Holiday Greeting - Bettina Network's Blog

Archive for the ‘Holiday Greeting’ Category

Happy Holidays!! From all of us at Bettina Network, inc.

Tuesday, December 25th, 2018

We wish all of you a vey happy holiday – however you celebrate.  May this world always and forever recognize us all as individuals who have the right and the freedom to think, live and act in our own way always being true to who we are.  May we develop the spirit to be able to accept our own humanity and the humanity of others.  May we gain the understanding to know that we all sin, at one time or other, and rid ourselves of the shame that we feel which pushes us to diminish others.  May we know love, without the push from the commercial society  to turn love into sex.  May we accept our own religious beliefs and our own God giving others the right to their individual and collective God beliefs and faith.  But mostly, this holiday season, may we look around and see the joy, happiness, grief, pain of others and do our best to increase that joy and happiness and relieve as much of the grief and pain surrounding us and our societies as we can.

Help us to understand there is enough room in this world for us all.  Free us from that which forces us to the need to force another human being to cut their hair because it is not a part of our culture and therefore a threat and something over which we should have control turning the one into a negative declaring our right to eliminate it.  When that happens, may we gain clarity to see our beliefs and actions in their true light instead of the rose colored glow with which we surround our most evil moments.

Help us to make good decisions about our government and relieve us of the need to have leaders – who we must follow.  May we always be enough within ourselves to keep fear at bay.  That fear which causes all evil.  May we reach the point of collaborating with one another rather than the insistence on leading, being the leader of, which leads only to being “better than.”

To celebrate the holidays within my culture and then to celebrate the holidays with those who have different beliefs and a different faith within a totally different culture and feel at home in both is the ultimate gift we can ask for you this season of the celebration of darkness and light.  Life is filled with both darkness and light.  To be able to enjoy and live into both is the ultimate of gifts and the gift we wish for you.

Happy New Year – 2016

Monday, January 4th, 2016

Bettina Trademark
…..and lots of success, great experiences, with much learning which develops into wisdom.

We had an amazing year full of many challenges which we have learned from and used to improve Bettina Network, inc.

We added Bettina Network Hedge Schools – which you can read about here –

http://bettina-network.com/pages/hedge_school/

and while tentative at first, they are now the most requested places to stay in Bettina Network.

Members of Bettina Network’s Lifestyle Community will receive write-ups about additions to the Hedge Schools all throughout 2016.

We hope you will suggest additions that will improve our offerings. In 2016 , we offer, $150 for suggesting a home which becomes either a part of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools or Bettina Network’s Bed & Breakfasts.

We are also still traveling to spend the night at the homes of those who want to join the bed & breakfast part of Bettina Network, inc. We do not take anyone into the Network without someone. who is a part of Bettina Network, spending the night to know what kind of experience guests will have in that particular location. We do the same thing with Bettina Network Hedge Schools so all of Bettina Network homes are thoroughly checked out and so are the guests who make reservations to stay in those homes.

Bettina Network Lifestyle Community is moving along and our goal this year is to make the Bettina Network Menu of Events one of the most outstanding and reliable calendars on the planet. That is a tall order, but we have experimented for a couple years and are now ready to move forward growing this gift for those who qualify. Membership in Bettina Network’s Lifestyle Community is not something you can buy. It is totally a gift from Bettina Network, inc. You access the benefits of this membership with a password which we send to you and renew yearly..

Besides putting together a calendar of events for a particular location, you can also use your password to add events which you would like to see offered by Bettina’s Menu of Events.

Bettina Network’s Blog passed one million readers about December 15, 2015. It was time for great celebration. The Blog continues to move ahead with an average of one thousand plus readers each day. In 2016 we will have a small number of sponsors of this Blog. Sponsorship will be open by invitation only.

If you are a member of Bettina Network’s Lifestyle Community you can send information, articles, blogs, pictures to add to this publication.

Reviews of places, things, books, etc. that we find interesting and stimulating will become a more frequent part of Bettina Network’s Blog over 2016. If you have suggestions, please don’t hesitate to send them.

Bettina Network Foundation, inc. is becoming amazing and beginning to fulfill our goals in ways we didn’t dream possible. You can read about the Foundation here: –http://bettina-network.com/pages/foundation/?ref=foundation and in Bettina Network’s Blog.

One of our big pushes this year – in 2016 – will be Bettina Network’s Estate Sales. It will be the end of February before that promise begins to be fulfilled, but we think you will find what we are doing with this part of the corporation, exciting. And – there will be parts of Bettina Network’s Estate Sales which will be accessible by Bettina Network Lifestyle Community Members only.

We have an improved money and credit card collection system. Our web site has a secure page where you can leave your credit card for any number of reasons and receive an email with the details of your charge within a minute of Bettina Network having charged your account. We love this part of our improvements and we hesitated on installing it because we wanted to be very careful with other people’s credit cards. This worked so seamlessly we fell in love and are now moving along very happily with our new system.

If you have suggestions for change, additions, subtractions, etc. please don’t hesitate to call us, email us, send us a letter, or however you communicate – stay in touch and help us keep Bettina Network, inc. moving ahead and fulfilling its original promise.

I couldn’t end this without a comment on the struggle we had all year and in past years as we suffered from having our business idea and business plan stolen without our knowledge or consent. That is still a problem. However, Harvard Business School has done a study on Airbnb and found racism in their system negatively affecting both host families and guests who are non-White. It is very difficult to maintain diversity/equality. It is easy and careless to install such a system which practices racism against minorities, especially in this 21st Century. Technology makes that kind of racism the kind which Pontius Pilate would understand and recognize immediately – bring that bowl of water and let those who practice such racism wash their hands and deny intentionality and culpability.

We look forward to all the excitement and experiences we are going to have in 2016 – the good, the bad and the in-between. All of it is what it takes to keep us on our toes and moving ahead.

Have a wonderful New Year!

From – All of us at Bettina’s

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Christmas – A Joyous Occasion?

Tuesday, December 29th, 2015

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2015

We are so accustomed to celebrating holidays with a certain emotion which seems intrinsic to that holiday that we generally don’t think about why or if that emotion is appropriate to the holiday.

Good Friday is clearly a somber occasion and our emotions are quite turned down on that day.  The Churches drape themselves in black and people come to Church to mourn.

Christmas, however, is joyous.  Much gift giving and party attending and celebration.  But is that the appropriate emotion for the ‘celebration’ of the birth of Jesus?

The bible clearly talks about and acknowledges Jesus as God.  Although maybe not God again until the resurrection – because before that Jesus is human and experiencing all of the good and bad of life in human form.

Why did God have to come to earth to subject God’s self to our infirmities, sadnesses, pain, sin and more?  To save us from our sins – so says the bible.  Once the virgin birth happens we celebrate the arrival of God on earth because our sins are forgiven – penance has been paid once and for all times with the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus.

What a horrible thought and what an awful commentary on all of us.  We celebrate that God has had to take human form because we would not stop sinning.  Jesus the Christ brought forgiveness of all of our sins.  We seem to have brought jealousy, anger, resentment, and much more as we go downhill with the ugly side of human nature.

To me, it seems we should sit with  sack cloth in ashes beating our breasts because we brought God down to such a low level.  To celebrate the necessity of such an act and gift because we could or would not act solely out of our better nature is but a small part of Christmas.  The larger part is the tearing apart of our garments because of what we caused the God we supposedly worship to experience.  Caring plus Empathy equals Love, some say.  We care about God, but we have no empathy so how do we get from Caring about God to Loving God?  The way we celebrate Christmas shows our complete lack of empathy.  The way we live shows how strongly we care about what God can give us, which is where we calculate God’s worth.  Which is why we pray.  And, if God doesn’t answer our prayers we question God’s existence.

Our self-absorption and self-centeredness overwhelms every other emotion.  We act as though we are God and God is really our concierge.  Suggest prayer is about something other than the adult version of a child’s prayer for a bicycle will bring down the wrath of the world on your head and not just the Christian world.

We act out the necessity of such a sacrifice, the birth of Jesus,  everyday many times a day, even some two thousand plus years after that original sacrifice.  Parenting gives one a little look into the love God had to have for us to do such a thing.  Sacrifice your adult life to raise your children and give them what they need to get through life to its end and what do you receive in return?  From what we have seen – mostly entitlement from your children.  The moments of genuine love and giving are few and far between.  Sounds like a re-enactment of why God felt it necessary to become human for our sake.  God gave us Jesus and we responded by replacing Jesus with Santa Claus.

Buying all kind of presents from retail shops; getting together with friends and too much alcohol; dreading Christmas dinner with the family because it will end in horribleness; and I could go on and on.  We are doing all of this while there are so many people in pain; at the end of their lives and alone not able to pass along their immortality, which to most of us is our life story.  Why can’t we pass along our life story?  Because no one is listening.  Only celebrities and the rich and famous get to do that.

And it does seem to be getting worse, this ‘celebration’ of Christmas.  It starts right after Halloween and continues through January.  Some of us ease our consciences by making an effort to give a small part of our ‘celebration’ to those in need – and generally that is a very small part, usually limited to this one time Christmas gift giving.

We turn our Churches into concert halls for the holiday and pat ourselves on the back as to how wonderful we are because of it.  We don’t do that by bringing those in need, to whom we dedicate those concerts, into the Church/Concert Hall for an evening joining with others to meet and greet and celebrate and form longer lasting relationships, but by using that Concert Hall atmosphere to indulge our need to lift ourselves above the pact with the nobless oblige feelings that creates in us.

The holiday in Christianity to celebrate would be Easter.  However, Easter passes with barely a note, a present, a celebration. Not many family dinners because we go off to warmer climes or to celebrate other than at home and the less fortunate we give a small bit of our resources to over Christmas does not repeat over Easter.

We don’t stop to think of what a sacrifice it was for God to take on human form and all of the pains and vicissitudes of being human.  If we let those thoughts into our consciousnesses for even a moment our lives would change.  We give lip service to that and move on with our celebration.

Having given us 30 plus years – the way we count time – it was enough.  We rewarded Jesus the Christ, for this gift we celebrate at Christmas of God becoming equal to us all for our sake, with a crucifixion.

One interpretation of the resurrection after the crucifixion is that it could be that God was disgusted with the scene he was a part of and after the horrible experience of the crucifixion, took back this gift of equality and of giving an example to all of humanity of how life could be lived with a different set of values, a different character, a different morality and so got out of here to a better place, leaving us with the mess, corruption, ugliness that we created and continue to wallow in because that seems far better to us than to clean ourselves up and act in a way that would not need such a sacrifice from God.

Not the least of our sins is the one which led us to using the story of Jesus on this earth as a way to strengthen sexism – by declaring Jesus’ birth as a male child the justification for the extreme Paternalism and Male Superiority which pervades our Churches.

Next to that is the fact that we took Jesus’ birth and life as a reason to reinforce racism by portraying  ‘him’ with White skin and softly flowing blondish-brown hair.  Would that be shoring up the racism we practice?

This is all such a pattern of how we live.  Didn’t we take God-given food grown with sunlight, air, rain and turned it into something horrible with the introduction of chemicals, machinery to change its texture, color and nutritional value because man could make more money when its sold – bought cheap from the farmer, ‘ processed’ and sold for a fortune to everyone else?

Don’t we continually destroy the beautiful universe around us?  It is so beautiful to look up at the sky; to see the flowers; to enjoy the life giving oxygen of the trees – until we cut them up, cut them down to make money?  And guns? and so many artificial things we don’t need, but work ourselves to death to obtain, neglecting that which is real and of God?

How long, O God, must we suffer the pangs and vicissitudes of our humanity.  It doesn’t look at all changed over these two thousand plus years.  We are still a sinful humanity.  What did your birth change – really?

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Ed Note:  This is a very Christian message.  We thought long and hard before putting it in the blog, but our need to be open to the world far overtook our concerns about printing it.

We welcome other religions to send us blogs on their thoughts, prayers and lifestyles.  We will print them either with your name or without and if you request, we will put a copyright on your work.

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

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

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

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

 

 

Martin Luther King Day at Bettina’s

Tuesday, January 20th, 2015

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2015

Hate murdered a man, at 39 years of age, who preached love.

Hate murdered a man, at 39 years of age, who preached love.

It has been amazing and humbling to watch the progress of the Martin Luther King holiday over the years.  We watched from the beginning, when there was much conflict, confrontation, opposition, loud voices of angry protest at the very idea that such a man, with his history and achievements should be honored. We watched until today when the determination and love of those who were going to make sure Martin and the work of the Black Civil Rights movement was recognized.  This 2015 year we celebrated and recognized a man and a movement with time out of school for our children, to the closing of banks, the post office and some of our corporations.  To get even this far, has been a long, hard, painful, but very rewarding journey for many.

How do we treat greatness when discovered or suspected in African Americans?

How do we treat greatness when discovered or suspected in African Americans?

We attended and participated in events which recognized Martin Luther King and the movement of which he was one of the leaders.  The events, their venues, the people participating were a cross section – not only of America – but across parts of the world where the work of the Civil Rights Movement was remembered.

There was much “breakfast table talk” about the history which brought us to this day.  We hope it continues throughout the year. I thought we would share some of that conversation with you:

“We had a fantastic breakfast – I would have to call it a ‘breakfast seminar.’   Only one person at the table had been through the Civil Rights Movement which created this holiday.  The rest of us were either not yet born or were on the other side.  I was one of those on the other side at the time because, to me, what was happening with the protests, the disruptions, the dogs, the hoses aimed at the hurting of even young children was something I couldn’t abide.  I didn’t think there was anything wrong with life the way we were living it.  My point of view was not that of those who were willing to die for their freedom and were looking to the future at their children’s future, but of someone whose life was being disrupted.  Not seriously disrupted, but enough to be inconvenienced and I just wanted it to stop and things to go back to the way they were.  I don’t know when God took hold of me to shake me up and to shake those attitudes out of my life, but somehow it happened and I am now a part of the Black Lives Matter demonstrations.  My grey hair can be seen among all of those young people and I hope somehow, even though it is a very little and very late, my efforts will matter to those who come behind me.”

 

Are you listening out there in Simi Valley? How diverse is your neighborhood!

Are you listening out there in Simi Valley? How diverse is your neighborhood!

WOW!

WOW!

 

“What a history lesson!  I remember studying the Civil Rights Movement in school.  We learned about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and what that time was all about, but I had never talked to someone who was a part of that history before.  This was a very different perspective.  I think of history as being about the study of dead people and past times.  Here I was in the middle of a conversation with someone who lived that history and those past times are still with us today.  I have never been a part of a demonstration of any kind.  Never talked to anyone who had.  Didn’t intend to talk to anyone who was a part of something like that and here I was in the middle of breakfast deep into a conversation that changed my life. Thank you to my breakfast companions for putting up with me.  My responses must have been horrible to you, yet you were so kind – well almost kind, after you got over the shock of my being at the breakfast table.   I don’t know what I expected, but certainly not what happened.  I have never even thought twice about the Martin Luther King holiday.  No different from all those other holidays I don’t celebrate.  Maybe it is the newness of this one – with the pain still being felt by those who experienced the events which led up to this being important enough to remember once a year. This is, however, a holiday I am bringing back to my family to celebrate every year by learning something new about that time in history and by trying to be a little better about dealing with my prejudices which have caused so many people pain. But – is ‘celebrate’ really what I want to say.  I almost feel as though we should all be in sack cloth and ashes for what we’ve done, but ‘celebrate’ is what I feel.”

A truth the world needs to hear! From the religious aristocrats to the homeless on our streets, none of us is immune from this need! To be accepted by proving that we can discriminate against our brothers and sisters just as good as the next person.

A truth the world needs to hear! From the world’s elite,  the corporate billionaires, the religious aristocrats, the homeless on our streets, no one   is immune from the need to be silent so we can be accepted. “I am sorry, but I can’t get involved. Only when my earthly masters signal their approval.”

“A small group of us (women all) get together every year on Martin Luther King day to try to continue to work through our conflicting thoughts about the Black Civil Rights Movement.  It was a difficult time for us.  Women  – who were discriminated against, not only by the wider society, but also by the Black Civil Rights Movement.  It was very male oriented and some, in the movement, felt embarrassed if women were perceived as being in any leadership position.  We withdrew, but still supported what was happening with our money, by marching and by being a part of.  At the same time, we gathered together to fight for the equality of women and here was an example where those discriminated against were discriminating against us. That is so the human condition!  Flawed, full of sin, dragging our own history and almost blind to that of others.  Our time together, each year, is to try to reconcile and acknowledge our being human and to root out our separateness to be able to embrace everyone and not feel victimized as we work with those also fighting for their freedom in a society which seems to need to have a group on top and a group less than and which needs to manage and continue their being on top by playing one ‘less than’ group against another.”

images-5

 

 

“I love Bettina’s.  It is a safe place to be able to express whatever and you never know who is going to be at breakfast.  May you all live long and prosper.”

 

 

 

Ed Note:  We had a lot more expressions of breakfast at Bettina’s on Martin Luther King Day.  We shared just a few.  The places where people came from, knowing the history of King and the Movement amazed even us.  We could put this all together in a book, but we will stop here.  Hope this gives more meaning to your day and information to your life.

 

129902141An insight into a reality we find hard to accept!

 

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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.

 

Happy New Year and Our Year End Review!

Monday, December 29th, 2014

Bettina Network, inc. Trademark

Bettina Network, inc. Trademark

We wish all of you a very Happy New Year and much success, joy and gracious living throughout 2015!

We review what we have done, at the end of each year, within the corporation.   We thought we would do something different this year and share that review of Bettina Network, inc. with those who have used our services and those who care about us as much as we care about them.

One of our goals for the year was accomplished towards the end of 2014 through the establishment of Bettina Network Foundation, inc.

It took longer than expected for that to happen, but we worked hard on the structure of the Foundation and to bring it out as a 501©3 organization before the end of 2014.  If you would like to know more about this organization, we encourage you to read about it in the Blog – just click on Bettina Network Foundation and the articles written throughout the year will come up for your information.  Our mission statement is “We exist to help those in need to restructure and reframe their lives and their thinking through various avenues and tools so they may become entrepreneurs with the mindset, education, requisite tools, resources and skills to start and grow their own business.  We establish ourselves in memory of all those who have had wonderful ideas, who worked to bring those ideas into reality in the form of their own businesses, but who died without having reached that goal.”

We tried to set Bettina Network Foundation, inc. up as a self-funding organization and we think we have succeeded in that goal also.   Although it is majorly self-funding, we are certainly open to contributions.  The Bettina Network, inc.’s web site has a section for the Foundation and there will be a way for you to contribute by going onto the web site and clicking the top link which says “foundation” and there will be a page for contributions.

We were also able to establish  an education institute as a part of Bettina Network, inc.  There will be more about that later, but for now and for your information, we are basically looking for homes to add to the Bettina Network, inc. which offer an educational component.  Guests/scholars/researchers/business people/students -even tourists – will be able to stay and take part in the educational offerings of the home owners as well as visit, tour, take care of other business, visit family and more during their stay in a particular city.

Bettina Network’s Blog has held its own this year and developed from a few hundred visitors a day, at the beginning of 2014, to a consistent 1,000 plus visitors towards the end of the year.  Our readership jumped to some 6,000 readers, but the company which is our managed server managed to mess that up – big time – by cutting off whole countries from having access to the Blog.  At one point we could not access our own blog because our part of the United States had been cut off from having access to the Blog.  When they straightened that out, we still had a difficult time with access because their machines were down more than they were up and active, so we had to re-build the readership and we were not happy campers.  It was a horror story which we are still in the process of working through.

Technology is one of the largest problems companies have and we are experiencing the good and the bad of all that technology can do.

Our dream of establishing Bettina Network’s Lifestyle Community has started to happen.  We were able to send out passwords to those who used Bettina Network, inc. over the years and welcomed them into the Community.  Their first benefit was using their password to access Bettina’s Menu of Events whenever they wish.  It is not yet a worldwide Menu, but we are on the way to expanding it so that it will soon become such a calendar of events.

Members of the Community were also able to add events to the Menu using their passwords.  We have not have many people use that benefit.  It will take time for it to catch on and for Bettina Network’s Lifestyle Community to realize the many benefits they now can access.  We are hoping that small, very choice, community events around the world that we would never otherwise know about, become a part of Bettina’s Menu of Events by those in the Community using their passwords to add their favorite events for others to enjoy.

Our dream is that members of Bettina Network’s Lifestyle Community will be able to use their passwords to access events around the world for any date and any location they choose and will be able to use Bettina’s Menu of Events as often as they need to do so.

As you can see we have been busy.  We hope you will continue to read Bettina Network’s Blog and to use the services of Bettina Network, inc.

If you have feedback for us, we are open to hearing from you.  We were able, over this past year, to bring several things into fruition that we had only been able to dream about, but we continued to work hoping for good results and some of that happened in 2014.  Since we are self-funding and do not have the hundred of millions of dollars others seem to be able to access, we think we have done an outstanding job and have congratulated ourselves for about five minutes before getting to work a little harder because we now have a bit of wind behind our backs.

We want to move forward with your input added to our own, to produce a company that serves others and brings goodness into the world.  We hope you will send us your suggestions and will stay in touch and use our services for many years to come.

Who knows what 2015 will bring!  We hope it brings greatness to us, to you and to your family!

Sincerely,

All of us at Bettina Network, inc.

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Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

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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.

 

Candlemass and Pancakes?

Thursday, February 6th, 2014

copyrighr Bettina Network, inc., 2014

Leave it to the French to take a religious celebration and turn it into something to eat – something great to eat.

Candlemass is celebrated in France as Candelaria where candles are blessed, lit and borne in procession.  After which pancakes are eaten.

In the Mosaic Law, there is the requirement that a woman should purify herself for forty days after giving birth.  At the end of her purification, she should present herself to the priest at the temple and offer a sacrifice.  The Roman Catholic Churches celebrate their ritual of the Purification of Saint Mary the Virgin on Candlemass – 40 days after Christmas.  The Anglican Churches celebrate the Wives Feast, which is a time when women celebrate with feasting and socializing.  The Bettina Network, inc. just likes pancakes and an excuse to experiment with food!!!

This past Sunday we had a grand time eating pancakes all day long.  Testing different recipes and learning the cultural traditions relating to this holiday,  the middle point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox.  So we are half-way there and here’s hoping the weather takes that into consideration and starts slacking off on these storms.

Of all the pancakes we tried, the best were the French Banana Pancakes.  As they would say in France, it is all in the sauce.  The sauce made the difference and these are unbelievably good.  In fact, we would say these are astoundingly good.

For the Pancakes: – actually any good crepe recipe will serve the purpose.

1 cup organic whole wheat flour

1/4 cup organic Turbinado Sugar

1 cup organic whole milk.  PLEASE – no low fat milk.  In fact,  if you have the guts and haven’t been totally warped by the marketers and advertisers using fear to sell overprocessed foods,  you might use organic heavy cream instead.  Only you have to make sure it is not the ‘ultra pasteurized’ kind which is nothing but over-processed something or other designed to last 90 days on the grocers’ shelf.  Can you imagine what has been done to that ultra-pasteurized heavy cream to gain that kind of shelf life?

2 organic eggs (large)

3 tablespoons organic butter

1 teaspoon organic hazelnut oil – the kind you put on the table to add to coffee, when the spirit moves you!

1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine the dry ingredients and mix them a little with a spoon or whisk to incorporate air into the mixture

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until smooth.

On a lightly greased griddle or fry pan with very low sides pour enough pancake batter to make a fairly large sized pancake – turning when there are no bubbles and the bottom is lightly browned.

Remove the pancake to a plate and repeat with remaining batter.  This makes about 12 pancakes which will be flat and light instead of fat and fluffy.  More like a crepe – which you will need to be able to put a banana in the crepe and wrap.

For the Filling: – the really good part.

1/4 cup organic Turbinado sugar

1/4 cup organic butter

1/2 teaspoon  organic Ceylon Cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon organic nutmeg which you grate into the sauce – none of this powdery pre-grated stuff

1/2 cup or more organic heavy cream.  Use enough to get the consistency you need.

6 bananas, halved lengthwise and cut in half lengthwise yet again

The amount of seasonings you use depends upon your taste.  We tried a huge tablespoon organic Ceylon Cinnamon because we like its properties of dealing with sugar and its taste.  It is awesome.

I used to think cinnamon was put into pastries, pies, etc. because of its taste.  I am sure that is part of the reason, but the other part comes from the possibility that our forebears knew about the properties of cinnamon and used it with their sugary concoctions to mitigate the affects of sugar on the body.  Wouldn’t that be something!  Enjoyment, but with a conscience and a caring for others.

Melt butter in a large skillet.

Stir in the organic Turbinado sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and after a minute or two stir in the cream, cooking until slightly thickened.

Add the bananas a few at a time as they fit into the skillet.  Heat the sauce with bananas for several minutes while spooning the syrup over the bananas.  The longer you cook the bananas the fluffier they become.  So, if you want bananas to be substantial and dense heat them briefly.  If you want them to be light and fluffy cook them for several minutes in the sauce.

Place one of the banana pieces in the middle of a pancake/crepe, add a little sauce and roll the combination.

Put them on a pretty platter and when the platter fills, pour sauce over the banana pancake/crepes for a more intense taste and a prettier serving look

Serve the French Pancakes with a side gravy saucer containing any leftover sauce for people to help themselves.

Enjoy an incredibly good dish and celebrate whatever holiday, birthday or just any day during which you want something special.

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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 Thanksgiving Gift

Wednesday, November 27th, 2013

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2013

We thought carefully over all the breakfast conversations lately and the one that seemed to be ideal for Thanksgiving was the one about how important it was to sterilize your forks, knives, etc. – especially since we all cook and eat with great gusto on this Thursday –

That has been a growing conversation and it is becoming louder when we all assume the utensils which we use to eat -most, -if not all of our meals, must be sterilized if we are not to come down with diseases from the germs, bacteria, viruses they carry from one person to another.

This particular breakfast conversation had a different twist.  Lacking interest at several breakfasts about the great issues of the day and our opinions of them we asked why is the din growing so loud about sterilizing eating utensils?  Could it have something to do with the metal, alloys, other materials, being used to make these utensils?  Is something being covered up which is important for us to know?  After all, our ancestors used utensils for eating and cooking for generations without sterilizing them so why the fuss now?

What was pointed out to all of us was the anti-bacterial properties of some utensils and the lack of such with others;  the mythology of the marketing and advertising being pushed out to us with its half-truths, hidden information, unpublished research which could damage what is being advertised, etc.;  and the changes that have taken place and foisted on a very ignorant public for the benefit of the manufacturers, inventors, retailers and more.

For many generations silver was used for pots for cooking and for knives, forks, spoons, etc. There was no need to sterilize because silver has anti-bacterial properties.

Today, we use stainless steel, aluminum and other metal, other alloys and plastics for eating utensils and for cooking.  That has totally changed how we have to clean and store these utensils after use.

Since we were not paying attention to our grandparents wisdom, most of that good and simple home keeping information has been lost.  Add to that  this past generation which has been so busy with other things they succumbed to the marketing and advertising mythology being spread around for the benefit of the processors and inventors of these new and different things  Those simpler tried and true methods of the past  are being lost at a fiercely aggressive rate.

This little bit of wisdom is given to you this Thanksgiving in the hope that you will cherish it, use it and pass it down to your children.  Please move away from the technology for a minute.  Please step away from all the ads and marketing thrown at you for your use to incorporate in your and your family’s lifestyle and please, please pay attention!!!!!  Just a few seconds of your time!!!!!

After all, isn’t that how Martha Stewart became so famous so quickly? She was passing on to us things we were never taught.  She was passing along the basics of living in a reasonably cultured society and we were all eyes and ears.  Our parents were too busy trying to cope with a very fast changing society.  They raised their children as best they could in places where historical role models were taken down and new ones put up to benefit the manufacturers of really questionable items.  Our eating utensils are just one group that has suffered from this newness of information.  Information – sometimes really questionable in what it says and purposely leaves out – with ads created in song, dance and sex –  to get you to buy.  Reject that and look for  information which passes along truthful nuggets of how to best live a long and healthy life making choices to promote that lifestyle.  How do you develop an antenna to tell the difference?  Cultivate discernment – a powerful ally throughout your life as it changes and you grow in knowledge with expanding wisdom.

Check out your kitchen.  Are the knives, forks and spoons therein silver or some other strange material, previously unknown and which should be banned for eating utensils because they can be dangerous to your health?  If so, replace them immediately with silver plate or sterling silver place settings – serving utensils – and more.

Are your pots aluminum? Or perhaps an unknown and untested alloy – and we mean untested over generations of family use?  If they are, step away from the stove and seriously consider replacing them.  Aluminum became popular as quickly as it did because we were accustomed to silver pots and aluminum looked like silver, but cost much less.  Now there are rumors it may play a part in the Alzheimers epidemic and we discover it is used in everything from pots to deodorant and no one really knows its longterm affect on your body.  You put aside money for other things – think of your health and start putting aside money for silver pots, forks, knives, spoons, and more.

Estate sales have wonderful forks, knives, spoons and other service pieces at prices much less than the prices for new stainless and other fancy looking eating utensils – at very reasonable prices.  Sometimes you can even get a set of sterling in a silver box or in a piece of furniture designed to hold such lined with silver felt to keep them tarnish free for a very long time.  They are worth the investment.

You don’t have to sterilize silver because it has anti-bacterial properties which are much better at killing the germs and bacteria and other such things which get on our utensils. Other materials might still have problems even after sterilization.

Go the way which has been tried and true for our ancestors, we feel you won’t regret the extra effort.  In fact, your health will improve and you will certainly then send blessings our way.

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving and keep tuned in to breakfast at Bettina Homes to continue the conversation.

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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 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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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.

Happy New Year! 2013

Tuesday, January 1st, 2013

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2013

All of us at Bettina Network, inc. wish all of you a very Happy New Year!

Our wish for you in 2013 is for much joy – the company of caring people – problems which are immediately solvable – new friends and experiences you would not have dreamed about – the discovery of great books, an increasing knowledge of the past to understand and learn from our ancestors mistakes – and the very best food with dishes from other cultures infiltrating the list of what you consider ‘comfort food’.   All organic – of course.

We have dealt with myth vs truth all year.  This has been a counterpoint in the business, at breakfast, meeting friends, from the media.  Wherever we have gone we have had to counter the over-romanticized sayings, misinterpretation of feelings, bad advice from our store of mythology that we give to others and more.

Each time we encountered such, it required us to have a bit of a conversation to work through the why of such passings along and what it achieves for us as a society.

Not having great  wisdom to pass along to you we will just wish that in 2013 you will be able to instantly see myth for what it is ; to understand the function it is serving at the moment and can keep it separate from reality – both the established myth and myth in the making.

For Example: the ‘myth’ or ‘wish’ that we heard frequently this year was “I hope God gives you roots and wings.  Roots so you are firmly anchored and Wings so you can take flight.

That always struck us as strange.  We now use it as a joke.  When we want to wish someone ill – we wish them roots and wings.  Why?  Because if you receive that gift you will be torn apart the way the soul is torn apart after death in the Tibetan Book of the Dead.  Roots anchor you and the deeper and stronger the roots the more excruciating is the tearing apart of the body and the soul when you sprout those beautiful wings.  Is that what keeps us away from one another?

So, we have roots, then we grow wings – huge, beautiful, elegant wings. When you use those wings and you are fully anchored with your roots deep in the soil where they have been nurtured by generations of ancestors, comes the incredible tearing apart.  We see it all over society.  Those who have tried to soar, but were held back by their ‘roots’.  They become dysfunctional, confused, a caricature of who they could be.  They have sprouted wings, but their ‘roots’ have them totally anchored to the earth. As human beings it is only a short jump from our own cultural ways to our own cultural ways which are better than anybody else’s and therefore we are better than those who are different, who hold different values, look different, relate differently.

We wish for you a year of understanding the intent of those who pass along these kind of myths – and the reality of what they are saying.

The media has contributed greatly to our being totally ‘rooted’ in these sayings which become mythology – their cute headlines, like ‘we are about to fall off the cliff’ – really?  If I hear that one more time when I turn on the television or read the paper or magazine I will probably throw up.  There is no cliff to fall off – the financial matters which they have created into this ‘cliff’ image will be resolved in time for the disaster they are predicting to be averted and the media can then to go back to reporting on real news.  Well, sort of real news.  The media has begun to repay its debt to the politician for bringing their publication into a more profitable position by the money the politicians spend on ads, etc. during campaigns.  They have had good exposure and have had time to posture in front of the cameras for quite a long period of time.

This is not the politician and their funders total pay back – you will see more of this media-covered and promoted grandstanding as the year progresses.

We have heard this ‘falling off the cliff’ image before – especially as it relates to something Congress is or is not doing and the dreaded disaster never happens.  When the whole story comes out and we realize what they have turned into this ‘cliff’ never was a threat and we have been “taken to the cleaners” – this is never a great and glorious moment.

Have you noticed that this kind of constant non-stop reporting on one topic for days and sometimes weeks always seems to come when there are traditionally no headlines to grab your attention as the media fights to be the first with the flawed story?  Remember Y2K?  That was reported on endlessly with talking heads going on ad nauseum and then the story died because the time came and went and the disaster they were predicting didn’t happen AND if you listened closely you knew it was not going to happen.   It was a flight into nothingness that would occupy lots of air time, thousands of pages of paper and endless photographs which didn’t match the story.  The ‘talking heads’ make out quite well because they are always in demand to keep the story going around the round table – or horseshoe shaped table – or rectangular table, depending upon which show you watch.

We wish for you the ability to see truth every day of your life.  We wish for you the ability and the need to strip away all of the maudlings, the overly romanticized, the propaganda, the flights of fancy meant to take your mind off what is happening,  so power and control is not diluted by John and Jane Q. Public.

We wish for you the ability to be able to stand on your own two feet where you see truth even if you are the only one speaking it – in a crowd going along with the program.

We wish for you the inner strength to endure all of the pain and agony of this life and the ability to use the lessons and turn that pain and agony and those hard times into something beautiful which you can share with us all.

We wish for you such joy that when you enter a room it lights up and fairly glows because you are there.

We wish for you total involvement in LIFE – in which you are a very integral part of what is happening and not a bystander watching the lives of others march past, totally missing your own.

We wish for you the wisdom to know that you are human and what that means with its strengths and weaknesses, its joys and sorrows, its ups and downs, its truths and lies.

We wish for you a turning away from seeing yourselves as greater than the homeless on the street with the need to turn towards them and not away from them because they and you are the same – only on a different journey.

We wish for you the ability to see others, who may look and act differently from you, as one with you.

We wish for you the ability to create businesses, families, communities, political structures which are inclusive and which unite rather than divide.

We wish for you the knowledge and love of a great God who has created all of us even though we call God by different names and give God different attributes, and sometimes even try to create God in our own image.

We hope 2013 brings you closer to yourself -able to see and live with your flaws, your greatness, your talents and to see them as gifts – given to you by a great God, who gives  gifts to others, different from but just as important as the gifts given to you.

We hope 2013 will bring you closer to being able to accept yourself without needing a scapegoat to project onto and to blame when things don’t go the way you think they should.  Such a need for escape through the use of a human scapegoat created the Holocaust  –  we hope you will be one of those who does everything they possibly can to bring this universe to a different place.  We can’t all be God, we can’t all be gods, but we can all be warm, loving, caring, giving human beings – all equal, all different, and all accepting of the good, the bad and the indifference of others.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

From 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.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wednesday, November 21st, 2012

“Thou has given so much to me,” poet George Herbert wrote,  

“Give one thing more, – a grateful heart.”

                                A quote in Samuel T. Lloyd’s Thanksgiving message in the Trinity Church newsletter.

Some things say it all – there is nothing more to add except the wishes and prayers we send to you and your family for  a Thanksgiving which brings up old memories and shows you all sides;  which  makes wonderful new memories to carry you through this life wrapped in their warmth and love,  and which brings truth, wisdom, and wonder into your life and the lives of your family!

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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.

Happy Holidays to One and All!!!

Sunday, December 18th, 2011

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2011

We wish for everyone celebrating this winter holiday season a joyous; memory filled; warm celebration, surrounded by friends-family-extended family; and those added to the family for the holidays who would otherwise be alone.

We wish for you gratitude, humility, a fulfillment of at least one dream during the holidays along with the re-appearance in your life of one dear to you who has been missing when you-your friends-and-family gathered for holidays and other celebrations.

We wish you ENOUGH!  Enough light, laughter, understanding, knowledge, growth, and the supreme feeling of a life which has enough of everything.

We wish you the knowledge of who you are, from whence you have come and where you are going.

We wish for you to know that of which you are made.  I am made of STARDUST!  Because of many, many bed & breakfast guests, I have finally come to realize the meaning of  “from dust you are to dust you shall return” .  I always thought that meant “dirt”.  The kind we dig up in the spring to plant new flowers.  But today I know that I am made of the dust from the Universe – the Galaxy and I am proud.  I am one whose core and middle and outside is composed of STARDUST!  I am a particular person, but I am also one with the Universe.  My oneness with the Universe is in my being – that of which I am composed.  The very core of my being comes from the Universe and when I die that is where it shall return.  What an incredible knowing!

We wish you the knowledge of your being and that of which you are made!

We wish you the drive to become a greater person – one who re-discovers their passion and uses it to successfully re-create their life.

We wish for you the strength to jettison that which is mundane in your life to take that turn deeper into that about which you are passionate.

We wish for you the life force to be active, beautiful, creative until the moment of your death.

We wish for you internal fortitude to withstand and endure whatever life brings, which initially seems difficult and sometimes overwhelming, but becomes the means by which wisdom, love and understanding  grow in you.

We wish for you the time and circumstances to be able to share that wisdom with your friends and family.

We wish for you the ability to deal with your children and your parents, no matter, how difficult that seems to be – to share with them that difficulty and to help to bring them into a more fulfilled  life because you are their parents or their child.

We wish for you the internalization of the graciousness of God!

We wish for you  the faith and prayers and good works to bring you into God’s Kingdom.

We wish for you eternal life.

Amen!  and Amen!

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Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

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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.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday, December 24th, 2010

WE wish you much joy, happiness and love!  

We wish for you the care and comfort 
         of being surrounded by friends, family 
         and those who need you and yours!


If we could give to you any gift in the universe, we would give you the joy of giving!  Why? To to be able to give, you must know how to love – must be able to love enough that you give without thinking about what is being given back to you!  It is the gift of this holiday season, the one for which it was created!


TO GIVE – 
     is the ground on which the Bettina Network is built!                                                               
    
To give, unconditionally, is to gain the ability to see truth.


        Give of yourself to others.  You can afford to stop when you see someone in need 
                                          – it won’t ruin your life or your career.

    Order your life so that much of it is engaged in giving!  
           
            To give is a natural part of to live.  


     To give does not mean giving billions to institutionally structured charities – they will only continue this society 
moving in the wrong direction. 


                  To give is a direct act.


 There are the homeless – why can’t we give them homes?
              There are the hungry – why can’t we feed them?
      There are the addicted – why can’t we expect them to give to others?        
       There are those without proper clothing – why can’t we clothe them?

there are those who need little things to facilitate their lives – a ride to someplace they need to be, but don’t have the ability to get there – a conversation with someone who will really listen – honest feedback on what they are doing which is leading them down the wrong path – friends to be with because they have none and don’t know how to change that – a circle of people with whom they differ so they can understand what life means to those in a different place –

The sin we commit, 

which wrecks havoc in this world, 


is what we do to shore up our identity as better than ‘those people’.  

We are particularly careful of our time, so we give to those in places where we think we will benefit.  We work so hard to have the ‘right’ friends, the ‘right’ job’ to live in the most ‘correct’ neighborhood, to have our children go to the ‘best’ schools. We do what we can to keep those out of our neighborhood who would lessen our self-esteem. All of this is tragically life consuming. 

Instead, see those in need, dying, grieving, lost. don’t push them aside –    
                                      You have time!!          

We are rushing toward a horrific end —
we are becoming more isolated.

We are terrified of the germs we might catch from one another
We raise children to inherit FEAR.
Our industries make billions trading on FEAR

We spend billions trying to stay young.
But, in reality,
we only manage to hide from ourselves,
for a little while,
the fact that we will grow old and die.

AND SO WE WARP OUR LIVES.

We keep the sick, the maimed, the dying, in another place so we can go about our lives as   though we are immortal and always young  and healthy!
         
Keep those who are old away from us! “Assisted Living?”
         We don’t want to see them change!

We wish for you the ability to get out of the crowd working hard to store up treasures which moths and rust do corrupt and into which thieves can break through and steal,

for where your heart is, there also is your treasure.


We wish for you a beautiful world.  One in which the flowers are neither all lilies, nor all roses, no matter how beautiful those flowers may be.  We wish for you a world full of millions of different flowers – blooming profusely.


We wish for you a world of people who take the time 
                                      to care for one another – 
                         who even take the time to care for the stranger.  


We wish for you a world and a life full of
     the love and the joy which comes                  
                                    FROM GIVING!!! 

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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.

Holiday Tradition and Health?

Monday, November 29th, 2010

copyright 2010 the Bettina Network, inc.

Isn’t it amazing how our holiday traditions, which go back the furthest, have some connection to health?

We have recommended the web site www.mercola.com in the past as a great newsletter. We hope you have subscribed to this newsletter, which is loaded with research and good information about health, nutrition, etc. It often comes up across the breakfast table and we are delighted to get emails from guests who discovered it on their own and are recommending we write about it in Bettina’s Blog.

The latest information we gleaned from this newsletter (with a guest pointing the way) follows. We hope you think about this when you hang a piece of mistletoe in your entry hallway:

“certain natural substances can help to restore proper cellular communication. For instance, Dr. Popp found that mistletoe appeared to restore biophoton emissions of tumor cells to a normal level!. Interestingly, even conventional medicine confirmed that mistletoe extract does appear to have a beneficial effect on cancer, with one study published in Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine showing that mean survival rates nearly doubled among breast cancer patients who received mistletoe extract.”

Before you write to ask – no we don’t know who Dr. Popp is, we received the above quote just minutes ago from a guest with the message that “we should look into our traditions with an eye as to how and why they came into being and what message they are transmitting to future generations. Are they short-hand for more than what we realize?”

Enjoy your holidays and research those holiday traditions you keep alive year after year with the above in mind.

_____________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

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.


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