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Archive for the ‘Guest comments’ Category

A Guest Responds – Popcorn and Mosquitos

Sunday, July 28th, 2013

Thank you for the recipe for an exceptional snack.  I tried it and it was sensational.

I had to make two tries before I got it right. The main problem was keeping the popcorn crisp while adding the simple syrup and the chocolate.  I messed up the first try and had soggy popcorn.  The second try it was perfect.  I let the syrup cool a bit before pouring it over the popcorn.  Hot simple syrup right off the stove is guaranteed to give you a mess.  The same thing with the chocolate.  I added heavy cream to the chocolate chips while melting them, stirred the pot until it was all blended and when cooled a bit, added it on top of the simple syrup and the popcorn.  I think the experience of doing this is actually what made it work the second time.  I was too anxious with my first try and thought I knew it all the first time I made this snack.  The blog read like it would be a snap.  Once you figured out how to keep the popcorn crisp through the entire process and into the eating of this snack, it was a snap.  But until then it was a worry.

When I melted the chocolate chips and poured them over the popcorn, it was a bit stiffer then when I added heavy cream to the chocolate while it was melting.  The chocolate, with heavy cream added did not harden on top of the popcorn, which added to the texture and taste of this fantastic snack.  I suspect whichever way you use the chocolate it will be a matter of personal taste.

The snack lasted about two minutes and I made lots for just three people.

My second comment is about mosquitos.  I’ve read lots this season about what to do to fend off mosquito attacks – from staying inside when its dawn and dusk to all kind of remedies.

One I got from a stay in a Bettina home, which I haven’t found on your blog, worked.  It has been tremendous for me and my children.  Vitamin B1.  We take one Vitamin B1 capsule before going out – about 15 minutes to 1/2 hour before going outside and whether its high sun or dawn or dusk we have had no mosquito bites.  According to the breakfast where I picked up this tip, your skin would smell like mosquito repellant even though the only thing you did was to take this one Vitamin B1 tablet.  Sure enough, my skin smells like mosquito repellant.  When I get that odor I know I am good to go outside for several hours.

Hope this helps someone!

Ed. Note:  The blog recipe the guest is referring to is:  An Incredible Snack – Bettina Style, published May 28, 2013 and can be found categorized in Bettina’s Blog under Bettina’s Cookbook

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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 about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

A Bettina Guest Comments on Zimmerman-Martin

Wednesday, July 17th, 2013

You don’t have to copyright my comment!  It is free to whoever wants to use it.

I’ve been a guest at Bettina homes for many years.  My regret is that I was not at the home in Harvard Square to be a part of the discussions that I know took place over this trial and its verdict.  They have some really unbelievable conversations – especially on race.  So, I have to join the conversation via email.  I understand,as a former guest in the network, my comments are accepted for Bettina Network’s Blog?  If not, let me know.  If yes, I will see it published – except, like most people, please don’t publish my name.  I am not afraid of backing up my comments, I just don’t want anyone to pick up my name and start to harrass me.

My contribution to the conversation comes from listening to the juror.  It was clear racism was deeply embedded in the jury deliberations. In the USA denial is the way racism continues and the way folks are able to go to Church on Sundays and feel good about themselves even when they have participated in some really low-down racism.  They neither own up to nor are they even conscious of their sin.  In this case, I think they were – the tears show some unconscious understanding of what they were doing.  The juror saw Zimmerman very positively and could relate to him.  Martin, however, in her comments, deserved what he got.  How dare a Black man think he could question being stalked and treated in a demeaning way by someone like a Zimmerman.  Afterall, Zimmerman was the neighborhood watch person – Martin was the hoodie wearing ‘punk’ – according to Zimmermans description.  She said, she felt he was fully repentant and would be careful with his gun in the future.  I wonder if that is true – or if he got the taste of celebrity from killing a Black man and will want more?  So he becomes even more reckless and irresponsible with his gun.  There are always two sides and her and the jury’s racism only allowed them to see the side which cast Zimmerman in a positive light and Martin as a stereotype.  Her comments about Martin, as she quoted Zimmerman, were of a man looking in windows and clearly as someone who did not belong in the neighborhood because he was Black.  Has anyone explained to her and the rest of the jury the definition of profiling?  By the way, how could she quote Zimmerman who he did not testify at trial?

If you had any doubts that the Martin-Zimmerman decision was racist,or that the make-up of the jury was crucial to getting Zimmerman exonerated by the State of Florida, her comments erase those doubts.

I think this was a done deal before the trial – and I am not alone in that opinion.  The Department of Justice was considering filing charges against Zimmerman because the State of Florida was refusing to do so (by dragging its feet).  I think when they discovered the DOJ was coming, the State of Florida got its act together and started this trial, but did not intend for it to be a fair trial.  A public show so DOJ didn’t come in to get a conviction after they covered for this neighborhood watch person for almost two months.  To go forth with the kind of jury they picked – and to look at the history of convictions of Blacks in Florida and the refusal of the Florida prosecutors to charge some Blacks under the ‘Stand your Ground’ law – I don’t see how Trayvon Martin could get any kind of justice.  It was a clear stacked deck before the case even started to be tried.

Thanks for the platform!

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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 about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

Please ask your readers to sign the petition

Monday, July 15th, 2013

Thank you for your writings about the Trayvon Martin – George Zimmerman encounter.  It was special and I learned a lot.  You said everything I wanted to say.

The NAACP has a petition on its web site which you can sign asking that the Department of Justice file a case against George Zimmerman, who violated Trayvon Martin’s right to life.

You can sign this petition at

www.naacp.org/page/s/doj-civil-rights-petition

you may have to go back to the site several times because it has been overloaded with people trying to sign the petition. Be persistent – don’t give up – keep going back to the site until you are able to sign the petition.

All of Us At Bettina’s

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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 about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

Martin-Zimmerman and they Followed Historical Patterns

Sunday, July 14th, 2013

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2013

Don’t you know, just about every table talk conversation today is about the Zimmerman/Martin case and practically every sermon in many different denominations and religions includes some reference to it.

This is our contribution to the conversation:

1) George Zimmerman was not tried by a jury of his peers.  Wasn’t it in the 1960’s and 1970’s that lawsuits abounded because Blacks were tried by all-White juries and those law suits proved that the results of such cases had nothing to do with justice and more to do with allowing the racism of the society penetrate and skewer Court decisions?

Lawsuit after Lawsuit proved that and change happened – until now!

How is it then, that a jury of five white women with white children and one minority woman who the press has never identified as to race – sometimes she was Black, sometimes she was Hispanic – is a jury of Zimmermans’ peers.  This decision had nothing to do with justice and this jury did nothing except let the racism and sexism of this society enter the Court system through the front door with a special escort to make sure those twin isms knew where to go.

When one reflects on the fact that the children were White and the women were going to consider this case from the biased perspective not of – what if your child was Black and went to the local grocery store wearing a hoodie or just went to the grocery store in his neighborhood where there was an overzealous, out-of-control neighborhood watch person out there on the street; but what if your child was the White kid named some form of Zimmerman who had to go through a trial because he was doing what he claimed was his job and felt perfectly justified in shooting Trayvon Martin to death after the neighborhood watch person provoked the incident which allowed him to do this huge violence against another human being?

Zimmerman was not charged for 45 days after the fact.  Who said “justice delayed……………”  What happened in those 45 days?  When someone confesses to shooting someone to death, there is an immediate arrest in this system because the evidence is subject to be skewered, disappear, witnesses tampered with and on and on and on.

2) George Zimmernan was a neighborhood watch person.  There were many comments that he was a wannabe policeman, but those comments from the media seemed put out there only to cover the ugly facts of what happened.  Why is a neighborhood watch person in the street in his car watching for ‘trouble’ with a gun?  Was he trained in the use of a gun?  Did he have to make regular trips to the shooting range to make sure he knew how to shoot a gun and his skills were up to where they should be?  Was he ‘fit’ in the way police and other law enforcement officers have to be, in addition to keeping up their skills with their weapons?  Had he been vetted psychologically to know he was able to be responsible with a gun in this neighborhood watch job?  Was he encouraged to carry a gun by law enforcement?  Why was he not immediately removed from this neighborhood watch duty when it was clear he was not sure of his own ability to fight off any possible attack on himself  without the use of a gun?  I didn’t hear any of these questions raised.

Zimmermans’ personality – character – ethics – kept him from following orders from those who knew better and advised him as to what to do.  To ignore those orders, get out of his car to stalk a Black man in a ‘hoodie’ after telling the police who this Black man was using very  negative racist and demeaning terms is a personality, character and ethics exposure. This could not have been the first time this side of Zimmerman was exposed to those who elected him or allowed him to be the neighborhood watch person.  What was their motive to ignore these warning signs and allow him out with his gun.

Zimmerman is a man whose own defense witnesses said could not fight – he was too fat to defend himself in a fist fight on the street.  He couldn’t punch, etc.  He must have been very insecure being a neighborhood watch person – why else was carrying a gun?  He knew his limits and he knew his temper – is that what made him so quick to pull the trigger?  That is a very insecure person who is looking for trouble when he goes out on a job where he is supposed to be simply a neighborhood watch person observing the neighborhood for signs of trouble and if he saw possible problems, his ‘job’ was to alert the police.

With a gun, Zimmerman was not an ‘observer’ who would quickly alert the real police to trouble.   He was someone who was armed and ready and willing to use his weapon at the least provocation. He has shown that is true by his actions against Trayvon Martin.  Zimmerman was ready to use his weapon and to provoke an incident during which he could use his weapon – which he did.  In the Mafia he would be a made man.  In the gang world, he would be welcomed as a member, in the Florida police force ………………?

Has Zimmerman now overcome his half-breedness and is now welcomed into the arms of the majority group?  Is this what it takes for a half-breed to become a full-fledged accepted White Person?  Zimmerman didn’t make it by birth, but he has absolutely shown he is ready to take his place in a racist, sexist, classist system which  is prone to violence against its minorities and is against giving its minorities justice in its court system.  Review cases over the past years and see what you come up with!  When the jury has spoken, justice has been served.  No one commentating on this case has been willing to say other than the jury system has delivered justice.  A jury system has delivered that kind of justice to a whole lot of Black folks over the generations – are we dissembling to take attention away from that fact?  Are we throwing out a red herring to get folks to look in every place except at the truth?

3)  We are all being told the jury has spoken and justice has been served because we are the best nation in the world and our justice system is the best there is!!!!!!!  Tell that to the generations of African Americans who have been through our justice system and have seen results come through like Plessy vs Ferguson and a whole lot more.  I could go on here and take time to list pages of such cases in which the same kind of justice we have just seen is traditional in this country when African Americans are involved.

When has this country’s justice system ever convicted a White man for the murder of a Black man?  And clearly Zimmerman was White.  His mother may have been hispanic or some other kind of minority, but his father was White and that is the determination in this country.  He stands up as a White man and is respected as such.

4) This great system of justice will now reward Zimmerman and he is the man of the hour – he will shortly be the multi-millionaire of the hour as the offers pour in.  I heard talk that his brother may even benefit since the media is talking up how ‘professional’, how ‘well spoken’ is his brother. All we could say is – how self-serving was his brother and how unbelievably horrible in the way he mocked what happened and put himself and his family on that top line where we are the best, most caring people in the world.  A family that has produced a George Zimmerman has lots of problems the brother has not let slip out.

All on the back of Trayvon Martin.  Trayvon Martin’s life was taken so this man can succeed.  Zimmerman followed the book, written over the generations – the racist, ugly names; the provoked violence for which the Black is blamed, the holier than thou attitude at the end, that the Zimmerman family seems schooled in……………….   This name calling and showing the spite and vicious racist attitude the Zimmermans have towards African Americans has been slathered over and will soon be buried deep under everything else.  Just the fact that the arguments in court were around who was the aggressor says the red herring had already been thrown and Zimmerman was a free man.  After Zimmerman started the fight – the court argument takes up at the point where they could picture Martin as the aggressor and all is well – the jury acquits and justice is served.  For who? Certainly not for the African Americans in this country.  This was a case about racial profiling which resulted in the death of an African American and the courts’ have said ‘ justice was served because the African American was the ‘aggressor’ – and now let the real aggressor go free.

5) The aggressor was clearly George Zimmerman.  Trayvon Martin was going home from the store – he was not breaking into a neighborhood where he did not belong, he was going back to his father’s house.  This 17 year old child, who had never been in trouble of any kind, had an exemplary record, was going home and was followed and threatened by one George Zimmerman who then shot and killed him and there was a question in the trial as to who was the aggressor!  Well – who was the African-American!  In this society, in its criminal justice system,  there is no question that in that circumstance the Black man was the aggressor – let the facts be selectively chosen to prove this case – AND THEY WERE.

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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 about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

 

Open That Car Door Wide before Entering

Thursday, July 4th, 2013

copyright 2013 Bettina Network, inc.

We had a guest recently, a frequent visitor from Turkey, who was going with us to an estate sale.  His area of expertise – both education and research – is in materials.

He got to the car door, opened it and stood there for a minute or two.  I wasn’t sure what was causing his hesitation.  I thought maybe he was having second thoughts about going or not, thus his hesitation to get into the car.

When I asked if everything was alright, he said fine, but with the materials they use these days on the inside of cars I hold the car door open a minute or two before getting in because I want to make sure there is an exchange of air before getting into a car.

Wow!  That took some thought.  Hadn’t ever considered off-gases in cars from the materials used in making them as being harmful.  Nor had I ever thought to open the doors and windows before getting in and breathing in all of what would be in the air inside the car.

It has taken a couple weeks, but I am now pretty proficient at opening the car door – waiting a minute or two – and then getting in and going about my business.

It took that long because a lifetime habit of opening the car door, jumping in and going off to wherever is hard to break.  That moment of thoughtfulness had to be programmed into my brain and set as a habit.

I now notice when I get into a car that the air coming in feels fresh – so something was going on before I opened the door that the difference in air would feel so dramatic.  To stay healthy one must always be vigilant and aware of everything going on around us.  The difference these days is with health and lack of health that a few moments over many years in the wrong place can cause.

We pass this along for your consideration and use.  This is just one more good bit of information coming from the experience of bed & breakfast.

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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 about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

Dr. Oz – Breakfast Conversation

Monday, June 24th, 2013

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2013

Considering we are a network which tries hard to be as organic as possible – which means in food, lifestyle, building structures, etc. – it was quite something to be a part of a breakfast conversation which resulted in all saying they were turning off Dr. Oz and his television program and anything he says.

This came from a television program in which he talked about Alzheimer’s and about metals as being looked at as possible causes and naming those metals – iron, zinc, copper – and – another program in which he dissed supplements.

Why did those two things cause so much conversation?  It wasn’t about the organic things he talks about, but by the fact – as this group took it – that he galvanized many who were looking for information on how to live more organically and is now using that group to promote the agenda of the worst of those who brought us to this impasse of much money spent and no results, – or rather, much profits being pocketed by a few who leave the many ill, troubled and in dire circumstances.

Let me summarize the conversation:

It started because of conversation about aluminum and its being one of the possible causes of Alzheimer’s.  We were talking about the fairly controversial Bettina Network blog suggesting that we all give up deodorants and anti-perspirants because they work by clogging our underarm pores with aluminum, etc. – read that blog for more information.  One person let loose because she was fairly angry at Dr. Oz and felt he had led her down the ‘primrose path’ only to misuse her following of his programs to promote himself and get lots of money from the large corporations and big pharma.  She talked about this program in which he attributed the increase in Alzheimer’s to our use of Zinc, Iron and Copper and that he and his invited guests strongly advised that we stop using iron and copper pots and use very little zinc.  Her point was that no one uses copper pots in which to cook foods; iron pots have been used for generations with no increase in Alzheimer’s; and zinc has been great whenever she threatens a cold or other such infection and why was he so intentionally silent on aluminum.

The conversation was heated:  Copper is used on the bottom of pots to make the heat more even and outside some other kinds of kitchen utensils, but copper would not withstand being used on the inside of a pot for cooking.  So what did using those kind of copper utensils have to do with Alzheimer’s, since we didn’t have direct contact with the copper used on pots and besides, she said, he totally made no mention of what we believe to be the main cause of Alzheimer’s, which is our overuse of Aluminum, especially in pots – in which we directly cook foods which are in direct contact with aluminum and add to that  all of the aluminum products which our bodies take in like deodorants and anti-perspirants.  To totally eliminate aluminum from such a conversation when the research shows it is probably implicated was a real clue that maybe Dr. Oz isn’t as free of taking support, in exchange for protecting those from whom he takes it, as most of us think.

There was – especially-  a lot of response to his including iron pots since iron pots have been used for generations – hundreds of years – without any indication that using these iron pots was increasing Alzheimer’s.  Alzheimer’s did not become a problem until recently and the time line for the increase in Alzheimer’s totally lines up with the introduction of those Aluminum pots into general use in the 1950’s.  A set of such pots were a great wedding present and many people still use the pots given to them decades ago when they married.

The second irritation that came out, as the conversation heated up, was Dr. Oz’s show on supplements.  What made lots of people deride Dr. Oz and where he is coming from were those who knew that supplements were coming up for a vote, in the U. S. Congress, just days after Dr. Oz’s show dissing them and talking about how dangerous some could be and how useless were others and intimating that we needed a doctors advice or prescription for supplements and the FDA’s regulation of them.  The claim that supplements should be regulated – is an old story – and Dr. Oz giving the case in favor of such regulation, in that time frame,  showed exactly where he is coming from and the interests with whom he is aligned.  The time frame in which his show discussed supplements looked to us as another political outlet for the arguments for doctor and FDA intervention.  We know about budgets being allotted for such political issues and apparently, Dr. Oz was included in that budget.

That was a total misuse of his audience – both those physically present and his television viewers.

His show should start each segment by acknowledging to whom he owes allegiance and what he has been paid by the industries being touted – and that payment in any form.

We all agreed to lock out his shows and most of us had been Dr. Oz devotees.  We felt used, abused, sold-out and that done under the table.

Good-bye Dr. Oz.  You were great for awhile, but the public is a lot more astute than given credit.  It may take a while, but we do catch on and move on.  So many has-beens, and if we have our way, that will also be your road – a dead-end constructed by an intelligent, astute, understanding  world-wide public.

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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 about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

My Nose Survives Winter

Monday, February 18th, 2013

copyright 2013 Bettina Network, inc.

I have been a loyal guest, staying at Bettina Network homes for a very long time.

Last year, I went to the kitchen in one of my homes very early in the morning and found the host bent over the kitchen sink with her head in a pot of steaming water.  Needless to say I was amazed and waited in the doorway to see what this was about.

She had a pot of boiling water, just off the stove, and was letting the steam from the water over her face.  When she finished, after about a minute, and poured the water into the sink, of course, we had to talk.  I made the coffee and she spilled the secret.  Every morning when she wakes she boils a pot of water – “ed. note in a glass Corning pot” – puts her head over the water for a minute or two because this is the way she keeps her nose hydrated during the winter so it doesn’t get dry and give her a hard time with a little bleeding on those very dry days.

I tried it when I went home and found it works.  I have always had problems with dry nose during the winter.  When I blow my nose during the day it always comes with a little blood on the tissue.  That didn’t happen this year.  Thanks to my experience in the Bettina Network.

If you want a great place to stay in Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA. try this house and ask for the “doll room”.  I thought it was great and enjoyed my stay immensely.  My return visit this past weekend was a lovely surprise.  Some of the rooms inside the house have been redone and the doll room has some upgrades.  My daughter and I always stayed in that room.  Now she is too big to play with dolls, but she gave in and had a grand time playing with the dolls because the room now also contains a doll house to go with the dolls in the room.

I hope you write a blog on the room which has had its walls upholstered with the most beautiful fabric – and is well padded under the fabric.  I could make many comments about that, but I will refrain.  Just write about how you upholstered those walls.  It is so much nicer than wallpaper and so lush.  If I weren’t so committed to the doll room – where I play even when my daughter does not join me – I would ask for that room, but I just peeked in and loved what I saw.

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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

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A Poem from A Bettina Guest

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013

“I have really enjoyed, learned from and look forward to reading Bettina Network’s Blog.  My contribution to the blog – as a member of the Bettina Network Community (that’s a great idea and I love it – am I going to get a membership card?) – is the following poem.  I keep it all over my house – on the refrigerator, in the bedroom, in my pocketbook, because I need this kind of reminder and inspiration a lot.  I do often take my environment with all of its goodies for granted.  Hope it helps someone else.”

                     A Thanksgiving Prayer – by Samuel F. Pugh

 Oh, God, when I have food, help me to remember the hungry
 When I have work, help me to remember the jobless.
 When I have a warm home, help me to remember the homeless.
 When I am without pain, help me to remember those who suffer.
 And remembering, help me to destroy my complacency and bestir my compassion.
 Make me concerned enough to help, by word and deed, those who cry out for what we take for granted.

I found this in a pamphlet put out by the Salesian Missions in New Rochelle, New York

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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.

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Walnut Oil on Furniture?

Sunday, December 16th, 2012

copyright 2012 Bettina Network, inc.

From a guest and blog reader:

Thanks for your blog on using Walnut Oil on wood furniture.  I tried it and it works phenomenally!  I used the Olive Oil and Walnut Oil – half and half.  A friend of mine used Walnut Oil straight from the Spectrum bottle.  She loves her way, I love mine.

She uses hers on her wood chopping block and wood bowls she uses for mixing salads.  The Walnut oil dries hard – but you have to let it sit a couple days – and it lasts awhile.  She used to use Mineral Oil and I gave her a hard time about that because Mineral Oil is a petroleum derivative (ed note: from Wikipedia “mineral oil is a liquid by-product of the distillation of petroleum to produce gasoline and other petroleum-based products from crude oil.”)and I don’t think it should come in contact with food.  Although with all the medicines made from petroleum derivatives and other things we use coming from distillates of petroleum we should be immune – still, I tried her straight Walnut Oil on my chopping block and it was great.

I used the mixture of Olive and Walnut Oils on my antique wood furniture and the shine is unbelievable.  It also looks as though nothing will penetrate or cause the furniture harm.  I even used it on my grand piano.  I did take an additional step.  After I oiled the furniture – which was rubbing in a half and half mixture with a few drops of an essential oil – I let it sit for a couple  days and then rubbed it again with just Olive Oil.

I did this by accident trying to undo what I thought was a great mistake.  The furniture was very sticky and yukky after oiling it and days later it was still sticky and yukky.  I didn’t know what to do and thought I had ruined my furniture.  I went back to the Olive Oil, rubbed the furniture with Olive Oil on a soft rag and couldn’t believe the results.  The furniture is beautiful.  The shine is incredible and old looking furniture now looks soft and with a beautiful sheen.

I put essential oil in the mixture because I would like my house to have a faint smell of lemon oil and essential oil of lemon does the trick.  I might try organic rose oil next time – even though it is wickedly expensive.  The smell of roses through the house should be great.

What fun to experiment like this.  I lost interest in cleaning and caring for my house.  I have now regained that because it has become a creative endeavor and with the products you are talking about I am not worried about giving myself a serious disease from my cleaning products.  I wouldn’t even let the woman who helps me clean use products she has been using for years.  She thought I was being silly, but has since changed her mind and won’t use anything else.  I am sure the other people she works for are happy with the change.

I don’t know where you get his stuff from but wherever, keep those great tips coming.  I am guessing, from breakfast conversations.

When I stayed at XXXXXXXXXXXX in the Bettina Network we talked about recipes for making banana bread.  I expected to talk about solving the huge problems in the world.  Maybe next time.  My banana bread, however, is great!  Your guests were right about the ingredients making the difference.  I used the same ingredients that I used before that conversation, in the same amounts, but they are now organic and the best I can find and the difference is astounding.  Worth the few extra quarters.  I eat less of it because the taste satisfies and doesn’t leave me craving white sugar, lard and flour.  We didn’t solve the worlds’ problems at the breakfasts I had in the Bettina Network, but the new discoveries around banana bread is a start.  And – my now using Walnut Oil instead of XXXXXXXXXXXXX means a minute amount of petroleum is no longer being used and maybe that is also a different kind of start to solving some of the world’s problem.  Who said to the flower “bloom where you are planted.”

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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

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Was Susan Rice Used?

Friday, December 14th, 2012

copyright Bettina Network, inc. – 2012

RICE = ROGERS = GUINIER.  What do they have in common besides all being African Americans!

Was yet another woman used? – misused? – abused?  in this political process?

Looks to us as though Ms. Rice’s name was thrown out and then reeled in to get the deal President Obama wanted from Congress – and it looks as though not only was it a successful ploy, but he knows the political process very well and is not above playing the game.  After all, he is now one of the big boys.  I just hope he has not become one of the ‘good ole boys.’

Looks like something Bill Clinton did years ago when he was president and the woman used – abused – misused – was Lani Guinier .  Harvard Law School ProfessorIn 1993 Ms. Guinier was nominated by President Bill Clinton to be Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights.  Just like Ms. Rice, Ms. Guinier was eminently qualified – Radcliffe College, Yale Law School, Assistant to the then Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights – a really brilliant and accomplished Black Woman.  One of the Clintons’ Yale Law School classmates.

Congress jumped all over Bill Clinton demanding her nomination be withdrawn and who was one of those who counseled him to withdraw the nomination? – none other than Ted Kennedy (genuflecting – of sainted memory), among others, including the Black Female who we will only identify with the nom de plume “turn coat” – “sell out without knowing how much you were selling out for”.  So, of course, Ms. Guinier’s nomination was withdrawn.  The Wall Street Journal called her one of “Clinton’s Quota Queens” (remember the title of  Welfare Queen)?.  The racism and sexism of that was overlooked and instead of articulating what this was about and going ahead to back-up and support his nominee, Clinton succumbed to the pressure, even though it looked as though Ms. Guinier would be confirmed.  The loud, racist and sexist voices won the day.

The claim made to derail Ms. Guinier’s nomination – at the end of the day – turned out to be false, but the media proclaimed it loudly and kept the drum beat going so Ms. Guinier would be taken down – doesn’t that sound familiar?  In small print after the fact, it was acknowledged that the loud drums beat out the wrong message.  Now, isn’t that what they are doing to Ms. Rice?  Even louder, because they have had more experience  beating drums to drum out Black women!

And then there was Desiré Rogers.  Another tremendous African American woman from New Orleans.  I knew her parents and her grandparents.  They were very substantial people and Ms. Rogers had a very solid and ethical upbringing.

Partially because of that New Orleans upbringing, -after what she went through in Washington, D. C. – Ms. Rogers was able to continue her life almost without missing a beat and moved right on up!  And Condoleeza Rice – the horrible Republican who many can’t stand to even see or speak about – gets a standing ovation from any Republican group she appears in front of.  Is that some kind of contrast?  Takes me back to the days of Walter L. Cohen, African American who was head of the Louisiana Republican Party!

All three Black women were charged with things which were blown out of all proportion and all those charges and innuendos were kept going by the media who turned crap, half-truths and more into something which sounded real, substantial and reason for them to be not considered, re-considered, removed. Two were exonerated in the end when things quieted down and the racist sexist goals had been achieved.  Ms. Rice will also be so exonerated.  That will take awhile since we saw the news people this morning showing signs of relief that Ms. Rice would not be considered for Secretary of State.  One news reporter woman let out an audible sound of relief.  Although in Ms. Rice’s case it looks more like racism and sexism were used to reach a political goal and not a very big one, considering the price being paid by Susan Rice.

With Susan Rice,

U. N. Ambassador

Should be next Secretary of State

the forces of Congress came out once again to attempt to destroy an African American woman.- the Republican forces came out against her because the Democratic forces could not.  They would have been accused of pushing for the appointment of a friend – which was, in fact what the Republicans were doing.  What we have just witnessed on the political stage could be called “A Time of Surrogacy” with John McCain being the star of the play.

The good ole boys coming out to make sure one of their own got what he wanted.  The price someone else paid for that is really irrelevant and not to be considered.  That will just go down in the books as a debt to be repaid and they will look to John Kerry, at some point down the road, to repay the debt – and he will.

This time, it looks as though President Obama threw Ms. Rice to the Congressional Wolves so he could negotiate and get what he wanted from them if he withdrew her name from the short list and went back to John Kerry instead.  The games boys will play.

Don’t you think it is time we elect men – or – a woman?

Was this the same John Kerry who was President Obama’s coach for that first memorable debate – which came close to blowing Obama’s chances for re-election and at the very least promoted Mitt Romney’s campaign to a higher level?

It seems to me Mitt Romney should be the one promoting John Kerry to higher responsibilities not President Obama – but then, we don’t know what goes on behind those closed political doors.  And then I could be wrong – but have you read the Bettina Network’s Blog on “Rice and Kerry”?

And – in an aside, which probably had nothing to do with deals being made – Scot Brown, solely because of his ESP – and having nothing to do with games being played,  started his campaign as early as December 4th.  What did he know that the rest of us didn’t?  He is getting ready to run for John Kerry’s seat.  We think that seat should go to Martha Coakley – or – preferably to an African American woman as an appointment.  If games are going to be played – set better ground rules fellows, this is a society full of diversity with a diversity mind set.  To replace a White Man whose hands are unclean with another White Male whose … tsk tsk tsk!

Our breakfast table guests are seldom wrong.  They seem to have that inside track which comes out over those really scrumptious breakfasts served in the bed & breakfast homes in the Bettina Network.  Maybe its the coffee which brings out such great conversations.  Check them out, especially if you have conversation to share!

If John Kerry has any sense of decency he will withdraw his name from consideration.  It is the only decent and ethical thing he can do and it is the only way such games will begin to cease.  But then, he has moved far away from the days in which his actions and youthful ideology first got him elected to Congress.  How the mighty have fallen!  Or – is it that power corrupts?

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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

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A Guest Responds to Rice and Kerry

Thursday, November 29th, 2012

I read your blog on the Secretary of State fiasco and I am so glad someone has put out there what is actually happening.   I am especially distressed about what I am seeing in the media and hearing about this Susan Rice thing.  Imagine putting such a lovely young woman through such trials because they need to clear a path for a WUCM member to become Secretary of State.  It is criminal!  Almost reaches the level of Depraved Indifference to who she is – how hard she worked to gain her credentials – how even harder she worked to serve the United States for a lot of years – to serve all of us – and now the reward for her hard work is this treatment which brings to my mind ‘Depraved Indifference. ‘  A legal terms, but fully adequate in this context.  And that legal terms brings Philippa Schuyler – another African American woman – to mind.

If we had a media which published the truth over the decades and generations our ruling White Upper Class Males would not have been able to buy the election for Ronald Reagan – which all of us saw, but none reported.  Now, Republicans are coming to the fore to attempt to insure that their group is not left out of power – not their Republican group, but their WUCM group.  Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Tea Party etc. all belong to this group.

The media in Massachusetts is becoming confident and putting its toe in the water and beginning to talk (3:45am Channel 6) about how to persuade Governor Patrick to appoint Scot Brown to the seat that will be vacated by John Kerry when he is appointed Secretary of State.  If that doesn’t confirm your breakfast blog, nothing will.

The media is clearly complicit in all of this and their tom-toms ring out around the world heralding what they are all in agreement with and see as their vested interest to the continued sharing of power.

There was or is a group researching Philippa Schuyler, to keep her memory alive and her accomplishments in front of the public.  I think that is a laudable effort, especially at times like this when one can see similarities.  To put what is happening to Susan Rice in a historical context brings a total different picture to the forefront.

Philippa Schuyler was a young African American woman, killed by what some of us believe was first degree murder i.e. Depraved Indifference.  I’ve heard more than one person lately agreeing with me and I believe some information from the Philippa Schuyler committee also said the same thing.

The parallel to the way Susan Rice’s reputation is being ‘killed’ by a group trying to maintain the WUCM’s control is startling.

With Philippa Schuyler, there was a total ignoring of what happened to her by some and an attempt at public justification by the WUCM.  There was a Congressional Hearing.  No charges were brought even though clearly there should have been charges of Depraved Indifference and the culprits should have been brought to trial, but Congress held a hearing which they thought and apparently accurately so, would defuse any problems from the African American community following her death.  Not a peep since.  Not a peep from the minority and women groups about what is happening to Susan Rice, either.  Does that show how far outside African American women are?  Who are your defenders?

Ms. Rice, apparently,  must be sacrificed so John Kerry can have his day in the sun as Secretary of State?  Where is the African American, Latino American, Women’s groups on what is happening in front of your faces.  The quiet from you is deafening.  Have you not heard – ‘if they come for me in the morning, they will return for you in the afternoon?”  Certainly, an outcry behind what happened to Philippa Schuyler might have changed the world for minorities and especially women – but there was none.

What is interesting about the Philippa Schuyler parallel – Philippa and her father were very conservative in their thinking and writing, except where it came to reporting on events and issues where their main criteria was the truth.  They were conservative to the point of being involved with the then John Birch Society.  That didn’t, however, save Philippa’s life.  Liberal or Conservative doesn’t really matter does it!  Isn’t that what this bit of theatre is saying?  The WUCM Republicans ignore party lines when it comes to some things – and maintaining and increasing the power of two of their own is paramount.  The WUCM Democrats have and will in the future, return the favor.

Philippa drowned and her parents suffered the extreme loss and grief that happens under those circumstances.

Philippa was a great child prodigy and pianist who was outstanding and traveled the world playing concerts on many world stages.  She composed symphonies by the age of six.  If she had lived, I think her journalistic talent would have dwarfed her music.  Some of us believe it was her journalism which caused her death.  But she was both and it took both sides of her to produce the articles she wrote.

She was the only one to stand tall and write the real story of what happened in Africa decades ago in the death of – oh my, was it Lumumba!  Every other journalist got the story wrong, but they were consistent in what they reported.  So their story came from where? to be so consistently wrong?  “Intel?”  Did all of the journalists who engaged in that bit of conspiracy lose their jobs?  Miss promotions? etc. etc.  Maybe they need to step back and take another look at this Susan Rice scenario.

Philippa, who kept her contacts with those low on the economic totem pole, had ways to find the truth and she wrote about what she found and  it was accurate and truth and her parents then had to deal with her death from, what some of us believe was purposefully negligent, – depraved indifference.

How does that relate to Susan Rice?  Yet another African American woman is being slaughtered for things which are minor especially when compared to things the WUCM group has done and suffered no career set-back from.  Yet Ms. Rice is being set-up to lose a possible appointment as Secretary of State because the WUCM group has a member – John Kerry – who wants to be Secretary of State.  And here we also have some Congressional involvement.  Not the Democrats, that would be too clear, but we don’t need to be led to see through a mirror darkly,  we need to see face to face.

Through the mirror darkly we see the Republicans fighting Ms. Rice – White Males all, except for the involvement of the White Woman who looks like a parallel to the African Americans who worked with the KKK.  All helping their brother WUCM members by attempting to take care of two of them – Scot Brown and John Kerry.  I can’t believe how this stuff happens over and over and over again and a story is spun by the media which has nothing to do with reality, but is throwing smoke in your face so your eyes sting and you can’t see what is in front of you – and throwing the work over to the other side so the WUCM can say – see, its not us – bring us that bowl of water so we can wash our hands clean and prove to you we were not involved!  Whose hands are being washed here?  The Republicans?  No – its the good ole Democrat boys looking out for their own.

Thanks again for the breakfast article.  I wish others had the guts to write the truth.  Sitting around Bettina Network breakfast tables I have heard some incredible talk and hope to continue.  It certainly cleared my head and got my thinking straightened out.

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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

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Thanks for your Presidential Post!

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012

I would like to add just a couple things, which I think need to be highlighted:

We read lots about minorities playing the “race card.”  No one has said one word about the races taking place today – presidential and otherwise where one person running is blatantly using the ‘race card’ against their opponent.  For example, in Massachusetts Scott Brown is heavily using race in all of his campaign ads and rallies.  So much so that his staff has taken to making tomaawk chops and the supposed Indian war cry at his rallies.  They have picked up what is really being said and they are letting the rest of us know what’s really going on by their actions.

Romney’s campaign is doing the same thing.  It was much discussed after Obama won the presidency that racism would intensify in this country because of his win.  But, no one said why or how and this election cycle we are seeing why and how.  When your opponent is minority or part minority, use the race card to highlight their minority status or do other things to incite the racism which is either active or latent in these United States.  It is how many politicians in the deep south in the 1940’s stayed in office and won office.  They kept their voting populace stirred up over race.

Your breakfasts sound fantastic.  Keep up the good work.  When I retire I am going to put my house in the Bettina Network.  I have to keep active and ageism has made me much aware of racism and sexism.  I must confess I ignored it before I started to realize my age would keep me from credit, jobs and more.  Amazing when things come home to where you live how sensitive you become to others suffering that you hadn’t even noticed before.  Forgive me my transgressions!  I am sure I was one of those letting my racism out against others without realizing it and without taking responsibility for it to make the effort to change.  Well, now I get to fight ageism because I didn’t help lessen the ‘isms in this society.

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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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1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

 

“I Tried The Food in Your Blog Post”

Monday, August 13th, 2012

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2012

“I tried some of the suggestions in your blog posts and have had great results in the health department.

I was worried about my high blood pressure – I clocked in at 159 and in spite of exercise and eating less, my blood pressure didn’t move down.  So I figured, what the heck, I’ll try to couple things I read about in your blog.

Stocked up on hibiscus tea – but not the tea you buy in the store which says hibiscus tea and is really a little hibiscus mixed with a lot of regular tea – I bought dried hibiscus flower petals, poured hot water over them and let them sit awhile.  I drank that tea all day.  I also bought huge amounts of Ceylon Cinnamon – organic, of course – and at night had a warm cup of organic milk mixed with a heaping teaspoon of the cinnamon and a spoon full of sugar.  I mixed that well and it was a great drink.

I love rice and switched to organic brown rice, which was great, but it really didn’t hit my family in its sweet spot until I put organic turmeric in the rice when I started it cooking.  One cup of rice to 2 1/2 cups water, a little himalayan salt – a teaspoon, actually, – and two heaping teaspoons of turmeric.  At first I wondered what on earth am I doing because I served this to guests and they looked at the rice as though it was going to jump up and bite them.  It was very yellow and to me it looked fantastic.  We all enjoyed the rice immensely because it had a taste, which the white rice I had been cooking was totally tasteless and probably destroying my health in the process.  I served the rice with organic green peas on the side.  I wanted to serve a side dish everybody likes so the meal wouldn’t be too strange.

I have added those three things to my diet and my blood pressure is now 125.  A tip for those who want to know their blood pressure on a constant basis and you don’t want to buy a blood pressure thing you wrap around your arm – everytime you go to a store like CVS or  one like a CVS they usually have a blood pressure machine next to the pharmacy and you can take your blood pressure for free.  You can also stand on their foot machine and see what’s going on with your feet.

I can’t tell you how grateful I am to you folks for this blog. Never would I have thought of dried hibiscus petals as a tea to deal with my high blood pressure.  And the rice and turmeric is really sensational.  I don’t know what it does, but it looks like its doing something very important inside my body and I will never have white rice again nor white wheat nor white pasta and all three of those things will have their share of turmeric put in during the cooking process.  Great information!”

Ed. Note:  You can buy organic ceylon cinnamon, the dried hibiscus flower petals and organic turmeric at Frontier Coop via mail – www.frontiercoop.com

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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 about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

Chick-fill-A – couldn’t resist commenting!

Tuesday, July 31st, 2012

It is interesting that even bed & breakfast is getting involved in this conversation where Chick-fil-A takes a stand against marriage equality.

A Bed & Breakfast in Edgewater Park, N. J., has a sign posted outside indicating the Inn’s support of a planned, nationwide “Chick-fill-A” day by anti-marriage equality patrons, followed by the message, “Marriage, One Man, One Woman, One God.”

Wonder if any of you have thought about how this corporation puts the campaigners squarely in the anti-feminist camp?  Bring back the woman as sex object and let us degrade her with signs, comments, corporations which take sexist titles as their name – remember Hooters?  Where are they now – a traditional company having survived their slam against women?

Advertise your company and your sexist, anti-female, anti-equality sentiments at the same time!  “Chick-fil-A” can mean many things and in this society it generally does not mean Chicken.  Chick is a derogatory diminutive for women as sex objects in a very negative sense.  They don’t have to say anything about gay marriage – their bias is right out front in their name, why would anyone expect anything any different from a corporation which takes such a name, advertises it and expects to be taken seriously!

They have already made a statement as to where they stand by their corporate name – it spells blatant, in your face SEXISM – it has staked out its territory and is marketing to the group it has defined as its potential customers.  Right there in the camp which is dedicated to keeping us all unequal, inferior and feuding with each other over civil rights.  They are doing everything possible to turn a woman into a thing (not too thinly veiled, of course) – an object for a man’s use and then discarded because it/she has an expiration date – generally after 28 years of age.

And after “Chick” comes the diminutive of filly – another name which reduces a woman to her sex object status.  “What a fine filly” – ever hear that applied to women – oops, excuse me – applied to girls?

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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 about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

More on Apple Cider Vinegar

Monday, July 23rd, 2012

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2012

“Thanks for your information on Apple Cider Vinegar.  I remember it being around a lot when I was growing up and then it disappeared.  In fact, white vinegar, which I believe is a petroleum derivative, has replaced a few of the uses for vinegar which are still around – mainly as an ingredient in salad dressings.

I remember being afraid to have anything with white vinegar in it because of the stories which circulated in my community about of how it was made.

I was so happy to read about Apple Cider Vinegar in your blog that I decided to go back to it, do some research and see if I couldn’t bring it back as one of the staples in my eating and cosmetic life. I remember a weight-loss diet that was popular several years ago which was Vinegar, Vitamin B6 and something else – or maybe it was B12.  It was hugely popular, but I didn’t lose weight on it because I couldn’t keep it up.  Friends of mine lost quite a bit of weight on this diet and one developed the habit of having a tablespoon or two of Apple Cider Vinegar in water when she woke up instead of coffee.  I don’t know what its done for her because we haven’t talked in years.

Taking your suggestion about putting a bottle of Apple Cider Vinegar in the bathroom for those who think the tub isn’t clean enough led to my putting two bottles in the bathroom.  One with a rag on a small plate to be used to clean the bathtub and/or other places in the bathroom.   – if its good for the bathtub, what about the toilet?  I put the second bottle in the bathroom after I found a pump which fit the top and which made my Apple Cider Vinegar bottle ‘pumpable’ for cosmetic purposes.

I use this second bottle to rinse my hair; after I’ve used vitamin A, dried milk and vitamin E on my face and before going out I put a little Apple Cider Vinegar in my cupped hands and wipe my face with it being careful to avoid my eyes.  My skin has a glow which makes me look years younger.  On the days I don’t want that shiny look, I use dried milk as a powder to tone down the oily look left from the vitamins and it looks great.  I got all of that from your blog under the ‘health and beauty section.’

You were right about being able to keep my face looking fantastic all during the day by simply splashing on cool water periodically when I wanted to refresh and that looks better than any foundation because you can’t refresh it – foundations just begin to make you look tired and old after a few hours, and if you try to refresh the foundation with more powder, you begin to get that ‘caked’ look, which isn’t healthy because your pores are very clogged by that time and your looks take a direct hit.

I wish more places would keep that cosmetic bottle of Apple Cider Vinegar in their bathrooms – food quality Apple Cider Vinegar.  When I travel, I can’t carry it because the airlines would take it away from me. – Probably to take home and use it themselves.

I found when I first started to use it I would get this little burning sensation in places on my face.  When I checked in my magnifying mirror, it was in places where I had ‘sitz’ or had been picking my face.  Now, that’s all gone because whatever sensation made me scratch or pick my face is gone.

Thanks for the information.  It led me to another place, with which I am delighted.  I especially love it when I have guests and they come downstairs to breakfast asking about the Apple Cider Vinegar in the bathroom and I am able to spout my new found knowledge.  What is great about that – they usually have a few things from their youthful remembrances or current readings to add so I am pulling myself up out of a great pit – and the money saved is amazing.  I used to spend $300 plus per month on cosmetics, which weren’t doing anything for me except I felt as though I was doing something when I bought them.  The ambiance of the cosmetic areas, the way the sales people treated me when I went in to buy my cosmetics – all made me feel great, but when I got my big purchases home, they made no difference whatsoever in how I looked nor did they stop aging nor my penchant to pick my face.

So once again, thanks.  Keep up the good work and seek out all of these things so I can benefit.”

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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 about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

The Brotherhood – a response

Thursday, June 28th, 2012

“Hi guys,

Thank you for the blog entitled “The Brotherhood”.  You should be the major media – I love the way your blogs make me think and challenge what I believe.  But even more, I love the way you talk about things no one else is saying in the media.

With ‘The Brotherhood’ blog I think you didn’t go far enough.  What is missing and a pet peeve of mine is the fact that every day on every news report they end with a large coverage of sports, sports events, what sports figures are doing, and sports media.  The largest acculturizing tool in the world.  The propaganda they spread is appalling – especially at how we sit and watch and let that crap seep into our brains, our personality and our lives.

How to get everyone into things that are ‘traditional values’.  The right food, clothes, way of thinking, adversarial way to live, etc.  It is amazing that sports would be so overwhelming every place you turn.   I click off the news when the sports section starts.  Nothing else in this society gets such coverage 24/7 – how come this?  It makes sure you and your children are exposed to what this society wants us to mimic and we do follow and pattern ourselves after what the media promotes.

Why on earth would I want to mimic grown men running around and acting like little boys? Why do I want to see two sweaty men pretending to be big, bad and throwing each other around a small enclosed square ring? It is time for the news to give equal coverage to other activities that happen with great frequency and that more people enjoy – and enjoy without the constant exposure to and constant putting forth the image that this is what we want to see and hear.

Get real folks – find a life and get out of this sports trap!

And thanks again for this forum – keep up the good work.  You are the only place I call for bed & breakfast.”

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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 about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

 

 

Apple Cider Vinegar Uses

Wednesday, June 6th, 2012

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2012

In response to a guest request for uses for Apple Cider Vinegar:

There are thousands of ways to use Apple Cider Vinegar – both for health and cleaning purposes.  We have zeroed in on only a few because we need to test everything before we put it out on the blog.  Needless to say, we use Organic Apple Cider Vinegar

If you search Bettina Network’s Blog under the category ‘Apple Cider Vinegar’ you will find uses we have previously published in this blog.  You can also find other uses for Apple Cider Vinegar if you search the internet.  There are several really good books – some out of print, but discoverable in estate sales – written decades ago, which are fantastic.

The huge use, – the one we find that has infinite health benefits is the use of Organic Apple Cider Vinegar as a deodorant/anti perspirant.  (No, you can’t substitute White Vinegar – not even Organic White Vinegar).

I believe we have a blog on this and we have had ongoing trials with different people using it.  Now that the weather has turned really warm, we have found that using a little Apple Cider Vinegar splashed under your arms after a shower will keep you feeling cool and odor free.  We have also found that when your energy starts to flatten, another splash of apple cider vinegar under the arms and a little rubbed on the face will bring your energy up in dramatic ways.

It is amazing how something so cheap and so totally effective would not be used by millions.  Are we so detached from the ways of our grandparents that instead of following their lead, which they acquired from following their parents and grandparents, we are the generation which follows those whose job it has been to market the latest to us.  The latest things to pad the pockets of the few at the expense of the health, well-being and financial resources of the many?

We all are using one of the many Deodorants and Anti-Perspirants on the market.  That says a lot for the success of the marketing campaigns which have been aimed at making us think if we didn’t use the products they are currently marketing we would smell bad, be considered amoral and the ‘good’ people of the world would not want us around.

In fact, if we use the products being promoted for our use with beautiful women, flowery scenes, romantic music, comedy and/or cutesiness there are serious possible health problems involved.  We worked hardest in trying to discover some way to live in public around other people and not smell nor cause ourselves health problems into the future.  When we heard the way anti-perspirants work is to clog your pores with aluminum, we threw out the anti-perspirants and deodorants – no matter how good the marketing and advertising.  Apparently,  you don’t smell because the perspiration and bacteria which eats the perspiration causing the odor can’t get started because you can’t perspire.  We always thought that perspiration was a natural bodily function with a reason to preserve your health and well being.

That freaked us out.  Especially since we have heard the stories about Aluminum being one of the contributors to starting Alzheimer’s, plus a long line of other health problem possibilities.

We have had feed back from a few people in the Bettina Network about using Apple Cider Vinegar first thing in the morning – a little in a glass of water and drink it down – but we haved no way to know if and how this is effective, so we will stick with the use of Apple Cider Vinegar as a very effective deodorant.

We also find it good to use cleaning house.  We use it with Olive Oil.  The Olive Oil poured on OOOO steel wool will clean and wax the furniture and Apple Cider Vinegar does an excellent job at washing  walls and etc.

In a Bettina Network home you will find a bottle of Apple Cider Vinegar in the bathrooms with a rag for you to use to clean the bathtub.  The homes have clean bathrooms, but many guests, when they travel, don’t take a bath, in spite of wanting to take a bath and being accustomed to baths instead of showers.  They are afraid of the tub and assume the hotel and/or the bed & breakfast and/or the inn, etc. could possibly not have cleaned the tub the way they would like it clean.  Since the Apple Cider Vinegar is a disinfectant, we came upon the idea of putting a bottle in the bathrooms so guests can use it anyway they see fit.

Another use we have for Apple Cider Vinegar is in the clothes washer.  We put in the detergent and fill the softener container with Apple Cider Vinegar to help clean and disinfect the wash – the sheets, towels, etc.

Doing just those few things will dramatically reduce your cleaning budget and increase the cleanliness and germ-freeness of your home.  It will be pleasant smelling – no off-gases – nothing to hurt your hands or get into your blood stream and wreck havoc producing illnesses you become baffled by because you can’t figure out their genesis.

We have heard about using it to rinse your hair and do all kind of other things, but the above is what we are trying and getting feed back from so it is all we can talk about at the moment.

Hope this helps.  Let us know if you find other uses, we love the feeback and try all suggestions (within reason).  It helps us and others and will probably wind up in a blog.  If it does, we will give you credit or post it anonymously, if you don’t want your name used.

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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 about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

 

Stay Cool on a Hot Day!

Thursday, May 24th, 2012

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2012

Summer is coming and so are the hot days of Summer.

I have found a way to stay cool most of the day and add to my general health and beauty at the same time.

I take a shower and follow it with a massage of organic Aloe Vera Gel.  It is fantastic.

I read in your blog where you talked about this massage, but I couldn’t handle it then because it was cold weather when I read it and when I tried to massage with the Aloe Vera I almost froze it was so cold when I tried to put it on my body.

It dawned on me that this might be a great treat for myself when there is hot weather so I waited and just tried it on a fairly hot day.  I was very cool after the shower – which is generally not the case for me in hot weather – I will start to perspire almost immediately out of the shower.  I was left with a really coolness around me all morning.

I also got many comments from people who told me how great I looked.  Since I had on jeans and an old shirt I wasn’t sure where the compliments were coming from – the only thing I did different was the organic Aloe Vera Gel massage.  You also talked about Lakewood – so that is what I bought and used.  I liked that it was not made from a concentrate, but from the actual juice of the plant and not preserved with a chemical whose name I couldn’t pronounce.  So, for what its worth —- and thanks for the blog.  I liked being able to send this to you to share.  I have my own blog, but no one reads it – except for a few family members and I wanted to share this with a lot of people.  It is impressive the number of people who read your blog.

Hope all of you readers try this – it is a great experience.  One I will use all summer.

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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 about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

Need to know more about Apple Cider Vinegar?

Friday, April 27th, 2012

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2012

I read your blog on a regular basis and have tried many of the things you’ve talked about.  I am today on a quest to know more about Apple Cider Vinegar.

We stayed in one of your Bettina homes and they had a bottle of Organic Apple Cider Vinegar in the bathroom with a rag next to it.  I wasn’t sure what that was for and I kept meaning to ask the family and kept forgetting because I had too much on my plate at the time.

Did I miss something really good?  That is the first time I’ve seen vinegar in the bathroom. What I would like to know is why was it in the bathroom?

What is the difference between it and white vinegar?  I’ve switched to Apple Cider Vinegar from the anti-perspirant I used to use, thanks to you, and it is great.  I feel so clean when I splash a little of it under my arms before going out.

When I first started reading your blog, I have to say I was a bit skeptical with some of what you talked about.  I haven’t yet tried Vitamin A on my face, although I bought a bottle and want to try it when I am not going anyplace that day because I am a little worried about smelling ‘fishy’.  I’ve seen in other places where that is considered one of the gold standards for wrinkles so you know I am going to try that soon also.  But today, please write more about Apple Cider Vinegar – and does it have to be organic? and there are several brands on the market which say different things.  One says it has the “mother”.  Another is distilled – another pasteurized, etc.

Thanks!  Hope I am not going to far asking for too much, but if you start with why I encountered the vinegar in the bathroom I would much appreciate it.

Ed Note:  Thanks for your questions.  We put your note to us in the blog because others may have the same questions and we would like you to know we have asked for an answer and hope it will be published soonest.

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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 about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

Two Thousand &5, Seven Years Later

Monday, April 9th, 2012

copyright Bettina Network, inc. for Jonathan Betts Fields 2012

 

Kid musicians battle the id

further justice through thick and then

permeate airwaves with soul and posture

colorful words, diaphragm of opera

from Shakespeare to Jay Z, defying nostalgia

sleep new dreams and pray for contagion

well blended harmony’s the weapon we’re waving.

 

Speaking voices are perfectly proper

they laugh as would English speaking sea otters

returning to homes that float or submerge

to wash away souls, you’ll need more than dirge

we don’t sink or swim, we’re one with the water

if we were to leave we’d abandon our power

we hold hands through inverted rain showers.

 

Zatarain’s ain’t got nothin’ on me –

neck cocked back like an expected sneeze

horns high in the sky, catchin’ the breeze

high hat attacks the air – killer bees

strings intertwined – tangled webs they weave

toe tappin’s impossible without bendin’ knees

sea perseverance, revitalize New Orleans.

 

 

I could hear applause in the distance. The woman from the registration table saw me wandering a bit and ushered me in the correct direction. I visited Shady Hill School to support the new friends I met over a three-course breakfast at a Bettina Network home. I could hardly wait to partake in the celebration straight from New Orleans.

 

I thought I missed them. Then, in walked a league of extraordinary men and women. A palpable increase in energy met the trumpet, trombone, tuba, two drums and the voice. The esteemed Executive Director and the mother of the younger drummer completed the entourage. The performers reemerged as teachers, and continued to represent the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music and Musicians’ Village professionally, passionately and extremely well.

Their workshop, entitled “Vision, Perseverance and Revitalization” was one of many during Shady Hill School’s Diversity Conference. For middle school students to entertain large notions like “Social Justice” and “Equity Through the Arts” could have been a daunting task; the school’s staff made it age relevant and all wore smiles while they worked. The kids were comfortable and eager take their music lesson serious, possibly borrowing a page from the acutely gifted drummer boy.

 

Calvin, the band leader and head teacher instructed the students to listen to the global sound and to identify the role of each instrument in the piece they were to play. The band played Duke Ellington’s “C Jam Blues.” The Shady Hill students listened. Then they were divided into sections, and the auditorium became a conglomeration of progress. For brief moments, some instruments synched: first were the strings & percussion sections. Then the brass and woodwinds danced. All the while, you could hear the Ellis Marsalis Center musicians chiseling away unnecessary sounds.

 

The Jazz Workshop Ensemble began playing with the speed of ducklings following their mother across a busy street. Once across, the piano and drums were occupied by a new set of feet and hands, and the trip began again. The trips back and forth steadied the ensemble’s sway and allowed for inspired improvisation. Before the last group began their end-of-workshop recital, Calvin shared some knowledge that reached beyond playing in a jazz band: “If you can’t hear the person next to you, you’re playing too loud.”

Much love,

Jonathan Betts Fields

www.GlobalJon.com

MeLlamoGlobalJon@gmail.com

facebook.com/GlobalJon ~ twitter.com/GlobalJon

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