Bettina's Blog

From a bed & breakfast guest:

Your posts on using olive oil have opened the doors and windows for me. I've had a grand time with it and you have answered many quesstions I've had for years.

When I read your post about cleaning furniture with lemon juice and olive oil, I pulled out my old wooden chopping board. It is dried out horribly and I haven't used it for a couple years because I didn't know how to treat it. All the literature says clean it with white vinegar, to get rid of the smell, and then rub mineral oil into the wood. Well, I eat what I chop on the board and I was not going to eat something which had been prepared on wood cleaned with white vinegar (acetic acid) - and mineral oil (petroleum). I wouldn't put mineral oil on my food, nor would I put it on my body - which means I don't get professional massages because that is basically what is contained in their massage oil.

When I read your post I thought - what do I have to lose - so I mixed up about 2/3 cups olive oil with 1/2 lemon and went to work on the old board. The next morning I was amazed. It was beautiful. I used the entire amount of olive oil and lemon juice because the board just soaked it up. It is now showing the squares the way it did when it was new. The oil has dried and it is not greasy. I had to wipe the dried lemon off, but that took a second and I am certain the brightness and cleanness of the board is due to the lemon addition, so the extra second was worth the effort.

Thank you! I have my chopping board back; I am not afraid to use it; It is once again a beautiful addition to my kitchen and all is right with the world.

Keep on keeping on. This has made me a loyal reader of your blog and I will also tell everyone I know about this experience.

Somehow, I think this was probably how my grandmother cleaned her chopping board, but I wasn't listening, watching, or learning from her when she was around. I guess I really missed a lot from being so absent from the older women in my family. They are who should have been my role models. Wish I could pass that bit of wisdom down to my own children and future grandchildren to help make their lives easier. Better to learn from them than from the marketing media, who I learned from and because of whom I must now relearn and try to make a better life for myself than they tried to do for me.

The older women in my family had my best interest at heart, although I didn't think so at the time. They were not trying to pry all the money out of my pocketbook leaving me with health issues as a result of their wrong-headed advice. A friend of mine even bought "food grade" mineral oil as a present for me to help me with my chopping board. Food grade or not, it is still petroleum and I didn't use it, although she had all the right arguments to try to get me to use it. I sent her the link to your blog so she could see where she was really an air-head about buying the advice of those who are paid to sell bad stuff. I knew if I waited long enough something would come along to help with these little problems. One down, four hundred ninety- nine to go. Keep those posts coming! God bless you!

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Labels: Guest comments, Health, Making Connections, Reader Feedback

I love your company. I wasn't really sold on traveling bed & breakfast, but after trying Bettina's I am a convert. May it and all of you live long and prosper.

I tried the olive oil and lemon juice and it was FANTASTIC!!!!! I had some left over and went about cleaning other things. Did you know the same mixture cleans brass? I hate to clean brass and we have tons of it from my just married days. We were given a lot and started collecting exquisite pieces, but they can be horrible to clean so we didn't. Some had turned quite dark. The only time any of our brass pieces were cleaned was when the woman who cleans for us had extra time and she would pick up a piece or two and rub forever. The stuff she used had a foul smell, which lingered in the house for hours.

I used the 0000 steel wool and what was left over from the olive oil and lemon juice mixture I used to clean a couple pieces of wood furniture. It is unbelievable how easy it was to clean my brass pieces - trays, statues, candles. They look beautiful - but best of all I didn't have to suit-up to spend half a day cleaning brass. I didn't even use rubber gloves and like you said, my hands are all the better for having done the work.

THANK YOU! And you know I won't ever stay anyplace else. By the time you help me get my house into a very "organic" state I won't be able to stay anyplace else. As it is, I am hooked on breakfast at Bettina's. However, I haven't turned my own kitchen organic as a result - my husband is a little unhappy paying the extra money for some organic foods, but we have gone completely organic with milk and butter. Eggs are next. Hopefully, he will relent, especially when he sees the money we are going to save on brass polish. The one we bought was VERY EXPENSIVE! I've tried to show him that you spend more on some things and less on others when you go organic - maybe this proves the case.

ed. Note: We added the bold type to this guests comments.

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Labels: Guest comments, Health, Making Connections, Reader Feedback

copyright the Bettina Network, inc. 2010

Several months ago, we received a telephone call from a host family in the Bettina Network whose home is open for bed & breakfast guests.

She had an exciting experience cleaning and polishing her furniture. Not many of us get excited over such things these days. It has taken a couple months for us to share this with you because we were afraid to try her suggestion to verify her results. We've done that now and it is actually, really exciting.

She cleans and polishes her wood furniture every six months. How she does it is what's at issue: she mixes olive oil with the juice from 1/2 lemon and rubs this into her wood furniture.

Having been conditioned by the petrochemical crowd and their fantastic marketing, we thought this would be a disaster. We asked a few people to try it before we set out on this project and their results were astounding - so, our turn.

We mixed one cup olive oil with the juice of 1/2 lemon, used 0000 steel wool and set about rubbing our furniture. Once we rubbed the furniture with the 0000 steel wool, (always in the direction of the grain), we wiped off the oil and the steel wool residue with a soft cloth and went back over the furniture with plain olive oil. We let the furniture dry overnight.

The next morning I fully expected to find little animals feasting on the oil residue and an oily ugly mess, but instead the excess oil soaked into the furniture and left a hard beautiful sheen. The results are phenomenal. The furniture is clean, bright, and has a shine that is real. Not greasy, nor slimy, nor anything like that, just a good, clean, hard, dry sheen.

The side benefits from this furniture cleaning and polishing expedition came when we looked at our hands. No rubber gloves were needed because we were using olive oil and lemon juice - neither of which would hurt us if it touched our skin. Our hands were beautifully soft because they had been nourished by the olive oil we used as furniture oil. Another benefit came from the house not smelling of petroleum distillates, a really foul smell. I sniffed around in the evening and couldn't smell anything. We asked bed & breakfast guests if they smelled anything when they came in, they said no - nothing. I was concerned because I didn't want the house to smell like a salad dressing, but that didn't happen. The house had a nice, clean, fresh, smell.

A variation on this came from trying a substitute of lemongrass essential oil for the lemon juice. That is an essential oil which we've found has side health benefits. The results were not as dramatic as when we used the olive oil and lemon juice combination, but still very good. The smell was a major difference - probably because of the lemongrass essential oil - the house had a fresh, light sort of lemony smell. We didn't pick that smell up with the olive oil and lemon juice but then lemongrass oil has an old wives tale with it which claims it is an excellent insecticide, so maybe that explains the smell.

Copying from an article on the internet "Lemongrass essential oil is analgesic, anti-microbial, antiseptic, astringent, bactericidal, carminative, deodorant, insecticidal, sedative, nervine and a tonic; in aromatherapy, lemongrass oil is used to treat acne, to repel insects such as fleas, lice, ticks and mosquitoes, to relieve muscle pain, indigestion, fever, disease, headaches, stress and nervous exhaustion."

Read more at Suite101: Lemongrass Essential Oil: The Properties and Uses of Lemongrass Oil in Aromatherapy http://aromatherapy.suite101.com/article.cfm/lemongrass_essential_oil#ixzz0fEJAqYes

We are going to ask all Bettina homes which offer bed & breakfast to use olive oil and either lemon juice or lemongrass essential oil to clean their furniture in the future. We can't see anyone objecting. The benefits are - less money spent on furniture polishers; no need for rubber gloves to clean your furniture; does not compromise your health; nice fresh, clean smell; beautiful furniture and possibly an insecticide side-affect; AND its benefits to the environment are immense.

Afterthoughts: The 0000 steel wool for the initial cleaning was our idea and it is not something that is a necessary part of cleaning the furniture. We are the only ones who used the 0000 steel wool, everyone else rubbed the olive oil and lemon juice combination onto their furniture with a soft cloth and rubbed the furniture until it was clean. They also wiped off the olive oil and lemon juice combination and followed that with rubbing plain olive oil into their furniture as a second step. Everyone let the oil dry overnight for an added benefit instead of wiping off the excess oil immediately and went over the furniture the next morning with a soft dry cloth. We all also found that the oil was gone from the furniture the next morning and the hard, dry shine was in place.

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Labels: Bettina Network Info, Making Connections

A tip from a guest - sent via mail to the Bettina Network, inc.

Thanks for Bettina's Blog. I enjoy reading it and followed your suggestion of saving it for Sunday morning. It is more fun than the newspapers I read on Sundays and informative in ways no one else tells us. My experience at breakfast in the Bettina Home where I stayed was fascinating. I learned an enormous amount and was very impressed with the intellectual level of your guests.

My tip doesn't begin to meet those lofty levels, but it was astounding to me and I would like to pass it along to others.

I read your post about keeping your skin beautiful with vitamins A, E and organic powdered milk and have been using it religiously. It has done wonders for my wrinkled skin, which is smoothing out and has taken on a fantastic sheen. My husband tells me I have taken on a "glow."

I've taken your post one step further to increase the good results I get. When I rinse my face with water from my cupped hands the ten splashes you suggest, I don't dry around the eyes. I dry the rest of my face because I don't like the feeling of water dripping off my face as I wait for the water to dry, but not wiping around the eyes has done wonders for me. The skin around my eyes was puffy and wrinkly. For several months now I have not touched around the eyes, only did the ten times water splashes to my face without drying my eyes and I can't believe the difference. Imagine dewey eyes at my age.

A nurse I know said it happens because whenever you dry around your eyes you are compressing the veins and the thin skin and that is what's happening. Don't know if that's true or not and don't know if I am remembering exactly what she said, but it was something like that.

I really don't care why, I care about the results from the ten splashes and not wiping the eye area - I look well rested. I send this tip to you in exchange for your tip about what clipping the vitamins has done for the rest of my face.

ed:Note - the Blog to which the reader refers is "Bettina's Premier Beauty Secret" published in March, 2008

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Labels: Guest comments, Health and Beauty, Making Connections, Reader Feedback

copyright 2010 The Bettina Network, inc.

Let's take a look at those Credit Card "Rewards" offered by just about every bank. This came from several breakfast conversations. We put it all together and voila - for your information!

Who pays for those rewards? Are they really 'gifts' from the banks and credit card companies as payment for your loyalty to them or are they profit centers generating more money transferred from John and Mary Q. Public to the banks without John & Mary realizing the game plan?

Those rewards do not come from either the Credit Card companies or their underlying banks. They come from you, the consumer using those credit cards. You pay for the rewards you think are 'free' and you pay a substantial amount of money for those 'gifts.'

How? When you make a purchase via a merchant with your credit card, the credit card company takes a percentage of your charge from the merchant; and takes a monthly fee; a rental fee for the equipment the merchant uses; money for telephone calls the machine makes from the merchant to the processing company to approve and record your charges; PLUS - an extra amount for whatever credit card 'program' your card indicates. So, the merchant is left with a fairly heavy discount taken by the credit card companies. The 'reward' program discounts can be pretty substantial as an addition on top of everything else.

I am sure by now you get the picture. The merchant can not absorb those discounts and stay in business so they are passed along - TO YOU!

Merchants have contracts with their credit card processing companies - just as you have a contract with your credit card company. Those contracts are changed on a basis about as regular as your contract is changed. The only 'consent' the merchants can give to those changes is to either agree and go along or stop accepting credit cards from their consumers and we all know what that would do to that merchants' business. So the merchant is pretty well locked into allowing the discount percentages for the rewards to be taken from the money they receive from the credit card processing companies. Those discounts are taken and sent to the credit card banks whether you use your 'rewards' points or they just disappear!

Some quick calculations will point you in the direction of the 'rewards' system being a profit center for the credit card companies instead of 'gifts' to consumers.

The rewards discount is taken from each and every credit card purchase by the credit card processing companies - whether the reward is used or not and each bank has a way of limiting the amount of rewards actually used. There are rules as to when you can use your rewards and when you get stripped of them. The merchant does not receive a credit if your rewards are stripped from you, that goes to the bank's bottom line profit.

We believe some of the 'reward' offers are downright fraudulent. Take for example when you start with a credit card company and they offer special promotions giving you 'double points' sometimes 'triple points' for buying stuff using their credit card. After a time, those same special promotions are offered to all credit card holders. What has happened? The 'rewards' which previously took 100 points to get - now take 200 points or in the case of the triple point offers - 300 points. The number of points it takes to 'buy' the same reward has increased two or three times. That was most noticeable when the points it took for airline tickets doubled - particularly with American Express.

On settlement day with the merchant, there are various amounts showing on the merchants statement from their credit card processor.

For example: One merchant - selling widgets - pays the credit card processor 2.99% for allowing that merchant to accept credit cards. The discount percentage varies from one merchant to another or in the case of American Express, from one industry to another.

In addition to that 2.99%, that merchant pays a monthly fee for using the service. In addition, the merchant pays for telephone calls, at so much per call, (haven't they heard of Skype) generated to put the charge through from the merchant to the processor, in addition, the merchant pays either a rental or purchase fee for the equipment used - some as high as $80/month for a small company (our research shows that is Bank of America) and on up.

And then comes the 'reward' discount. The merchant is charged an extra amount, on top of all of the above discounts, depending upon which card was accepted with which program in effect. It is a place where banks can nickel and dime a merchant into capitalisms graveyard without the merchants being aware they are terminally ill because the amounts on an individual charge seem to be so little. Very few merchants are good at that kind of math - and even more don't believe they are being robbed so blatantly.

When you add up the money across the entire credit card industry it is an overwhelmingly large amount. Then - do the math - subtract from that the amount not used by credit card holders who die with points on their credit cards; credit card holders who are stripped of their points because they had late payments; credit card holders who are stripped of their points for innumerable other reasons; credit card holders who don't ever get enough points to use them, etc. etc. etc.

When added up, one realizes that much money is being made here and where is it going? Into the banks' pockets and then into the preferred bankers' pockets individually through those obscene bonuses! How is it being reported? Is there a stripped out set of numbers which accurately reports the profit banks are making from their credit card 'rewards' program and how much the general public is paying for 'gifts' that they think are free to them as a bonus for their loyalty to their credit card? That is the area where all are notoriously silent.

Don't speak of it until we find another service with which to replace this rewards boon-doggle and then it can be trashed out of existence, while we quietly move along taking even more money from John and Mary Q Public.

Labels: An editorial just because, Making Connections

copyright 2010 Bettina Network, inc.

Stories about Cayenne Pepper and what it does for you have been floating around the breakfast table at a couple Bettina homes for several years.

The first time we heard about cayenne pepper - other than as a spice in your food - was from a Canadian Guest, in town to run a 26 mile Marathon. He was a serious runner who trained extensively. Before leaving for that particular Marathon, he asked his host family for cayenne pepper. They obliged and guests watched as he put liberal amounts of cayenne pepper in the inside of his running shoes. Of course, that generated much conversation. Before leaving to run the Marathon he had to answer many questions - how long had he done this; what affect did it have; how did he find out about cayenne pepper, etc.

At the end of the day, the only person who came back still walking and in pretty good shape was the Marathon runner who, that morning, liberally sprinkled cayenne pepper in his shoes.

We tried it for a couple months and it works. We don't run or train for the Marathon, but we do shop and shop and shop. Before leaving home we always sprinkle cayenne pepper in our shoes and it works amazingly well. What was once a tiring time has become a time which puts a spring in our step. We don't know what happens or why, but we do know sprinkling cayenne pepper in the bottom of our shoes seems to drop years and gives us much more energy to do our chores.

But for bed & breakfast, we would still be walking on tired legs and feet.

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Labels: Guest comments and talents, Making Connections

One response the Bettina Network, inc. made to the disaster in Haiti was to respond to a request from a bed & breakfast guest and now a friend, to give a one night stay at a Bettina home in Harvard Square for the silent auction being held by the town of Weston, VT.

We were delighted to respond and grateful that we were included and able to do a little more to help those in such shock and pain.

The event was held this past Saturday (January 23, 2010) and was, by all accounts, a very successful undertaking. Kudos to the town of Weston, Vermont for being involved and for moving so quickly to help address such an enormous need! Proceeds from the auction were sent to Partners in Health to further their work in Haiti.

What made it special to us were the number of people who gave a part of their work and talent: one woman gave cookies - to be baked at a time requested by the successful bidder. She had samples of the cookies at the event to encourage bids. Another gave her special carrot cake, also to be baked at a time requested by the successful bidder - and she also had samples. And there were more.

It is wonderful to give money - that is what's needed in the end - but to also involve yourself and give something which takes time out from busy lives is indeed special. It insures that you will think of the Haitians undergoing such trauma, after the fund-raising event and will put your hopes and wishes for them into whatever it is you have made.

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Labels: Event Review, Making Connections

copyright 2010 by Marceline Donaldson

Pralines generate memories that takes me back to a really great childhood. I shall always be grateful to those who sacrificed so much for me.

A neighbor and I (Troy Lynn), used to get in my grandmother's kitchen and experiment with pralines. Troy Lynn took her pralines home and ate them. I sold mine. My entrepreneurial spirit started early. I ran that enterprise the way some corporations are run today - which is probably why I understand those corporations.

My grandmother supplied the ingredients for the pralines, which was great, but I stuck my mouth out when she suggested I pay for the sugar out of my earnings. I was crushed. "Why do you want me to pay for sugar. You have lots of it in the cupboard." She tried to tell me about making sure you were making a profit. You also had to count your time in the equation so you would know if it was profitable or not. I was truly appalled at that point. If I did all of that I wouldn't make a profit and it wouldn't be worth making the pralines. "That's the point of doing the math," my grandmother said. My mouth continued to be stuck out and when she insisted, it started to quiver and she knew tears were next so she just gave up and I had a very successful business.

Thinking of those years and my grandmother and having been on the telephone with Troy Lynn talking about this venture, I decided to make pralines, just to connect to those times and those feelings and my grandmother.

She would have been amazed at the results of my efforts. I am in awe at what I have created. The pralines were sensational. I feel a little sick because I've eaten so many and goodness knows what the sugar is going to do to my aging body.

Those pralines brought so many memories rushing back I was crying by the time I finished making them. But, they were not a pure New Orleans creation. They connected Old New Orleans to the East. With these pralines I have managed to make cultural connections with New Orleans, Asia and India.

Ginger tea has become a staple in our kitchen. We always have a glass jar filled with Ginger Tea that we make, at least once a week. (ed.note - see Bettina's Blog for the recipe). We use it either as 'sweet tea' or regular tea - and it has a very strong kick.

This time, by Providence, the tea jar was empty and in the bottom were the slices of ginger root which we let steep to keep the ginger tea strong. That was the genesis of these fantastic pralines.

I used the ginger root slices in the pralines the way one would use pecans. I also used a little freshly ground nutmeg in some and cumin in others with the ginger root. The pralines were vaguely reminiscent of New Orleans pralines, but with a newness that made them a sensation. Pralines, for some, are the very essence of Creole New Orleans. The only food with a stronger connection to Creole New Orleans would be hot callas, but then that's another blog.

New Orleans today has a very large influx of Asians that call it home. These Ginger Pralines are a cultural amalgam which reflects today's reality of the city New Orleans has become.

We had just one guest in the house while I was making these pralines. She came into the kitchen while the pralines were cooling on the marble slab and between us we ate all except two of the pralines. Two seemed to be a decent amount to keep to see how they would taste when they were thoroughly cooled. She went to bed and after a respectable time, Robert and I split the last two pralines. They were even better cooled so I made more for tomorrow. They are now downstairs cooling. Maybe they will make it into tomorrow and maybe they won't. I haven't been up this late for months - my 7pm bedtime has been shot - my children would be proud!

Pralines aux Ginger - a very recherche dessert
(to be served on heavily gold encrusted dessert plates and eaten with your fingers)

Organic Turbinado Sugar how much you use depends upon how many pralines you want to produce.
for a first timer - two cups should suffice so if you ruin the pralines you can try again without knashing your teeth over your loss of ingredients.
for the experienced candy maker who wants a good number of pralines - one pound

Sliced Organic Ginger Root which has been boiled in a large pot of water for several hours to make tea. The Ginger Root you use for these pralines are what's left over after the ginger tea is gone.

Water - freshly ground Nutmeg - Cumin

1. Put the sugar in a PORCELAIN POT.

2. Add water to moisten and cover the sugar. Don't mix the two together. Pour the water over the sugar being careful not to let it splash, etc.

3. Bring the water and sugar to a boil to make a, sort of, simple syrup, but not that liquid.

4. When this mixture reaches about 200 degrees, add the ginger root and let it boil until the mixture begins to bubble and has almost, but not quite, turned to sugar. Stir constantly without stopping.

5. Quickly add any spices you want to incorporate into these pralines - ground nutmeg, cumin, whatever. Given the fact that you are using Ginger Root - even Root that has been previously boiled for several hours, I would not add anything with heat. These will have plenty heat on their own.

6. Take the pot off the fire and drop by the spoonfuls onto a buttered marble slab so you form what looks like small pancakes. Spread these with the spoon and round them with a fork until they form neat, round cakes - the size and thickness depends upon you. I like them about 1/4 inch thick and about 4-5" in diameter.

Let them dry. Pick them up with a knife or spatula, very gently. You will have the memory of a New Orleans Creole Praline changed into an East meets West confection. Someone have a name for this?

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Labels: Bettina's Cookbook, Making Connections, Preserving Family History and Stories

by: Marceline Donaldson


A friend of mine died on Sunday. The world is changing much too fast. Old friends are leaving, quietly. You hear nothing for a couple years and then the news comes that they have died. Keep your friends and family close. Before you know it, they will be gone. 

Labels: An editorial just because, Growing Old, Making Connections, Preserving Family History and Stories

2010 copyright The Bettina Network, inc.        

148 Mount Auburn St.
Cambridge, MA. 02138
617 354 5233
www.darwinsltd.com

hours: 6:30am - 9pm six days/week        
sundays: 7am - 9pm

A really Cambridge-style grocery, deli, wine-cheese-beer store, with tables for those who want to visit and eat and enjoy this neighborhood gathering place.  It is a magnet for those who want a Harvard Square experience they can go home and talk about.

Darwin's on Mount Auburn Street, while being Cambridge, has an underlying New York tone, which makes it a little more upscale.

What we liked best about Darwin's was the picnic basket you could order and take with you wherever you wanted to go.  Not many of us can find such when traveling, especially a picnic with good food.

Second were the sandwiches!  They are incredible.  Buy one and have lunch and dinner, just ask them to cut it in half and wrap the second half for take-out.

The ambiance drew us in - it is great - would the food keep us there and make us want to return.  Well,  we were at Darwin's two or three times in so many days.  Whenever we were there,  someone always came in who we knew and we wound up with a table for four instead of the two of us who first wandered in wondering if the food would live up to the promise of the environment.

Our table mates bought a very nice bottle of wine, shared it and took what was left home with them.

There are enough teas at Darwin's to satisfy anyone and you can order a pot to just sit and savor.  And as for Bettina's, they would approve because a full third of the teas are organic.

If you want lunch, you have to go early.  Darwin's is a popular place. At lunchtime you will find a line which curls around, sometimes going outside as people come in for lunch from all around the area. That tells you about Darwin's reputation.

We particularly liked the soup.  It was a cold day and we weren't sure what we wanted, but when we saw the soups, we knew that would be our late lunch.  We also liked the pastries and brought some back with us for another day.

Darwin's had several kinds of beer, but not being connoisseurs, we can't comment pro or con.

There were people reading newspapers, visiting with friends, some were sitting on the bench outside Darwin's eating - because smoking is not allowed inside - and it was cold outside, but they didn't seem to even notice as they gestured-laughed-and generally enjoyed themselves on a cold Cambridge day eating on Mount Auburn Street.

We very much recommend Darwin's and hope you enjoy whatever you eat there.

Editor's Note: Steve and Isabel Darwin's parents stayed at one of the Bettina homes in Harvard Square when they visited Cambridge to help their children get the store ready for its opening.  Their parents are in the same business so the Darwin children had good consulting experience, which they used for the opening and beyond.

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Labels: Making Connections, Restaurant Review

This is great!  I've had this secret wish to be a journalist for a long time.  I do a lot of writing, but all scientific and publishing for scientific journals so you can guess I am an astrophysicist, and those who stay at Bettina's a lot and recommended this house to me - you know where I am - with my family this time, not on business.  i had to show my wife and children this house.  They love the doll houses and all the toys.  The kids slipped out of the room very early in the morning.  At first I panicked, how do I keep them reined in here - and I almost lost it when I thought of all those antiques in every room of the house,  then I heard .......... offering them a cup of hot chocolate and I knew I could go back to sleep.

Since they were playing right outside the door - one into the doll houses, the other hauling toys up to the landing from the toy room downstairs, I felt ok to sleep without worrying about them.  The place was a grand mess when we finally got up and dressed.  No one seemed to mind so we just left the mess because we knew it would only recur.  We did clean it up before we left for home - for those of you who don't want me to ruin a good thing for you!

Breakfast was really special.  Having read the Blog, I wondered about those 'stock tips'.  Maybe I would be at breakfast the morning a great investor dropped a huge tip which would make us a fortune.  Well I was at breakfast with a fairly heated discussion about a couple stocks.  Much heat, not enough light, but I am going home to buy the one which won the battle - Ford Motor Company.  A couple, who are in the stock market on a regular basis, talked about their 'investments' and they just bought Ford Motor Company.  My first thought was - WHY?  It just didn't sound very exciting and given all the trouble with the automobile companies who would jump in and buy one.  By the end of breakfast I was quietly convinced I should put nice money into Ford.  It is selling today at about $11, according to my breakfast mates.  They bought Ford at about $8.  I am going to buy around $11-12.  Hopefully, I will make enough to pay for this trip.

Because it is a holiday - although not my holiday, our hosts put a book at each plate.  That was our Christmas gift.  Its great.  You can't move in that house for tripping over books so it made sense that a book would be a gift.  Being very comfortable since I've been here a zillion times, I had to ask if I could swap the book they gave me for one I was reading in the bedroom and of course I could, so I am going home with three books - one a first edition.  My wife is horrified at my lack of manners, but I go downstairs late at night in my robe and pajamas to get hot milk, why not ask about another book?  Is it possible to feel too much at home?  I actually feel as though I am visiting my parents - I would say grandparents, but they are going to read this blog and I want to be welcomed back.

My wife plays the piano so she enjoyed playing on the grand piano in the house.  I'm not sure the rest of us did.  Later in the day we heard fantastic music coming from the piano.   We were really tired and didn't go down to see who was playing.  It was so nice just to listen, in bed.  I know enough about music to know it was Chopin, and to know it was good, but I did fall asleep in the middle of the music.

Oh, I almost forgot.  While my wife and I were sleeping the kids made playdoh - well not the real thing, but a pretty good imitation.  It was the highlight of their stay and they are bringing it home with them.  They made it out of flour, water and salt cooked up in a very large pot.  Given our lack of an organic home and our tendency to buy all of their toys, they were really excited about this amazing experience.

Hope you enjoyed my blog.  It was fun writing it.  Is this payment for the books I am bringing home?


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Labels: Guest comments and talents, Making Connections, stock tips

Deborah Henson-Conant.  A fantastic jazz harpist and Grammy nominated electric pedal harpist.  If you have a chance, don't miss one of her concerts.  In the meantime if you want to see her again try this

www.youtube.com/watch?v-pECeohhUBSs or www.hipharp.com

A great, fun experience!!!  She has quite a few videos on Youtube.com.  I don't know if she has CD's out but I suspect she probably has!  We are delighted you were able to have that experience!


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Labels: Guest comments and talents, Making Connections

I read your update on adding computers to Bettina homes.  I call only Bettina's when I travel and because of my research I mostly travel to Harvard Square Cambridge.  I wouldn't stay anyplace else.  When you leave home you leave all your conveniences.  I like to play the guitar when I get home from a tough day.  When I get to Cambridge, the home where I stay has a guitar which I take over and take to my room and play it evenings.  I've met other people who stay in your homes because they have access to other musical instruments.  Another house in Harvard Square has a harp which people can use.  I've been there to see friends staying there so I've seen and played the harp (sort of).  I met a woman there who plays beautiful harp - jazz harp, that was quite a while ago.  She played a brief concert for us and I will never forget hearing her.  Don't remember her name!

Your network is really a fantastic way to travel.

Thanks for your holiday greeting.  Keep up the good work and lots of luck in 2010!

A reader (no name please)

editors note:  Whenever we receive an email or phone call or etc.  We put your notes in Bettina's Blog, but we don't ever put your name or other identifying information unless you tell us its alright to do so.


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Labels: Bettina Network Info, Guest comments and talents, Making Connections, Reader Feedback, Travel Bettina Style

2009 copyright the Bettina Network, inc.

We received notes from guests about buying stock mentioned over breakfast when they stayed at a Bettina home.  Three stocks were mentioned and we have the dates the guests purchased the stock.  To keep it honest, lets take an end of the year note on what happened.

On 6/15/2009 a guest wrote about the conversation about IVAN, then selling at $1.56/share and IVN, then selling at $6.12/share.  You might check out those posts for more information.  This is only to bring those conversations up to date.
       Today IVAN is selling for $2.86/share - the energy stock
                  IVN is selling for $14.63/share - the gold mining stock

On 7/21/2009 another guest wrote about a conversation around a Bettina breakfast table about SIRI.  On that date SIRI was selling for $ .425/share.
       Today SIRI is selling for $.5895/share - the Sirius XM Radio stock

We will keep you up to date on other stock conversations and hope the people who emailed us about their purchase of these stocks will also email us when they sell.


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Labels: Making Connections, Reader Feedback, stock tips

This is the time of year when you realize you know your friends, but you don't know which holiday they celebrate.  So our best wishes to everyone, everyplace, whatever you call your end of the year celebration.

- We rejoice in being in a business which allows us to share a small part of so many people's lives and to be immersed in such a wonderfully diverse community. You have allowed us into your world in ways we never could have dreamed of before we became a part of this Bettina Network.  We hope it continues into the next year and into the next generation!

Thank you for having given us so much.  Money tips are not allowed in the Bettina Network - from anyone - because our "tips" come from so many greater gifts from our guests as we share their lives no matter how briefly.

We have a favorite poem we pull out at this time of year, written by The Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman who was the Dean of Boston University's Marsh Chapel from 1953-1962.  He was an exceptional person and his writings are what some of us turn to when we feel as though we are straying from the path we are called to walk.  It is said that Martin Luther King, Jr. kept two books next to his bedside wherever he travelled - one was the Bible, the other was Howard Thurman's book "Jesus and the Disinherited."

It makes quite a statement about Boston University to know that in the 1950's, when it wasn't popular, the Dean of Marsh Chapel was an African-American.  That was a time when, if Howard Thurman went to conferences, or travelled about the country on Boston University's business, he would not be able to stay in the hotel in which the conference was held because hotels, in that fairly recent time frame,  refused to accept African-American guests.  Howard Thurman would have to enter the hotel through the back door or staff entrance to attend the conference because African-Americans were not allowed to enter hotels through their front doors.  When he travelled on other business he stayed with friends, Boston University Alumnus or bed & breakfasts.  In spite of these deterrents,  Boston University selected Howard Thurman for what was one of its most prestigious appointments.

Our holiday gift to you is this poem by Howard Thurman.  Many of us had to memorize this poem in grammar school and it has stayed in our hearts.  We hope you will pass it along to your children!!

"When the song of the angels is stilled,
 When the star in the sky is gone,
 When the kings and the princes are home,
 When the shepherds are back with their flock,
 Then the work of Christmas begins.


            To find the lost,
            To heal the broken,
            To feed the hungry,
            To release the prisoner,
            To rebuild the nations,
            To bring peace among brothers (and sisters),
            To make music in the heart."

MAY THE JOY, PEACE AND PROMISE OF THIS SEASON PERVADE YOUR LIFE AS LONG AS IT LASTS AND AT THE END, TAKE YOU INTO THAT PROMISED LAND GLORIOUSLY!!!!!

                                          From all of us at the Bettina Network!

Labels: Making Connections, Preserving Family History and Stories

copyright the Bettina Network, inc.
Marceline Donaldson

I was going to keep quiet on this one, but who can resist a request to write something.  I can feel my daughters cringe as I speak out!  I am sure one of the things they are grateful for is a last name different from mine.  Nevertheless -

The first thing that strikes me is the media outcry about Tiger Woods who they claim pretended to be so "clean" and with such a "perfect image".  It is an amazing outcry.  Tiger Woods didn't claim to be anything.  He kept a private life private. His golf life was in the public eye, the rest of his life was totally private.  It is only very recently that we've seen Tiger Woods in pictures with his wife.

I see this whole tabloid event as being extremely racist and sexist.  It is difficult to do anything in this society which doesn't have such overtones, but this tops it.

First of all, it is quite possible and most probable that the core of the problem is simply that Tiger Woods and his wife were in a marriage that wasn't working and he found an outlet - or outlets, if you are to believe the tabloids with all the women coming forth claiming to be Tiger's mistresses. One was 49 years old. No one has even hinted at how Elin Woods handled this bad marriage.  No one is even claiming it was a bad marriage, even though what is out there for all to see says clearly that the marriage wasn't working. And from the alleged incident with the golf clubs, was it an abusive marriage.

Outside of everything else, this Tiger Woods mess has sent out a very clear call for a total clean-out of our media.  It is time for this country to demand that its media have standards other than greed - looking for twists on stories to bring in the most money for their particular media outlets.  The human cost has been enormous; our inability to get at the facts of any situation is clear because facts aren't what the media is about.  The media has very successfully developed a cynical viewership and readership.  Today, most of us don't believe anything we see or hear.  Good investigative journalism is a thing of the past, if it ever existed, except in a few exceptional corners.

Tiger Woods has simply replaced Michael Jackson for the media!  I remember when the Michael Jackson mess exploded onto the screen and in the written media.  To say he was lynched by the media is an understatement.  Once Michael Jackson died, predictably it was time to move on to take down another outsized African American male - and who fit that bill better than Tiger Woods.  Especially since Tiger Woods was married to a Caucasian woman.

It is first very striking in the different way the media treats our -ism groups.  Tiger Woods - African American male; Elin Woods - White 'European' female; David Letterman - White male in the right upper class group with the correct figures behind him; Hugh Hefner - White male "exotica" figure, not in the right group, but making money for the right people and throwing parties they all want to attend,  etc.

David Letterman is clearly the most harmful of the group.  He also is the one who got a free pass for his admitted past sexual abuse of women and given that, a free pass to continue.

We didn't see women coming out to make accusations or to link their name to Lettermans as one of his 'conquests'.  Very different from the way the Tiger Woods mess was handled.  Why is that?  Especially since the negative results for women and consequentially for our society are far greater in the David Letterman situation than in the Tiger Woods debacle. What was the difference in the women? - their career choices!!!  One group chose a career in which they  had to break glass ceilings. One group chose a career which totally fulfilled one of the negative stereotypes of women.  For women to come out to claim that David Letterman took advantage of them sexually on the job and put them in the position of either sex in a corner office or no job, no promotion, no ability to continue to work in their chosen profession - those women would have had to be ready to see their career disappear and daily survival become their biggest issue.  Not many are able to take that kind of stand and the stress that follows.  Unlike in the Tiger Woods mess where the pressure was on women to "out" Woods,  the pressure wasn't on women to 'out' Letterman, but for them to cover-up for Letterman.  For them to shut-up or lose job and career.

We didn't see celebrities making public statements condemning Letterman for this kind of gross discrimination against women - which is actually, the core of how this society institutionally and structurally discriminates against women.  We also didn't see those same celebrities refusing to appear on his show because of what they now know happened 'back stage.'  They came out in force, smiling, showing their continued friendship with Letterman and by their presence on his show making a statement about their acquiescence to and agreement with the way Letterman treated the women who worked with him professionally.

Our biggest celebrities ignored a horrible situation and continued and continue to appear on his show, glad-handing him and by doing so support this alleged sexual abuse of the women who work for him.  The media has been very conspiratorially silent.  So - David Letterman continues with no negative results to his career or professional future.

Tiger Woods is an African American man married to a White Woman - and a Swede at that - a blond, very white woman.  If you are not into denial about racism and sexism in this society, then you knew something was going to explode and that explosion would be to get rid of Tiger Woods or at least tar him with as ugly a brush as possible.  With Woods wrapped in the kind of scandal that has now surfaced.  The only thing better for those who contribute to this kind of mess would have been for him to have been found sleeping with young boys instead of grown, adult women.

It is striking the different way the tabloids handled the Rihanna situation and the way they handled the Elin situation.  It was horrific what happened to Rihanna and we all very properly admitted that and were appalled at the violent temper of her attacker. Her attacker was properly brought to justice and faced criminal charges.  There was also much talk in the media for him to be in an Anger Management program.

In contrast, there was loud cheering that went up when Elin Woods allegedly went after Tiger Woods with a golf club and allegedly did substantial damage to Tiger and his or their property.  At least Rihanna's attacker used his hands. Violence against another human being is wrong and for that there are criminal penalties.  Interestingly, the tabloid and other media were calling for criminal penalties against Tiger Woods and cheering Elin on.  She had, after all, seen the light and went after this Negro with a weapon to do what - teach him a lesson?

All of Sweden is apparently cheering-on Elin.  Some of Tiger's golf buddies are cheering-on Elin making comments about how sorry they were that they had introduced Elin to Tiger, he wasn't the kind of person they thought he was and one golf buddy apologized for the introduction.  What kind of introduction?  He introduced the top sports figure in the world today, with a fairly substantial formal education and intelligence, via among others Stanford University with awards for both his intelligence as well as his athleticism, to a woman who was that golfer's children's nanny!  He thought they were equals and was now apologizing to her for introducing her to someone who, according to that golf buddy, was clearly beneath her.  And the media simply reported the comments and couldn't hide their glee.  This golf buddy also suggested that Elin Woods use another kind of golf club next time.  He was, with his comment, condoning Elin's violence as her right and entitlement, suggesting that next time she use a golf club he would have chosen, that could do much more damage than the one she chose.  I suspect that same man would have had ugly things to say about Rihanna's attacker, who, of course, was not entitled to express his anger in a life threatening kind of way.  How do the two people differ?

Rihanna's ex-boy friend was portrayed as an out of control violent person - probably because of the way he was raised and the place he was raised - a ghetto?.  Elin Woods was portrayed as seeking a proper kind of justice to which she should be entitled and counseled on how she could deliver a more effective and damaging beating next time.  She has not been portrayed as a woman whose anger was out of control, but as having lots of guts and the physical strength to do what she allegedly did.  Several media outlets, entertainment and serious news coverage found what Elin allegedly did funny - a great joke! Out- of-control anger that could have wound up with someone dead, was deemed justified and they looked up to her for the alleged attempt!

The fact that a woman going after a man with a golf club is attempted murder, has not surfaced nor even been hinted at in anybody's column nor on anyone's tv show that I have seen or heard about.  Given the damage allegedly done to the car, that was clearly an act of out of control, unmanageable violence whether the person came from a middle-class Swedish neighborhood or the middle of Detroit's Black ghetto.  Where are the commentaries on Elin Woods needing to be in an anger management program?

And then there is Hugh Hefner.  A pathetic figure if I've ever seen one.  I don't think he would know how to begin a conversation with a woman "on his level" so to speak - a woman his age, his level of intelligence, financially his equal, similar levels of experience, etc.  Hefner shows men how to keep women on the level of sex objects and makes sure no one forgets that a woman is only worth her physical appearance and her ability to subvert everything she is about to one thing, sex.  His girl friends could be his great-grandchildren.  It is an ugly spectacle and we all laugh.

If Hugh Hefner were African American and his girl friends were Caucasian, how hearty would our laughter be?  Hefner has acted out a life in which men are interested in a woman for sex,  arm and eye candy and nothing else.  In Hefner's world, when a woman reaches 25 or so it is time to discard her for a younger version.  We fought that battle with the airlines and their need to discard their Stewardesses at age 33 and we won.  That model is still around and we are lauding and rewarding Hugh Hefner for holding it up so we won't move into some other kind of future.  He successfully beckons us to stay in that past time.  He keeps us steady until we can revisit and reverse those kind of victories for women.  In his world a woman should be a prostitute, call girl, whore, corporate wife, etc.  Nothing else is acceptable from a woman - and the media holds him up as an icon.  He can do no wrong.

What is even more pathetic than Hugh Hefner are the the women coming into the confessional booth to relieve their guilt and whatever else they are claiming about their relationship with Tiger Woods.  The media is having an orgy over these women, who are unashamedly self-promoting, looking for their 15 minutes of fame to increase their financial standing in the world.  Why?  Apparently, some are coming out of this with their income up from $1,0000/hour to $3,000/hour.  A nice increase for 15 minutes of fame or a turn on one of the morning shows.

The media is holding all of this up and giving it great coverage.  The also pathetic, are the women in the media who are holding all of this up and creating a huge deal about it - Joy Behar wouldn't have a show  if she talked about anything else,  nor would some other media have anything to write about because what they are about generally is reducing the world to sex, gossip about sex, etc.  In other words using other women and trampling over their bodies to get their own 15 minutes.

Most amazingly, the women coming out with these Tiger stories, are not being asked by journalists the first and most important question before beginning such coverage - proof?  some kind of proof? any kind of proof?   Instead, they are allowed in front of cameras and are being written about with no investigative anything. A couple have done follow-up blips on the reputation of the person "outing" Tiger and they have not come out as being among the world's great people!

They all clearly are not in the position of the women around David Letterman.  These women around the Tiger Woods story are coming out in droves because they can gain, career wise, from doing so, which is why so many are now making these claims.  Back to shades of Michael Jackson.  Tiger Woods can't come out to say which are true and which he's never seen before without stirring up even more dust and without the media calling him a liar, so any woman who wants to increase her call girl price now has the opportunity to take to the cameras and put on a performance worthy of awards.  And the cameras are rolling trying to give any and everyone who wants to make such a claim their time in the sun.

I am sure as the story unfolds, Tiger Woods and Elin Woods will divorce.  They will fight over the children.  She will fight to break any pre-nup she signed in favor of a very substantial settlement using these incidents to justify such claims.  No one will breathe anything about uncontrollable anger nor the need for anger management, nor what affect this will have on the children.

In reality, her marriage to Tiger Woods has been a great career move. She doesn't even have to baby sit her own children now she can pay others to do that for her. She can move on with at least a seven figure income and a seven figure home, neither of which she has earned.  Tiger Woods will stay out of the spotlight and when he returns, his personal life will still be as private as always and there will be someone in it with whom he thinks he has more in common and with whom he thinks he can make a more substantial marriage.

Maybe a few years to mature will help him find women who are financially, intellectually and educationally his equal and he will marry such a person.  If not, and he continues a need for immature arm and eye candy, he will most probably spend his life with these side affairs and miss what his life could have been about.  He will probably have more children. If he continues with side affairs they will be much more hidden and discreet.  He will probably have any woman he sleeps with from now on sign a confidentiality agreement with lots of financial and other penalties if she breaks the agreement.  Foreplay with Tiger will probably be a threesome - Tiger, the woman and Tiger's attorney!

As for the rest of us, when we pick up our favorite media outlets, the names will change, but the situations will be the same.  Maybe over time the racist and sexist overtones will mitigate. We will go along in our very immature ways not wanting a substantial and decent media enough to fight for change.

And this is the world I leave to my grandchildren and great-grandcildren!  May God have mercy on them and their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren!


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Labels: An editorial just because, Making Connections

I find whenever I see such controversies these days I go to Bettina's Blog to see what you have said.  You usually have a perspective most media writers don't have and a thoughtful insight I find interesting and helpful.  I looked this time and didn't find anything about the Tiger Woods business.  We would appreciate your insight and any information you have which has not appeared in the media.  Please e-mail me at the following address when you have posted a blog on Tiger Woods, but please don't publish either my name or my e-mail address.

Thanks,
A loyal guest

Labels: Guest comments, Making Connections, Reader Feedback

copyright 2009 The Rev. Eddie McBride
used with permission by The Bettina Network, inc.

                                                                       Bettina's changes

4 medium size sweet potatoes                       organic sweet potatoes          
2/3 cup brown sugar                                     organic turbinado sugar
4 Tablespoons Corn Syrup                              organic maple syrup
1 Can Condensed Milk                                   organic heavy cream
2 Eggs                                                          organic eggs
4 Tablespoons Real Butter                            organic butter
1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg                       all spices organic
1/4 Teaspoon Ground Cloves
1/4 teaspoon Ground Ginger
1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract                    powdered organic vanilla

1.  Cook the 4 medium-size sweet potatoes until you can drive a fork in smoothly.  Then de-skin the potatoes (while preheating the oven).

2.  Preparing crust for pies: 1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  2) Let frozen crust thaw 10 to 20 minutes. Price bottom and around sides thoroughly with fork.  3) Bake in oven for about 9 to 11 minutes or until lightly browned.  Cool.  Then....Fill with Sweet Potato Mix.

ed.note: If you prefer to make your own pie crust it would probably be better and healthier.  We have a recipe for one using organic flour in Bettina's Cookbook.

3.  Place Sweet Potatoes in bowl and blend with fork and electric blender, until smooth.  In large bowl, mix sweet potatoes and remaining filling ingredients with blender until blended thoroughly blended.  Pour mix into browned pie crusts.

4.  Pre-Heat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.  Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees; bake 30 additional minutes or until knife or fork inserted in center comes out clean.  However, if you are going to use the Streusel Topping, at this point, only cook for 15 Minutes before placing topping.



Streusel Topping for Sweet Potato Pie (optional...you don't need to do this part)
                                                                              
                                                                     Bettina's changes

1/2 cup packed brown sugar                        organic turbinado sugar
4 Tablespoons Butter                                  organic butter
1/2 Teaspoon ground cinnamon                    organic cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped Pecans                              organic Pecans
1/2 cup chopped Walnuts                            organic Walnuts

Mix above ingredients in a bowl.  Sprinkle Streusel over top of pie and bake for 15 to 20 minutes after Streusel Topping has been placed on pie or until knife or fork inserted in center comes out clean.

Who is Eddie McBride?
     He is single, likes to eat and cooks out of necessity.  He has a very respectable collection of recipes - most however, need little tweaks to keep the body healthy - as we did above.

He runs a non-profit corporation which works to help his community be its best self - primarily working with at-risk children.  It is a 501C3 organization.

You can tell from this recipe that he is from the deepest south - note the whole cup of condensed milk and the pecans, even though there are a few New England walnuts spread around, probably from his time in the Northeast.

Rev. McBride is currently working to bring MIT's Fabrication Lab (the FAB Lab) to Mississippi, January thru March, to expose his community to this form of technology with the goal of establishing a permanent FAB Lab in his area.

An MIT graduate and Harvard Divinity School student, Rev. McBride has ministered in Massachusetts and Upstate New York.  He is now working in Mississippi.  If you are interest in being a part of bringing MIT's FAB Lab to Mississippi, he can be reached at revedmcbride@comcast.net.


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Labels: Bettina's Cookbook, Making Connections

copyright 2009 The Bettina Network, inc.

We have come across many businesses in life, but we comment on only a very few.  Commonwealth Worldwide Chauffeured Transportation is one of those few.

You know our love for organic everything.  Well, this is a limousine service which is going green.  They get more than 40 miles/gallon from their cars because they use Ford Fusion Hybrid cars and they are still able to provide 95% of the room you've enjoyed in a Lincoln Town Car.  Commonwealth was awarded the 2009 Best of Boston and they are the official transportation service for the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

We spend a lot of time marketing and deciding where to place advertisements for the Bettina Network, inc.  We spend just as much time trying to decide how and where to give back.  That is one of our top priorities.  A business can't begin to be great until and unless it gives back to the world at least as much as it is given.  So, when we see a business, we look at their product and services and then if that adds up we ask ourselves ----- what do they give back for all the opportunities they have been given?  In the process of doing that we discovered Commonwealth.

We knew about their spectacular service and all that goes into making them an exceptional company.  We also knew the tremendous difference Jaimie Botero makes for Commonwealth as he goes about his daily job. He adds a very special touch to the services Commonwealth offers ordinarily and we tell all of our guests who use the Bettina Network in the Greater Boston area to ask for Mr. Botero.

You can imagine how delighted we were to discover that the November 28th BSO concert is being sponsored by Commonwealth.  What a wonderful thing to do!

So needless to say, we recommend Commonwealth when you are traveling and want to reserve transportation for your trip from the airport to your Bettina home and when you want to reserve a car for the day to take you the many, many places you need to visit when in Cambridge, Boston, New York, or worldwide.  Or if you want the luxury of being driven from Boston to New York to stay in another Bettina home for a few days, they will be very gracious and efficient in their response to your request.

Enjoy discovering a wonderful business and let us know if our recommendation met your expectations!


IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK YOUR ACCOMMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!!! 1-800-347-9166 inside U.S. or 617-497-9166 outside or inside the U.S.

Labels: Making Connections, Travel Bettina Style

copyright the Bettina Network 2009
The Rev. Dr. Robert A. Bennett

The big news out of the Vatican recently is that disaffected clergy (married or not) of the Church of England will be welcomed back into the Roman Catholic fold - no questions asked!!! What was previously a case by case procedure for return has been replaced with an announcement of a blanket welcome issued by the Vatican on Tuesday, October 27. 2009.

There has been much discussion about what lay behind this procedural change: decline of European Catholic members; the decline of Roman Catholic Clergy due to strict rules of celibacy; or even the resulting decline in revenues and the decline in capital because of the court decisions taking millions of dollars from the Catholic Church.

The mantra in many mysteries is "follow the money!"  The rationale behind otherwise unanswered questions of motive, is very often related to monetary matters.  Everyone remembers that the Reformation in England took on a distinctive non-doctrinal caste under Henry VIII's marital problems. The issue then was not doctrinal differences between Rome and England, but the matter of who ultimately controlled and held ownership rights over valuable Church properties and institutions.  Henry VIII resolved his marital issue by setting the stage for transforming (not reforming) the Catholic Church in England to the Catholic Church of England.  In 1553, Henry VIII seized and closed the monasteries and transferred these very valuable sources of income away from Rome, placing them at his and England's disposal.  The so-called "Elizabethan Settlement" of 1559 finalized this transfer and marked the Reformation in England as the creation of the Anglican Church, the Church of England.

Benedict XVI, scholar that he is, as Cardinal, was called "God's Rottweiler," the enforcer of Roman Catholic Orthodoxy in the very conservative mood.  Benedict XVI has reversed the ex-communications of ultra-conservative rejectors of change and rejectors of reform elements set in place by Vatican II, and has returned them to good standing in the Roman Catholic Church - one bishop returned to good standing is an acknowledged "Holocaust Denier".  The pope now issues a similar - y'all come back, now - decree for disaffected Anglicans who reject openly gay priests and bishops as well as rejecting female priests and bishops.

These actions, in the face of declining membership, declining sources of income, valuable real estate sold to pay court decisions, support the "follow the money" mantra.  They point to a way to increase membership and set the stage for the possible return of valuable real estate and institutions lost in Great Britain under the various Parliamentary acts of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I in the 16th century.

Pope Benedict XVI's recent relaxation of the means of return is best seen as setting the ground work for the return of valuable real estate lost when the Catholic Church in England was transformed into the Church of England (the Anglicans).  It is English Reformation history that may well lay behind the recent action of the Vatican.  Never underestimate the knowledge or even the dreams of the scholar.

Should the Orthodox church begin to be concerned about its real estate with the Roman Catholic Church now lining up its priesthood to be a married priesthood for the little guys, but celibacy as the path for those who are upwardly mobile and want to be bishop or above?


IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK YOUR ACCOMMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!!! 1-800-347-9166 inside U.S. or 617-497-9166 outside or inside the U.S.

Labels: An editorial just because, Making Connections

copyright 2009 Bettina Network, inc.

This is a follow-up on Bettina's Hall of Shame award.

We are beginning to think this award should be shared by the banks and the media.  The more we read the more we understand that the American public is being grossly misled and it is either because the reporters are ignorant of their subject or the reporting we've read is a purposeful attempt to mislead the public.

There has been much obfuscation around Debit Cards.  Much has been said and brought to Congress about how awful the banks are to give an automatic coverage of overdrafts for those with Debit Cards and how that automatic coverage allows the holders of these cards to overdraw their accounts and how it is allowing the banks to take them to the cleaners.  That is not true.  The public IS being taken to the cleaners, but its lack of knowledge and sophistication on how these things work allows this gross miscarriage of money which takes place on a daily basis.  And now the public is being misled by the media as to the real problem around Debit Cards.

Why did Debit Cards come into being?  It is another way the middle class can be drained of its money. Its a quick way to move money from the super rich to the becoming poor.

What's wrong with Debit Cards and why this automatic overdraft business is gaining so much attention?  Its simple.    It is a red herring, meant to take your attention away from the real problem so Debit Cards can become entrenched in this society as another structural element within the banking system which makes loads of money for banks by quickly taking it away from the Middle Class.

The banks don't want you to wake up to what they are doing.  So, you get this righteous indignation to take your attention, time and resources away from seeing and objecting to the real problem with Debit Cards.

When the Debit Card phenomena becomes accepted and normal the overdraft coverage will stop and you will be ripped off in ways you can't even begin to imagine.

HOW DO DEBIT CARDS WORK?

Today, when you make a purchase with your debit card, the money is immediately taken out of your checking account.  Sometimes this happens the same day.  If you make a purchase in the evening - say about 8pm, the next morning your checking account shows the withdrawal.  It is a total and immediate movement of money from you to the bank.  The merchant from whom you made the purchase doesn't get their money for two to three business days later - so you are out the money paid, the merchant is out the merchandise or services without payment for two to three business days and the bank has the money, which is supposed to be the merchants, which the bank keeps for two to three business days before sending it on to the merchant involved.  And the merchant gets to pay the bank from 2 to 3 percent in the form of an immediate discount, for this service.

Parallel that to what happens when you make a deposit.  In most cases, your deposits are "cured" by the bank for 5 business days before a deposit goes into your checking account as available funds.  So any money which you have deposited into your checking account which you put there to use for such purchases can't be touched for five business days.  (Only a few are exempt from this and then only temporarily until the bank can conjure up ways to put those few back with the unwashed - those who you now feel better than because you are one of the select few.  That feeling of superiority is short-lived because your stay in that heavenly area is temporary and the bank is constantly working with its idea people to shrink the number of people in that heavenly area and to decrease the amount of time they can spend there.)

Now, you've made your deposit and two days later you go to the store to make a purchase using your debit card thinking you have this money in your account and available.  What a mistake!  You are now in the weeds.  If you counted on that deposit to be there and usable you find you have overdrawn your account and are now being charged between $30 and $40 for that Debit Card transaction.  So without the automatic overdraft account added to your checking account, the purchase you made with your Debit Card would have bounced; you would be embarrassed at the check-out counter of wherever you are; and you would be furious with the bank doing whatever you could to change the situation.  What change would you be looking to make?  You want your money available when you make your deposit - or at the very least within two days of your deposit.

Instead, your bank covers the purchase, charges you an obscene overdraft charge and leaves you feeling as though this was your fault.  Was it your fault? NO NO NO!  You deposited good money and good credit for that amount should be immediately usable by you, especially when you think back on the fact that the merchant isn't getting paid for two to three business days.

In addition, even if the bank bounced your Debit Card you would still be in the weeds because banks charge you the $30-40 no matter whether they pay the charge or not.  And with all the fees they add on to your account, you never quite know your balance.  You can call the bank at 2pm and get your balance - at 3pm they can add a charge which reduces your balance, you try to make a purchase for the amount you think you have and voila, you discover you are overdrawn or your charge has been declined at the store.  In either case you are out $30-40.

So what have we here:
1.  You start the action by making a deposit to your checking account.

2.  You go to the store to make a purchase.

3.  Your purchase is immediately registered by the bank - they have their money as soon as you make the purchase.

4.  The merchant is out the goods or services and the money.  The Merchant waits 2 to 3 business days before getting paid for what you purchased and paid for days before.  In addition, the merchant pays the bank about two to three percent for this service.  The merchant pays that amount to the bank, not in the form of a check issued at the end of the month, but in the form of a discount immediately taken from the Merchant by the Bank.

5.  You don't yet pay for your Debit Card.   - in some cases you are being charged for this service - but most are not and given a little time you will also pay the bank a percentage to use your own money.  Congress will intervene on your behalf, but not for decades.  Meanwhile the bank will have another scheme going to replace the Debit Card income which will make billions more.  like the Debit Card gradually replacing the Credit Card.  Credit Card limits are being reduced.  They will finally go out completely.  Why take something that only pays you $ .95 on the $1.00 when you can replace it with something which pays you $1.50 on the $1.00.

Who benefits?  the Bank!  What is your alternative?  Use your check book.

Write a check for the goods or services you want.

If you have to wait in line with lots of people waiting behind you, that isn't your problem it is the merchants problem.  You have your check book and proper identification.  There is no reason for anyone to deny your check, especially since there are all kind of services merchants could subscribe to which lets them know if your check is good.  They have been brain washed to believe that every check given to them by their customers is going to bounce so they had better use the Debit Card route for their own protection.

WHAT THEY DON'T KNOW, but will soon find out is the Debit Card they accepted can be rejected by the bank even after they have received an approval code.  The fine print in their contract says the approval code is temporary and can be withdrawn.  So what have they gained by accepting your Debit Card instead of your check? They have gained the right to wait for their money and to pay the bank a percentage of your purchase to accept your money and let it "cure" and then pass it along to them.

You have given up control of your money to the bank when you have and use a Debit Card.  When you use your checking account, you write a check today to pay for your purchase.  The money is withdrawn from your account about two days later and it hasn't cost you anything.  If you overdrew your account by writing the check you can make a deposit the next day to avoid overdraft charges, which would have immediately accrued to your account had you used your Debit Card instead.

What has the bank gained?

           Your deposits to your checking account for five business days for nothing -
                        money they make money on.

            They have in addition gained an additional two to three days use of the money because you authorized the bank to withdraw money from your account to pay the merchant and while the bank has its money immediately, they don't pay against they money you have given them for two to three days when the Merchants bill comes due.

            The bank has gained use of your money in three ways, making substantial amounts when you add together the numbers of people who give them this right of access.
                            You are left penniless,
                                       the merchant is left struggling
                                                 and the bank is just as happy and rich as it can be.

From what we have seen in the economy of late, the bank isn't keeping that money.  It is being passed along in many schemes to the super rich.  Ethics have been suspended.  If the banks have to torpedo the society in order to create and work through its schemes - so be it as long as they are left functioning to continue this enormous transfer of wealth.

We are creating a modern version of the Emperor with his well-off minions and his indentured servants.  You may not yet be the indentured servants, but quite possibly that is the future of your children.


IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK YOUR ACCOMMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!!! 1-800-347-9166 inside U.S. or 617-497-9166 outside or inside the U.S.

Labels: An editorial just because, Bettina's Hall of Shame, Guest comments, Making Connections