing gained. We knew a little of the life of the young woman whose estate we were asked to scatter and decided this was something we wanted to do to be a part of her ending history.
Within minutes of arriving at the house to set up for the sale, a neighbor came over with her hose and an invitation for us to use her bathroom anytime we needed to. She gave us the key to her house since she was going off to work and didn’t want us left in a bad position. That was wonderful and totally unexpected. Our biggest concern was laid to rest. She wanted to put the hose through the window so we would have water. We demurely declined because we didn’t know how we could use the hose without wrecking the house and everything therein.
Her reason for being so generous? She remembered the time when the woman who owned the house we were selling had water and they had none. Her water was off and this person (now deceased) offered to let her use her hose and bathroom. She wanted to return the favor.
The entire weekend went like that. We realized that future sales would rise or fall on how the person whose estate we were liquidating lived their lives. That is a scary and a great thought!
The most traumatic moment of the sale was finding a wig which our host had worn during her cancer treatments. When we took the wig out of its box, one person at the sale lost control and had to go outside to gain her composure. It was very emotional for her because she knew the owner of the wig and they had many jokes they shared about with wig and without wig. While she was out recovering from the emotions brought up by the wig, a neighbor was delighted to have found it and wanted to buy the wig for her elderly mother, who she knew would absolutely enjoy this new addition to her wardrobe. Joy and sorrow in a few short moments. We decided the wig should not be sold so we gave it away and the delight at that went to a much higher level.
A man and his 12 year old daughter came by. The daughter was wise beyond her years and her parents had schooled her well in the art of estate sales. She jumped right in, found items she wanted and bargained for them like a pro. Having put away her stash of really fun items, much to our amazement, she turned around and started to help us work the sale. She stayed quite a while. We enjoyed her company and she clearly enjoyed working at an estate sale so we think we’ve found another person to add to those we call on for help from time to time. Her pay for her time – a make-up bag with lots of lipsticks, eyeliners, eyeshadow, eyelash brushes, etc. which she couldn’t buy, but she could get past her parental inspectors if it was a gift. Can you imagine the fun she had with that bag.
Part Two of “A Scattering Sale” happens two days after the sale ends. We send out e-mails to everyone who bought something inviting them back to help us clear and clean the house and in the process to take with them whatever they saw and wanted – at no charge. That is a popular time and the time when we make many new friends. It never ceases to amaze me the new purpose to which people can put the most useless looking items. Before the day ended we had a new infusion of imagination which carried us for a couple weeks. It is so much fun to take something – for free – which looked as though it was at the end of its life and find a new use for it. That happened over and over again.
There is always a downer to the “free” part of the “Scattering Sale”. In this case it was my forgetfulness in putting my camera down without thinking that there was nothing to distinguish it from what was truly being given away and not realizing until the end of the day that someone picked up and walked off with the camera and all the pictures from the sale which we normally use to make a scrapbook for the family. A lesson learned – leave pocketbook, camera and any other items not being given away, locked away. It wasn’t stolen since everything in the house was free to whoever had a use for it and there was no sign on the camera to say it was already taken and we were encouraging everyone to “take, take” – “can you sweep out the garage”, “can you pick up the basement”, “can you help this person get their items home”, “thank you for bringing us that iced tea, it was great and really needed”, and so the camera got lost in the shuffle.
The biggest treat of all – the samosas a neighbor made for us with a sauce that still has my tongue burning. Exhausted and sitting on the outside stoop wondering where we were going to get the energy to even get up, in comes one of the neighbors with these hot samosas which were a new taste for us and they were good to the last crumb. Once we’ve had a chance to test the recipe we will share it with you. We know it is a healthy addition to your food list because it contained much cabbage.
________________________________________________________

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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE try www.bettina-network.com

 

Dessert Breadsticks from a Reader

June 12th, 2009
What follows was sent to us by a bed & breakfast guest in response to the recipe for “Dessert Breadsticks”

“Thank you for this wonderful recipe and its story. I used to take my grandchildren to tea every Saturday afternoon and they loved it. After trying your recipe I have an alternate suggestion: with my Asian background I find I am not really into cinnamon, so I used your “Dessert Breadsticks” recipe with a mixture of nutmeg and sugar. I found that much more to my taste. Perhaps some people might like to mix the cinnamon and nutmeg, but first try it with just nutmeg and sugar.

I have been intrigued by your insistence on all things organic. I wasn’t there yet until I tried these breadsticks with organic sugar. They were great! I didn’t want to change to all things organic because I didn’t want to pay the higher price. Since we use very little sugar and these breadsticks were to be a treat for my now grown grandchildren, I opted for organic sugar and I don’t think I will ever go back. I looked at the two side by side on my kitchen table and wondered why I ever ate the white stuff in the first place. It just looks unhealthy. Thanks for all of your efforts, they are much appreciated. Keep up the good work.”
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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE try www.bettina-network.com

 

The Bettina Network, Inc’s Expanding

June 11th, 2009

copyright 2009 The Bettina Network, inc.

We are expanding our business to include Estate Sales and Liquidations.  It is a business which helps us move one step further into vertical integration.
Several people involved with the Bettina Network have had much experience with antiques, estate sales and related matters, some for over 40 years, so this should be a great time for all.
The sales will be held all over the country depending upon who contacts us and whose estates we agree to liquidate.  To find out what is happening in this regard Bettina’s Sales will be listed on the website under an “Estate Sale” category.
Much of what we sell will be via silent auction.  There are some items – antique and otherwise – where you really don’t have a fair retail value so we will let the market decide.
You can shop either at the home where the sale is being held or you can shop via the internet. If you have the winning bid and are not in the same city we will mail your purchases to you.
Unlike many antique auctions, which take place at a definite time and place, the silent auction allows you time to look over the items being sold; to think about whether this is something you would really like to own; it gives you time to do a little research as to the items history and value; and then it gives you time to put in a bid.  You can even reconsider and come back with a higher bid if your best friend slipped in a bid behind your back.
You will be able to register on the Bettina Network’s web site to receive notice of new sales as they open and you will be able to register to bid.
The items in each sale are unique to that sale.  In other words, the Bettina Sales will not be a travelling antique shop.  For each item you purchase you will receive as much information as we have about the item – its provenance, in other words – even if it is a shop tool from Home Depot.  (Who knows what they will be worth to the next generation).
There will be a permanent ongoing sale as a part of the Bettina Network Sales web site which is for items we have been asked to sell outside of any particular estate or house sale.  There are people who have only a few very lovely items they want to sell, we will be open to selling those items in a special place, not as a part of any person’s estate sale.
There are three categories of sales:
1.  “A Scattering Sale” – A sale which offers the contents of the home of someone who has died and whose family wants their things “scattered” to those who will help bring closure to that person’s life and to those who may find some use for those “things” left behind.  It is always interesting to see and sell the “things” with which we surround ourselves to make life more interesting and comfortable.   A “Scattering Sale” is also a treasure trove of ideas on how to live with and use “things”  and very unique decorating ideas.  Come for the sale or come to look around for ideas.  Where a person has left favorite recipes, sayings to live by, etc. we will share those with you.
A “Scattering Sale” generally includes those things purchased to use, rather than collected for investment purposes.  It can also include items inherited from family over the years and gifts from friends.  They almost always include wardrobes from many decades and books by the gross.  It could include automobiles, houses, etc., the entire estate.
The other two categories go upscale with the third being rare and beautiful antiques, art, and very unusual items.  Needless to say, the prices accelerate with the level of sale.
So many truly beautiful things happen at these sales we thought we would include a story or two from the sales on the Bettina’s Blog for you.  If they get to be too many we will probably break this off and create a separate blog for the sale stories.
Payment at the sales is by cash, check or credit card and we accept MasterCard, Visa, American Express and Discover Card.
Hope to see you at one of the sales.  If you want to come and help to be a part of the action, let us know and we will include you in a particular sales staff.  We need sales people, display people, artists, photographers, clean-up crew and more.
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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

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Who is that woman on the Harley?

June 3rd, 2009

copyright 2009 The Bettina Network, inc.

Marceline Donaldson
It’s my GRANDMOTHER?
At age 15 I took my first and, until now, last ride on a motorcycle after Church one Sunday when a friend offered me a ride on his Harley.  My grandmother heard about it before I returned from a ride around the block and that was the end of my motorcycle career.
She must have put a great fear in me because I didn’t even think of riding a motorcycle until recently when we had two guests – a mother and daughter – who are great Harley fans and ride frequently.  So, of course, I have to try this – my grandmother died twenty years ago.  More later as my experience grows!!!!!
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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

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Bread Sticks Dessert for Breakfast

June 3rd, 2009

copyright 2009 The Bettina Network, Inc.

These breakfast bread sticks are a really terrific after breakfast dessert which can be ‘knoshed’ on all day.
We discovered the recipe while having afternoon tea at Young Quinlan & Co., an elegant store in Minneapolis which, unfortunately, has been closed for a few decades.  It was a great place to shop when my children were small because bribing them with tea at Young Quinlan kept them behaving like little angels.
(If you have a picture of the store, please send it and we will put it at the top of this blog.  It deserves recognition and its place in our history. It is so sad that those kind of stores are moving fast into oblivion.  I remember Keller Zander, Godchaux’ and many more from my childhood.  They belong to my mind’s special “good” memory section because they all had something which allowed you to shop with your children and they would behave beautifully waiting for the store’s treat.  My grandmother took me all over town and I was glad to go to some boring places because of the treat waiting at the end.  I learned manners in the process because that special treat place always required good manners before and during whatever they offered, but it was always worth the effort.  And the treat was not a chance to pick one thing out of a bowl full of over-sugared lollipops or their equivalent.
My daughters would go with me to Minneapolis Symphony concerts because after the concert there was a treat with a symphony name waiting for them at the restaurant they saw featured on the Mary Tyler Moore Show – the one in back of the elevator on which she threw up her hat. They could sit overlooking the elevator, eating perfectly wicked food and feel really special.)
For the dessert breadsticks you will need:
A loaf of sliced organic bread – or your own home-baked bread sliced.  Your own home-baked bread is preferable, because it increases the great taste of these bread sticks and you can decide how thin or thick you want the bread sticks, which is great control for you to exercise.
lots of organic butter
organic sugar and cinnamon mixed together.  More of one or the other depending upon your taste buds.  Yes, our recipes require you to make choices instead of blindly following what other people tell you to do.  Close your eyes and taste and see where that leads you.  Probably into all kind of new things, new ideas, new life.
Start this recipe by melting a stick of butter (you will probably need more butter as you go along, but your inner health mechanism, activated by all the misleading marketing and public relations efforts against real butter, will go into high gear and you won’t enjoy the bread sticks as much if you start by melting a pound of butter all at once.)
next – you have an option – either cut off the crust of the bread for daintier breadsticks, or leave it on and cut each slice of bread into three long pieces.  For this dish, I personally prefer the bread cut into a rectangle with the crust removed because then I can look forward to letting the crust of the bread go stale to be used for “Pauli Murray’s Bread Pudding” found on this blog.
Dip each one of these “sticks” into the butter and coat it thoroughly.  Then drag it through the mixture of organic sugar and cinnamon.
Put the coated bread sticks on a steel or glass baking sheet, which has been buttered, so they don’t stick to the bottom (yes, yes, just get over your butter problem – anything organic from a cow which has been fed with organic feed and let roam in the sun in a pasture with good organically grown grass – is good for you.  All those experiments have been done with meat and milk from cows that have been shot full of antibiotics, pesticides and goodness knows what else – so is the health problem all the “extras” or the meat and milk from the cow?  WOW! Oprah – look at me, now that’s how to win over the cow people and the cow lobbyists.  All of you cow jocks, to thank me,  just send the check to the Bettina Network Foundation, Inc. and we will put it to good use.)
Bake for a long time at 225 degrees – a very low oven.  We bake for about 40 minutes.  You can bake longer or shorter times as your taste buds demand harder or softer breadsticks.  These are not good soft, they must be fairly stiff to really enjoy the combination of the butter and the cinnamon/sugar coating.
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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

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Divining at Breakfast

May 28th, 2009
by Marceline Donaldson
copyrighted to Marceline Donaldson 2009

We had a really fun and interesting breakfast a few days ago.  We had the opportunity to watch one of our guests use a V shaped tree branch in the dining room to find water.  She walked around with the divining rod, which she broke off the cherry tree in the back yard.

It was an amazing happening!  She has promised to write something for Bettina’s Blog on water divining – if I am calling it the right thing – so you can all share in the process.
We thought her divining rod would point to the Charles River.  Instead it led her to the front door and pointed definitely down just before getting to the door.  We didn’t understand why this divining rod would point to water at the front door until someone realized that water comes into the house exactly under the spot where the divining rod turned down.
I tried it, but it didn’t work for me –  I have been practicing since and hope to get this perfected in the not too distant future.  In the meantime, the old lady you see walking around with a v- shaped tree branch, followed by a trail of squirrels – that will be me!
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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

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Bettina’s Box of Shame

April 21st, 2009

 

copyright The Bettina Network, inc. 2009

Bettina’s Box of Shame is for those who violate their own propaganda and policies and whose violations hurt the rest of us.  Three times in “Bettina’s Box of Shame” lands you on “Bettina’s Hall of Shame.”

Earning its way into “Bettina’s Box of Shame” today is WHOLE FOODS MARKET.
Imagine our surprise, while shopping and looking for frozen, organic spinach we find Whole Foods only carries its own brand and the product comes from CHINA.  When we saw that we totally understood why the Federal Trade Commission sued Whole Foods to keep them from buying Wild Oats Company because they (the FTC) claimed it would be negative and a major loss for smaller organic foods companies because Whole Foods would replace them, as much as possible, with its own brand to the detriment of the organic foods industry.
Sure enough, here we have the beginnings of the truth of the Federal Trade Commissions logic.
It was a shocker to see the only frozen organic spinach in the refrigerated cases at Whole Foods was its own brand and ALL OF IT FROM CHINA.  That was quite a juxtaposition against their many signs around the store about knowing your farm and farmer – buying local – etc.
Given all the problems we have read about lately from China made me leave the frozen organic spinach on the shelf and buy it from another store where they carried frozen organic spinach from several companies as a “product of U.S.A.” giving me a choice including one from American farms not far from my home.
Keep that up WHOLE FOODS and not only will small American organic food companies be replaced, but so will organic products from large American Companies.
SHAME!! SHAME!! SHAME ON YOU WHOLE FOODS!!!
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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE try www.bettina-network.com

 

LIFE

April 21st, 2009

copyright The Bettina Network, inc. 2009

The part of the journey we call life is a movement through time.
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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

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Nuller and VanSlyck in Concert

April 2nd, 2009

copyright by Bettina Network 2009                       New School of Music

Sunday, March 29, 2009 at 3pm                              25 Lowell Street
                                                                                      Cambridge, MA. 02138
                                                                                      617 492 8105
                                                                                      www.newschoolofmusic.org
Margarita Nuller, a graduate of St. Petersburg Conservatory, Russia and Trudi Van Slyck, co-founder of the New School of Music, played an amazing concert.  It was a concert you want to retain in your memory and replay many times.
Some comments from guests on hearing Nuller play “it was like listening to Rachmaninoff”, I wonder if others (in the audience) know the incredible virtuoso they are hearing,” “it is rare to hear such a performance.”
The order of the program was genius.  In the middle of the program Trudi Van Slyck played ‘Wintertime I and II by Robt. Shumann, following which Van Slyck and Nuller played a two piano piece by Nicholas Van Slyck entitled “Winter-Time” for two pianos (in memoriam, Robt. Shumann).  It was an especially powerful moment when you knew that Trudi Van Slyck is the widow of Nicholas Van Slyck, the composer.  In addition, it was powerfully played.
Nuller’s Beethoven Sonata in Eb Major, Op. 27 #1 is rarely heard at the level at which she played.  Her interpretation seemed to come from the fact that she had totally internalized the piece.  It was not the loud, overreaching, rushing to the end interpretation that one gets used to, it was played so that you knew and felt why Beethoven is such a giant.
My favorite was the Chopin “Sonata in B minor, Op. 58” – a piece I’ve loved since childhood.  To hear it played with such technical perfection and beauty at the same time was an experience I won’t soon forget.
When the audience had eaten and left and only a handful of us remained, the treat of the evening was an encore Ms. Nuller played from Franz Liszt.  A piece you won’t hear often because it is one of the virtuoso pieces Liszt wrote knowing that only a few would be able to play it.  Nuller played it to perfection and note perfect.
All in all a wonderful afternoon and evening of truly exceptional music.
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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

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Lipstick

March 21st, 2009

Sent to us in an email from Dr. Robert Perry ON 3/20/2009:

THIS BLOG HAS BEEN TAKEN DOWN – EITHER TEMPORARILY, PERMANENTLY OR WILL BE REPLACED WITH OTHER INFORMATION!
We received an email from a reader who said the following “There is no such doctor at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital – this has been debunked over and over.  This has been circulating since May 2003 and just keeps going and going like that dumb bunny.  Each time it shows up, someone changes the doctor’s name or hospital but if you Google and doctors’ name you will get lots of hits.”
We thank the reader for drawing this to our attention.  The email on lipstick was sent to us by a medical doctor who is well known and has practiced medicine for many years.  It is also from someone who we have known for many years so we were confident of his information. Because of this new information from a reader, we have hired a consultant to research the issue of Lipstick and Lead and have taken the blog out of line until this research is complete.  We want to make sure we have the best possible information because we are discovering that many people read Bettina’s Blog and as my grandmother used to say – the only thing you have in the end is your character and we want to keep ours in the best possible shape.
Thank you for  reading – and for your emails.  They help to keep us going.  As soon as we can we will return with whatever information is found on this issue.
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Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

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Foot Health and Comfort

March 17th, 2009

copyright by The Bettina Network, inc. 2009

On Patriot’s Day week-end in the Harvard Square area, during the time of the Boston Marathon, one of our homes generally fills with guests from Canada.
Several years ago one of these guests gave us a ‘tip’ which he uses to get through the 26 miles of the Marathon.  We have used his ‘tip’ since then to be comfortable during shopping trips of shorter duration.
He puts cayenne pepper in his shoes before going out to run.  We put cayenne pepper in our shoes before we put them on and our stamina has increased many times over.  Our feet, which would begin to hurt early-on as we shopped, or walked, or ironed or just used them for more than 1/2 hour are now wonderful.  We can go for quite awhile feeling generally refreshed without wishing we could ditch our shoes.
Try it – and give us your feedback!
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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

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A Reader’s Ginger Tea

March 12th, 2009

Thank you for a wonderful blog!  I look forward to reading your new entries.

This tea is one I have made for years and enjoy immensely.  I hope your readers have the same experience.
Use – of course, I wouldn’t defile your blog by suggesting anything other than “organic ginger root’.  A pot that holds the ’25 cups’ you suggested in another blog is a good size for this.  I don’t take the fancy route – I make the tea in a large stainless steel pot and put the pot in the refrigerator when its finished.  Somehow, having stayed at one of your homes, I don’t think my stainless steel pot is going to gain me any followers and you folks would probably rather do this in a glass pot, but this is how I make the tea.
Use about three large pieces of organic ginger root.  You can use more or less depending upon whether you want a stronger or weaker ginger taste.  Slice them into fairly thin slices – although not too thin –  and put them in the pot full of water.  Put this on the stove with a tight cover and let it boil for a couple hours.  When finished boiling, have a cup of tea and put the rest of the pot in the refrigerator.  As you would like more tea – dip out a cup, heat it on the stove and enjoy until the pot runs dry.
Some people – southern people – will probably like this tea better with sugar.  (Organic sugar only, or with a little honey – I like Tupelo Honey).  Others – northern people – will probably like this tea better without sugar.
Leave the ginger in the pot until it is empty, then spread the ginger on a baking sheet, sprinkle with sugar and put it in the oven for 45 minutes or so and you can enjoy your leftovers as crystallized ginger.
Hope this is good payment for the enjoyment I’ve had reading your blogs.
Please don’t put my name on this – I like my privacy.
Thanks,
3/17/2009
FROM THE ONE WHO HOLDS THIS BLOG TOGETHER:  Thanks to the reader for a wonderful tea and a great comfort during the winter months.  We received this note in November and have tried it many times before putting it in the blog.  It is fantastic.  There is nothing like the ‘heat’ of this tea to make the winter cold go away.  We tried it in a glass container with a spout on the end to be able to go into the refrigerator to turn the spout and get a cup of tea, but we couldn’t get it to work well, especially when we wanted to heat up several cups of tea.  We were in the refrigerator with the door open for too long waiting for enough tea to be poured, so we relented and have a large, ugly, stainless steel pot in the refrigerator from which we regularly dip out cups of tea for ourselves and for guests. 
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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE try www.bettina-network.com

 

SNERT or "Erwtensoep" – A Breakfast Soupp*

February 27th, 2009
copyright 2009 The Bettina Network, inc.
The National Dish of the Netherlands!!

We have many guests from the Netherlands visiting several of the Bettina Network homes.  They have left an unmistakable mark on breakfast.

Snert has become a popular and much requested breakfast at the Bettina Network.  So, we put our heads together, shared the different ways we’ve made Snert,  adjusted for comments and suggestions from our Netherland guests and have come up with “Snert By Committee”, a successful bed & breakfast morning treat.
Ingredients:
         pork short ribs                      two onions                            six garlic cloves
         andouille sausage                 one green pepper                  one celery root
         frankfurters                         four celery stalks                   sea salt & cayenne pepper
In a large pot of water (average pot for us is 25 cups) boil three large pork short ribs until they are tender – falling apart tender!  This could take from 45 minute to 1 1/2 hours.
Take the ORGANIC short ribs out of the water and add four or more cups of dried green peas – according to your taste.  If you like stronger tasting pea soupp*, use more.  If you like a weaker more watery soupp* use less.
Put aside two onions, about 4 stalks celery, one green pepper, a celery root which has been peeled and cut into several pieces and six garlic cloves, which you mash before chopping.  Put these through the food processor or cut into very fine pieces and add them to the soupp*.
YES, YES all organic!! No “natural”, “pesticide free”, or whatever other labels are being put on the food you normally buy for less money – make this ORGANIC! If you are going to pay more it should be for the real thing – not a marketing group’s substitute, which they are trying to bring along to move you away from “organic” but have you pay very close to the same price – lining their pockets and attempting to fool your health.  They should beware of Mother Nature, she takes her revenge whenever you violate her laws!!!!  Open your pocketbook – pay more, eat less, but only for the foods that are grown organically.  Otherwise, it is just a way of raising the price of ordinary non-organic food making you think you have something special when the only thing ‘special’ about that ‘natural’ food is the extra money you have to pay for the same thing you bought months before that didn’t have those labels.  If that pig hasn’t been fed an organic diet – leave him in the store!!!!!!!  The same goes for those vegetables – especially the root kind.
Simmer the soupp* for about an hour.
Then add organic sea salt and cayenne pepper to taste.  Let this simmer for 15 minutes to half an hour.
This soupp* is best eaten without the meat added.  If you insist on meat in your soupp* you can shred the pork short ribs, having removed any fat and you might also add either andouille sausage or frankfurters.  The Netherlanders seem to prefer the andouille sausage, while others prefer the frankfurters because they think this makes it ‘more authentic’.  If you use andouille sausage – remember it adds ‘heat’ to the dish, which already has its share of cayenne pepper so be careful with your seasonings.
Simmer for another 1/2 hour after adding the meat and serve with wonderful home baked organically made bread with lots of butter.
You can close your eyes and pretend to be in the Netherlands country side (the ‘pretend’ countryside which you have now conjured up may be the only country left in the Netherlands).
This is one of those rare dishes that is comfort food for lots of people – even some who have never had this dish before.
A NOTE: instead of putting the pork short ribs back into the soupp*, you can make an excellent dinner by spreading a barbecue sauce on the ribs and putting them into the oven for 1/2 hour or so.  Serve this with rice, your favorite vegetable and a salad and you have two meals.
Also notice there is no cornstarch, flour or other thickening agent in this soupp* – it isn’t needed.  If you have leftovers you will find each time you reheat snert it is thicker than it was the last time you heated and ate a little.  The ingredients used naturally thicken this snert.
*soupp – a word coined by the Bettina Network Snert Recipe committee for a breakfast dish that somewhat resembles soup, but has different qualities.
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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE try www.bettina-network.com

 

A New Orleans Review Post Katrina

February 22nd, 2009

copyright by Marceline Donaldson 2009

We receive many notes, cards, telephone calls asking us what is happening in New Orleans and asking me to please write something.  Probably because some of you know New Orleans is home and am I your only real live contact with what is happening there?  Ready or not, this is a response to your requests.
I’ve resisted going home and responding to the questions because it is very painful to know that many of my memories about growing up in New Orleans are now memories detached from actual geographical places and to know that some of my more painful memories about growing up in New Orleans now have a verifiable history which cannot be denied.  Looking closely at what happened via Katrina has caused a lot of introspection, retrospection and just plain grieving.
Finally, I went back and it was as bad as I’d heard.  Friends, family and guests who talked about what they saw and experienced didn’t go far enough to prepare me for what I experienced this past week.
Going back for the funeral of a relative whose end-of-life time was very negatively influenced by what happened to her via the ‘unintended consequences’ after Katrina made it all that much worse.  Added to that are the many people I knew and grew up with who experienced an early, difficult and needlessly painful death without the support of friends or relatives.
Those who have said the ‘Big Easy’ only got what it deserved – God wrecked God’s anger on New Orleans for its transgressions, etc. really haven’t either been to New Orleans or don’t know its history.  They put their uninformed and uneducated spin on this horrendous event.  An event which I hope will remain in our collective consciousnesses for generations.
What I saw in New Orleans was Christ crucified all over again and many times over as the victims, those transgressed against, bore the brunt of and paid the price for the sins of the transgressors, and the transgressions have been many and have been very aggregious.
One part of this human tragedy which connected my teen years to today was the experience I had in the 1950’s working as a receptionist after school at a subdivision being newly built called Pontchartrain Park Homes.  Out in the sticks – so to speak – with nothing around it,  just wild land.  The entire area has since been intensely developed and is an area around which upwardly mobile minorities now live.  All are suffering, in some way, from the devastation of the flood.
I was hired to work at Pontchartrain Park Homes by two white men who were the developers of what is now called by some ‘the village’.  My job was to greet people as they arrived to look at the model homes and make sure they had a salesperson who would follow their interest.
It was great fun for me! My picture was taken many times.  It was put on the marketing materials for the subdivision; it was put on billboards advertising Pontchartrain Park Homes. This was a new day for African Americans – because it was a subdivision for blacks.  The model homes were a dream come true for many ‘colored folk’.  – That was the terminology in those days.  African American was not a term in use and black was considered an insult. It was almost as bad as being called the “N” word today.
It is bitter-sweet to remember my pictures being used, with me in one of my favorite dresses of the time.  Bitter-sweet because I did look cute, but I didn’t get paid a penny for my second part-time job which made me the face of Pontchartrain Park Homes.  What I also didn’t realize was that my picture being all over the place on their literature really put my family’s stamp of approval on the entire project.
Sad to tell, I didn’t expect payment.  In my world at the time, why would anyone pay money to use my picture – money that would have gone far to help pay my college tuition and help my struggling grandmother, who still somehow found the money to send me to New York University.
Money is one of the valuers of what our work is worth and clearly, while my work was worth much to the developers and they saw the benefit of using my picture in some of their marketing and advertising, the habit of taking from minorities and giving nothing in return was the operative factor at that time and in that place.
I heard a lot, being on the front line  – sitting by the front door.  Basically, I heard questions being asked constantly about the wisdom of building homes in a flood plain on a concrete slab in a ranch style in a city prone to hurricanes and possible flooding.  I heard the jokes of the developers talking to friends who raised issues about the ‘safety’ of the project,  commenting on their whereabouts when this project was finished.  They wouldn’t be around in one of those houses.
I heard arguments among families I knew, where one was going to buy a home because it was going to be a really ‘class’ community and such a great place to raise children.  Some in their family didn’t see moving from one flood plain to another flood plain as a move ‘up’. The argument about a better ‘class’ of people, a safer neighborhood, etc. etc. didn’t hold water with one part of a family, while it meant everything to the other.
I saw piles being driven into the ground all over the place and didn’t see any reason for alarm. In my ignorance and naivete, it just seemed to be how new communities were built.  That same ignorance and naivete kept me from understanding a lot of what I was hearing, but my heart kept the conversations.
I didn’t understand why it was desperate and tragic for African Americans and their future generations when the zoning changed and you were able to build such homes in New Orleans. My grandmother’s house was a couple feet off the ground on strong foundations with nothing between the ground and the raised first floor.  I didn’t understand the gasps when neighbors built an apartment on the first floor of their two family houses where before it was illegal to do so.  The driveway, the carport, the patio were what happened on the first floor – all open. Today, older and wiser, we know – open, so in case of a flood the water could rush through without damaging the rest of the house.
The people who built the homes, elevated and open on the bottom, were growing old and dying. The young people were moving out and up and experiencing other cities with ranch-style houses built on the ground; or with homes which used every inch of vertical space for interior living.  Those pushing to change the zoning were once again the people taking advantage of the ignorance, naivete and ego of the young people who were replacing their parents – young people who were not listening to the lessons their parents tried to put in front of them so they could learn from their elders experience and wisdom and so their young people could be saved.  That younger generation cast aside their elders as ‘too old’ and ‘too out of touch’.  That younger generation, had no idea there was another agenda behind all of this change.  None of us knew and all of us are today engaging in denial.
There was and is geographical racism in New Orleans.  In its early days, pre-1850-60-70, New Orleans was as open a city as one could find in these United States.  Open – racially.  That doesn’t deny that racism existed or that slavery happened in New Orleans, but so did integrated neighborhoods and racially mixed marriages – out in the open.  After Plessy v. Ferguson things changed; after Woodrow Wilson segregated Washington, D. C.; after the Federal Government demanded the trains have separate coaches for whites and blacks; after New Orleans began to make sure ‘white’ neighborhoods were the ones on high ground and its ‘colored’  and minority population was in the swamp and the flood plains; after this, the fix was in for the Katrina disaster to begin.
Anytime now Mr. DeMille,  I am ready for my close-up.
to paraphrase Hannah Arendt:  ‘The banality of evil’…..is such that ‘there is an abyss between the actuality of what they did and the’………..intended or unthought through carnagd consequences of those actions.  Or to paraphrase Elie Wiesel, Is ‘it possible to defile life and creation and feel no remorse.  To tend one’s garden and water one’s flowers, but two steps away’…..from your neighbors sufferings, now and for several generations into the future, from the unintended or unthought through carnaged consequences, not of a flood, but of the pre-flood neglect, irresponsibility, racism and sexism of massive proportions, brought home by Katrina, for which we all are partially responsible?
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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE try www.bettina-network.com

 

Coconut Marshmaples

February 21st, 2009

copyright The Bettina Network, inc. 2009

A variation on the Marshmaples for those who like coconut.
Once you have finished mixing the Marshmaples and before you put them into an oblong glass dish, add 1/2 cup shredded organic coconut to the mix and carefully stir until the coconut is dispersed throughout.
Then continue to finish the dish – butter the glass dish; put the Coconut Marshmaples into the dish spreading it so you will have an attractive finished product.
Let it sit several hours (I let it sit at room temperature) until it finishes gelling.  You could let it sit overnight.
Cut the Coconut Marshmaples into squares. I use a very sharp paring knife and it cuts beautifully – cut vertical lines through the Marshmaples and then cut horizontal lines to get your square.  Take each one out carefully and roll each square in shredded coconut.  Put them on a cake plate to sit a few minutes before serving.
Heaven for Coconut lovers!!!!
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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE try www.bettina-network.com

 


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