Betsy S. Franz

How I Single-Handedly Helped Save the Planet

2010-04-21T14:03:00.002-04:00

Some people may question why I'm taking responsibility for the new Whitehouse website "Tips for Going Green". But other people who have followed me on my environmental journey for the last few years will not.

Seven years ago, while doing some volunteer work for a well-known national wildlife organization, I realized how difficult it was to find legitimate environment information on the internet. The information was certainly out there, but it was interspersed with hundreds and thousands of other websites that were just trying to sell something or earn money for their cause without providing any real information. So I began my "mission" to try to encourage a national program called Take Care of Your Share that created a gateway for all of the legitimate information that is available through government, university and other educational websites.

I created the gateway website (http://www.takecareofyourshare.com/) and I contacted representatives from every state asking them to help me by providing me the names of the organizations within their state that help to educate their citizens to Take Care of The Environment. Only a handful responded. But I updated the website as best I could. When someone clicked on a link for water conservation, it would go to the EPA website. When they clicked on Wildlife Habitat, it would go to NRCS. I provided other government resources for every form of environmental impact that I could think of. I created petitions for people to sign and I continued my letter-writing campaign while I wrote articles and blog posts and books encouraging people to Take Care of Their Share of the environment.

The writing presented a problem. Some publications thought that allowing me to write about saving the environment was a conflict of interest. Although I could never understand that logic, it did lose me some writing jobs. I tried to apply for grants to give the books away but again, I was told that it was a conflict of interest, even if I didn't earn any income from the books.

So I continued to write and I continued to blog and tweet and pass along the message of how important I thought it was for everyone to learn how to Take Care of Their Share of the Planet.

There was a voice inside me that kept nagging me to give it up and telling me that I should, instead, buckle down and try to add a little income to our household. (Or maybe that was just my husband). But my love of nature made me persevere.

And then today, I visited the White House website and saw their page called Tips for Going Green. I clicked on a link called Protect the Environment at Home and saw that it went to the EPA website. I clicked on a link for Backyard Conservation and it went to the NRCS site and I thought My God!!! They did it! They finally caved in to all of my pleading and created the website that our country needs.

Was it my "mission" that got it done? Did my mission even help a little? Who knows. Maybe all of my nagging emails to the president and to the hundreds of other government organizations finally made a difference to someone. Maybe the copy of the book How to Take Care of Your Share of the Planet that I sent to Michelle and Malia and Sasha Obama got passed around the White House during a family dinner.

But the fact is, it doesn't really matter whether it was my actions or whether our country has just finally reached the tipping point that made this the right time for these actions to occur. All I know is, that until I get a call from President Obama telling me otherwise, I'm going to take all of the credit!

Should Children Witness Childbirth

2009-08-17T11:05:00.001-04:00

Should children witness childbirth? Good question.

Here's your answer.

Due to a power outage, only one paramedic responded to the call. The house was very dark so the paramedic asked Kathleen, a 3-yr old girl to hold a flashlight high over her mommy so he could see while he helped deliver the baby.. Very diligently, Kathleen did as she was asked.
Heidi pushed and pushed and after a little while, Connor was born.

The paramedic lifted him by his little feet and spanked him on his bottom. Connor began to cry.

The paramedic then thanked Kathleen for her help and asked the wide-eyed 3-yr old what she thought about what she had just witnessed.

Kathleen quickly responded, 'He shouldn't have crawled in there in the first place.....smack his ass again!'

Isn't "Mandatory Gratuity" An Oxymoron?

2009-08-03T09:33:00.005-04:00

Definition from Merriam-Webster Dictionary: gra·tu·ity
Pronunciation: \grə-ˈtü-ə-tē, -ˈtyü-\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural gra·tu·ities
Date: 1540
: something given voluntarily or beyond obligation usually for some service ; especially : tip

My husband just got home from an overnight business trip and handed me his receipts so I could check them against our credit card bill when it came in. We were commenting about how expensive the restaurant bill was when we noticed that they had included a MANDATORY 20% gratuity. A 20% mandatory gratuity is pretty bad. What made it worse was that he hadn't looked at the bill that closely before he signed it and had added another very generous tip. The server ended up with almost a 40% tip!!!!

I have seen mandatory gratuities added before. They are usually for large parties and they are usually a bit smaller percentage. Perhaps 18% to allow the customer to pad that figure a little if they choose.

But my husband's dinner was just a party of two. This restaurant is already rather high priced. The entrees were $37.00 a piece and a glass of wine was $12.00.

I'm pretty steamed about the whole thing. I have left phone messages and email messages to the manager of the restaurant to take the addtional tip off of the bill and I am anxious to see how they will handle it.

Writing is more environmentally friendly these days

2009-08-02T11:51:00.002-04:00

I decided to take some time to clean out some file cabinet drawers last night and it struck me how much more environmentally friendly it is to be a writer these days. I found folders full of old newspaper clippings, newsletters, hard copies of articles I had written and sent to publishers. All on their way to the recycling bin this week. It's not that I am writing any less, it's just that everything is done online now.

Advice from LinkedIn: Find a Niche, Do What You Love, Have Fun, Sex Sells, Work Hard

2009-07-31T10:31:00.006-04:00

I have gained so much insight over the last few weeks since I joined this group on LinkedIn. The discussions are lively and informative. I think I have learned more about myself and about my career in writing over the last few days than I have in the last few years.

First, I found that the most successful writers seem to have found a niche, and they stick to it. Maryan Pelland is one such writer. Since she commented in an online discussion that"The way to be a successful freelancer is to find your niche and cultivate your own success" I decided that I would check out her profile and discover her niche. She has developed the persona of The Digital Grandparent and is proud of her long-time success as a freelance writer. (It was, in fact, this persona of hers that led me to the idea for MY new on-line persona).

Kelsey Timmerman is another writer that I met on LinkedIn that has found his niche. Not only is his idea original, travelling around the world to discover where clothes are made, but his writing is so much fun and so clever, that he could probably draw a big following even if he wasn't as cute as a button and often writing about underwear.

In a discussion about whether it is better to write for love or write for money, almost everyone said love. Writing should be fun. Writing should flow. Otherwise, its just another 9 to 5 job and, as writers, most of us are looking for something else.

And then I found a discussion, while delving through the archives, where someone had asked the question "Sex Sells. Should we all endeavor to put Sex in our titles or headings in order to sell an article?" The most humorous part about his question and the ensuing answers (to me) was that someone was so bothered by his spelling and punctuation errors, that they didn't even see the fun and humor in his question (It's probably the same person that keeps moving my posts to the JOB heading because they are threatened by my incredibly creative mind and afraid that I might draw attention from their own posts).

Anyway, so what have I learned in the last week or so? I've learned to find a niche, preferably one with SEX in the title, that will allow me to write FUN stuff (even if I don't get paid for it), and then work very hard at becoming an expert in my niche.

So thank you LinkedIn group, for helping me decide on a new career path. Now excuse me as I head out on my new mission of becoming the world's most famous Sexy Senior Citizen.

Clean, Green Driving Machines

2009-07-05T17:27:00.002-04:00

My latest article, published in Spaces Magazine, Jul/August 2009

The Life of a Nature Writer

2009-06-22T12:26:00.001-04:00

I feel like such a geek sometimes - a complete nerd - when it comes to nature. I spend my time on my property kneeling down to get eye to eye with tortoises and slugs and caterpillars.

When I am wandering around, binoculars in hand, scanning the tree tops in search of some elusive bird that I hear but can't quite see, it often makes me chuckle, thinking of what the teenage me would have thought about what a nerd the adult me has turned out to be.

I am a birdwatcher, for Heaven's sake. I have become the strange neighbor that used to live down the road telling neighbors to keep their cat out of her yard to give the wildlife a fighting chance. I am the crazy lady who stands in the middle of a heavily trafficked road playing crossing guard to a mother duck and her young. I am the one that lets a large section of my lawn grow full of weeds and calls it a native landscape and the one that calls code enforcement when someone cuts down their 100 year old, protected trees. I am everything that the teenage me would have ridiculed and shunned.

I think of all the time I spent as a super cool teenager whining about how bored I was. About how I had nothing to do. My parents would say, “Well, why don’t you just go outside.” But I was way too cool to want to go out and look at the beautiful full moon my mother wanted to show me. I was too cool to want to just pull up a lawn chair and stare at the ocean with my dad. And now, I would love to be able to do nothing but spend time in nature. It’s where I find my solace and my peace.

But all of that beautiful nature that was around when I was a child is getting harder and harder to find. The woods are few and far between. The beach is dirty and crowded. The full moon is blocked by rows and rows of multi-story buildings.

I’ve got my own little piece of Paradise. A two acre piece of land that my husband and I bought as much to protect the trees from someone else’s bulldozing as to build our own little retreat. There’s a part of me that would like to just stay at home on our property, wandering around communing with the critters like a modern-day Elly Mae Clampett. I’ve got squirrels and rabbits and birds and all sorts of other wild creatures that share this space with me. I’d never be at a loss for something new to see.

But there is something inside me that won’t let me stay outside. It’s an urgency. A feeling of dread. A sense that I have to hurry up and convince other people to stop and look at all of this nature before it’s too late.

I’m not the type of person to chain myself to a tree or storm city hall or throw paint on the furs of the fashionably chic. I’m a little too meek for that. My words are my ammunition in this fight for nature, and so I use my opposable thumbs sitting at a computer, firing off missives and essays and petitions. I create websites about the virtues of the land and how to protect it. I set up habitat help-lines to answer people’s questions.

And it’s hard work. Not the actual writing and web-page coding and research and correspondence. What’s hard is staying inside.

I have a corner office with windows on two sides. There are hummingbirds and butterflies out front and warblers and hawks and rabbits and snakes out the side and I sit here with my chin resting on the window sill thinking “I just want to go outside”.

© Betsy S. Franz. Essay previously published in Florida Wildlife Magazine as a photo essay.

Hummingbirds? In this heat?

2009-06-17T17:24:00.003-04:00

I was very surprised and pleased to see a little hummingbird in our yard today. Not sure where she has been hiding for the last few months but I always love seeing them!

Y Remember, creating a wildlife friendly landscape is one of the best ways to Take Care of Your Share of the planet!

It’s a frog’s life

2009-06-16T21:03:00.001-04:00

Whenever I see a bird house at a thrift store, I always buy it. They always get used by some critter or another, although rarely birds. This little frog thinks this is a perfect spot to sit back and wait for the night time bugs.

YRemember, creating a wildlife friendly landscape is one of the best ways to Take Care of Your Share of the planet!

More adventures of baby owl

2009-06-16T10:09:00.001-04:00

The baby owl is still hanging around our property. Last evening, he was sitting right on "bird world", which is a large, squirrel proof area that has our feeders. I didn't pick up my camera in time to get a photo.

This morning I heard him out there and when I went out, I saw him swoop down and land on the ground. When I tip-toed up to see what he was looking at, it was a small box-turtle, which was closed up tight within its shell.

A few minutes later, I heard a few blue-gray gnat-catchers chirping away. Now, it's not unusual to see bluejays squawking at and attacking all sorts of bigger prey - hawks, owls, snakes, bobcats. But I was surprised to see two blue-gray gnatcatchers attacking the baby owl. I mean, they were going right down and grabbing him with their tiny little feet. I have over 300 photos, most of them just blurs because of the speed of the gnatcatchers and the darkness of the trees. But it was quite an interesting little nature scene to start my day with!

YRemember, creating a wildlife friendly landscape is one of the best ways to Take Care of Your Share of the planet!

© 2009 Betsy S. Franz

Every now and then you need to get a little Goofy

2009-06-15T16:17:00.001-04:00

Several weeks ago, we went over to Orlando to spend some time with friends from Michigan that were going to the theme parks.

When you have lived in Florida as long as we have, and you don't have any kids of your own, going to the theme parks in June is not really usually high on the priority list of things you want to do. But we ended up having a lot of fun.

First, it was overcast so it wasn't all that hot. And second, spending time with two adorable kids, when you don't have any of your own, is a lot of fun and, in this case, was surprisingly enlightening. It was kind of like spending time with two self-help, motivational gurus.

Every evening, when we were all sitting down for dinner together, five year old Logan would ask us all what our favorite part of the day was. Apparently, this is a regular habit that he has gotten his family into: the habit of sitting around at night and counting their blessings. Pretty amazing for a five year old, I thought.

And ten year old Hanna was having a lot of fun quizzing my husband to see how much he knew about me. She asked him all sorts of things like my favorite food, color, TV show, etc. etc. And I was pleasantly surprised to learn that he knew the answers to all of them.

It was definitely fun for me to let myself get a little Goofy!

10 Things that define Quality of Life

2009-06-14T09:39:00.001-04:00

A posting on Keith Ferrazi's blog for the week asked for the ten things that help us define quality of life. Here are mine:

Ten things that define quality of life:

1) Feeling love
2) Feeling loved
3) Having a personal mission
4) Feeling respected
5) Health
6) Mental clarity
7) Paying attention to the wonders of nature
8) Faith
9) Sharing laughter
10) Deep, hearfelt communication

I am currently reading Ferrazi's new, bestselling book Who's Got Your Back
I'm anxious to see how his principles fit into the lifestyle of a self-employed, freelance writer.

Owl and bobcat

2009-06-09T15:22:00.001-04:00

Not sure why I even went out in the yard today without my camera, but I did.

First, I caught a glimpse of the bobcat with something in its mouth. A squirrel I think. Then I saw the adult owl fly into a tree where he had a good view of the bobcat eating. I don't know if he was waiting to see if the bobcat would leave anything or just making sure that his baby stayed safe. I could hear the Juvie owl but couldn't see where he was.

When I took my eye off of the bobcat for a second, he was gone. Very cool day in the yard.

YRemember, creating a wildlife friendly landscape is one of the best ways to Take Care of Your Share of the planet!

That's One Big Baby

2009-06-09T14:00:00.000-04:00

We have been seeing two barred owls on our property lately and we weren't sure whether one was a baby or not, since they are both rather large. But careful listening last night made us decide that one definitely is a juvenile. This little(?) guy hasn't quite figured out how to "give a hoot" yet, but he does cry for his mother, very much like other baby and juvenile birds.

The blue jays must know that it is a baby because rather than just squawking and swooping down AT him, they are actually hitting him right on the head!!

Anyway, its very cool to know that the barred owls DID breed and that there is one big old healthy baby on our property now.

Y Remember, creating a wildlife friendly landscape is one of the best ways to Take Care of Your Share of the planet!

Bobcat

2009-06-09T11:53:00.001-04:00

One of the most beautiful creatures that I have seen visiting our yard is a bobcat. Now most of the time, no matter what sort of animal we see, I think that they should be allowed to "do their own thing". Live and let live. My husband and I love the wildlife that visits our yard almost as if they are our pets.

But the bobcat worries me a little. This beautiful creature doesn't look sick in any way, so I don't think that it has rabies. Still, I wouldn't want to be walking through our woods some day and startle him and have him lash out in fear.

But I sure do love the thought of living in an area with such a beautiful creature!

Y Remember, creating a wildlife friendly landscape is one of the best ways to Take Care of Your Share of the planet!

Photos for your blog

2009-06-04T22:24:00.000-04:00

Photos make a huge difference in a blog entry. Life the colorful little hippie I have in the previous blog post or the lady sitting on the toilet that I used in one of my previous blogs.

A great place to get photos for your blog, or for any other purpose, is through Dreamstime.

You can purchase photos for a very reasonable price AND you can sell some of your own photos and make a little extra money.

The next time you need a great photo (you can't really beat the lady with the laptop on the John now, can you?) check out Dreamstime!

Woodland scene of the day

2009-06-01T10:41:00.000-04:00

This morning, I went outside to shoo away a squirrel that had somehow gotten up on my much-protected bird feeder. While I was out there, I saw two pileated woodpeckers playing hide and seek around the trunk of a large oak tree. They would almost mirror each other's actions, hopping up and around the tree, peaking around the trunk every now and then to see where the other bird was. Whenever I see two of any species together, I always assume it is a male and female. I don't think that was the case with these two, though, because every now and then they would attack each other, wrestle each other off the tree and get into a fight on the ground. I've seen (and heard) quite a few different bird species mating on our property, including the barred owls, and I'm pretty sure these two were fighting rather than mating.

I came in and got my camera but it was too shady and they were too quick to get great shots. So I had to just keep reminding myself how great it is that I get to see things like that, almost on a daily basis, because we have kept our property so natural.

Like many photo enthusiasts, I sometimes get too hung up on the possibility of photos rather than on the experience itself. I often have to remind myself that experiencing nature is always more important that writing about it or photographing it.

Y Remember, creating a wildlife friendly landscape is one of the best ways to Take Care of Your Share of the planet!

And then you have the joys of writing.....

2009-05-26T13:54:00.000-04:00

My previous post was about some of the challenges and disappointments with writing. The rejections. The work it takes to find a paying market.

But when you walk out to your mailbox and bring in a magazine that has one of your articles in it, you can't help but feel that rush of pride, ESPECIALLY when you see one of the photographs that you submitted gracing the cover!!

This photograph of the great blue heron in a field of wildflowers accompanies my article about the Florida Wildflower Foundation.

For anyone who loves gardening in Florida, I encourage you to subscribe to Florida Gardening Magazine, Florida's own home gardening magazine since 1995.

© 2009, Betsy S. Franz, All Rights Reserved

Cast your words upon the sea

2009-05-25T22:01:00.000-04:00

People ask me sometimes what its like to be a writer. My answer isn't usually very encouraging.

It's very easy to sit down and write whatever you want whenever you want to. The billions of blogs out there will attest to that. If you want to keep a blog, I suggest that you do it for yourself. Don't keep a statcounter on it and don't pay any attention to whether anyone reads it or not. Write for yourself.

Finding someone to buy what you want to write is another story.

There are plenty of writing job boards out there. The other day I saw a job posted that wanted someone to write 20-25 articles A DAY, for $1.00 an article. I saw one today that wanted 100 articles in a week. I just can't write anything worth writing at that pace.

Normally, when I think of a good topic, I go ahead and write an article about it. I then send it to a lot of editors. I can send something to 50 editors and I might hear back from 3 telling me that the article doesn't fit their needs. I never even hear from most of the rest of them and I have to wonder whether my email got lost in their spam filter or they just junked it. And then later I see exactly the same subject matter with phrases very similar to what I had sent them in my article, and they have the article written by someone else.

I have also had editors go ahead and print my stuff and never tell me. I only found out about it because readers tracked me to down to compliment me on the articles.

Every now and then, I'll find an editor that accepts one of my articles. We work out a deal and then the process starts all over again.

It is very frustrating. I have a bunch of really cool, interesting articles already written and it takes an incredible amount of work to find someone to publish them. So, I can print them myself on my blog or on one of my websites, and the next thing I know some other writer is visiting my website and copying some of my best lines.

Or, I can accept writing assignments for subjects that I am not crazy about. And most of the time I can squeeze in some sort of positive message, which is really why I started writing in the first place....to write positive, motivational, inspirational topics. I feel like I have to accept some of these topics because I think its important to keep new titles on my resume. I need to show that I'm still getting published.

But its getting harder and harder to get published. Everyone wants to write now and a lot of people are willing to write for very little money, just to get published.

And I still think that I can write better than a lot of them -- the writer's ego I guess. But I never was a good salesperson and a lot of getting published involves selling oneself.

So what is it like to be a writer? It's a lot of hard work, a lot of rejection and very little pay. It's something you just do because it's in your blood. You have to write. You have thoughts you need to express -- ideas and insight that you think might make a little difference in somebody's world.

You just need to keep in mind why you do it. Don't get hung up on how much (or little) money you are making. Don't let the rejection get to you. And don't let your ego get involved.

Write what you feel. Put your words and thoughts down on paper and then release them into the HUGE sea of other flotsam and jetsam of words and other articles that are floating around out there in cyberspace and in editor's inboxes. And maybe, just maybe, a reader or editor will find your words washing up at their feet and reach down and pick them up and say "Wow, look at that beautiful thing. It's exactly what I was looking for."

© 2009, Betsy S. Franz, All Rights Reserved

The silver lining

2009-05-23T12:09:00.000-04:00

Our rain gauges have over flowed so many times, we don't know HOW much rain we have had. But the silver lining to all of this is a yard FULL of rain lilies.

Didn't get enough sunshine to get a shot of the thousands of lilies in our yard right now, but they are everywhere!

Playing hide and seek with the deer

2009-05-22T14:51:00.000-04:00

It was overcast (again) when I woke up this morning, with just a few rays of sunshine poking through. I checked the Doppler radar and it looked like there might be some sun on the way, so I decided to head up to Viera wetlands.

My plan was to take a book with me and just hang out inside the wetlands and hope for sunshine.

Well, that didn't really work out. The gate to the wetlands was closed, I guess because of all the rain we have had, so I headed to the click ponds instead.

As soon as I started down the road, I saw a deer in the distance. Then I passed another on my drive farther down the road. I got a few quick photos of the closest deer, but the other one was pretty skittish and went into the tall weeds.

For the next hour or so, we played a little game of hide and seek. I'd sit and wait awhile for the deer to re-appear, reading a few chapters of my book from time to time. They never showed. Then as soon as I would start my car and head out, I'd look in my rear view mirror and see them coming out again. So I'd turn around and head back and we'd go through the routine again. Me waiting. Them hiding.

At one point, I got out of my car and walked along the fence line. Obviously, I got too close for comfort because I heard the sound of something pretty large jumping/running through the brush at the other side of the fence.

I finally decided to leave them in peace, and turned and headed for home. And sure enough, when I looked in my rear view mirror......

The Way He Loves Me

2009-05-21T21:29:00.000-04:00

I don't think my husband has ever bought me a valentine's day card. He's never written me a poem or dedicated a song to me or whisked me away for a romantic weekend. But I love the way that he DOES love me so much more.

He wakes me up early in the morning to listen when he hears the barred owl outside our window. He calls me outside everyday when he sees some "wonder of nature" that he wants to share.

And every weekend, no matter what else he has to do, he makes it a point to clean all of my hummingbird feeders. It doesn't matter if we haven't seen the hummingbirds for days or weeks or even more. He knows how much I love those little flying jewels and he wants to make sure I have them in my life.

And so today, even though I was so sure that our little hummingbirds had left for the summer, I was treated to a lovely little lady who stopped by my office window to dine on the clean nectar that my husband had out there for her.

A beautiful little reminder of just how incredibly blessed I am to have this life....to have this love.

Y Remember, creating a wildlife friendly landscape is one of the best ways to Take Care of Your Share of the planet!

© 2009, Betsy S. Franz, All Rights Reserved

Woodpecker baby

2009-05-20T12:04:00.000-04:00

The rains appeared to have stopped for awhile. The sun is finally shining! I noticed this cute little pair yesterday, but couldn't get a good shot. Today, they are still in shadows but there is enough sunshine to enjoy watching mama (or papa) feeding the baby.

Y Remember, creating a wildlife friendly landscape is one of the best ways to Take Care of Your Share of the planet!

There's no place like home

2009-05-18T12:23:00.000-04:00

I took a drive out to Viera wetlands yesterday. It made me realize, again, that there really is "no place like home"

When Tom and I came home from our morning walk yesterday, we walked into the yard and saw Hootie (the barred owl) down on the ground, eating something. The cardinals were squawking at him so I don't know if he had a baby cardinal or not. No sign of feathers. He's a huge owl so it was pretty amazing to see him down on the ground.

And almost every time I walked out the door yesterday there was a little rabbit munching away in the garden. He didn't seem the least bit skittish, although he did have the sense to run and hide when the neighbor brought his dog down for a visit.

I did see a sandhill crane chick at Viera and some roseate spoonbills. Still, the critters in our own yard were the highlight of my day.

Y Remember, creating a wildlife friendly landscape is one of the best ways to Take Care of Your Share of the planet!

© 2009, Betsy S. Franz, All Rights Reserved

Owl Canoodling

2009-05-16T08:06:00.000-04:00

I heard Hootie out in our woods today. He is a beautiful barred owl and he is definitely one of my favorite habitat visitors. I don't know any way to describe his deep resonate call other than romantic.

"Whoo hoo hoo hooooo"

There are two owls - a male and a female. When they are together, their sounds are different. Sort of a garbled, excited mix of whooos and ooohs. Owl canoodling.

When we first noticed that we had a mating pair, we rushed right out and built a nest box for them. With all the woods around, we doubt that they will use the box, but we weren't about to pass up the opportunity to have nesting owls if we could lure them to our yard.

Nothing quite like a little owl canoodling to start the day off right!

Y Remember, creating a wildlife friendly landscape is one of the best ways to Take Care of Your Share of the planet!

Learn to Take Care of Your Share

2009-05-15T10:27:00.000-04:00

It’s a wonderful cause to want to help save the planet.
But it isn’t just a planet of asphalt and steel and huge skyscrapers we are trying to protect. It’s the little things. The miniscule miracles. The things we sometimes forget to even notice.

So go outside! Get eye to eye with nature. For it is there, perhaps, when we get up close and personal with the birds and the butterflies and the creatures that visit our gardens and wander through our yards that we realize what it is we are trying so hard to protect.

If you are a property owner, you own a piece of the planet. Learn to Take Care of Your Share.

My Own "Mother Nature:

2009-05-13T12:23:00.000-04:00

Nature has always been a very important part of my life thanks, in part, to the influence of my own mother.

My mother was an artist at heart. She loved to garden, paint and dabble in various forms of arts and crafts.

When we were kids, she would take us to a beautiful little patch of woods (The Mount) where we could walk on shady, leaf covered paths and learn about all of the wonders of nature. Sometimes, she would collect leaves or sticks or shells or other artifacts of nature and display them in her home like beautiful works of art. And she always took the time to marvel at the clouds or a beautiful full moon. Thankfully, thankfully I inherited all of those qualities from her.

Below is a note I recently found in a birthday card that my mother gave me years ago. She sums things up far better than I can. I have also included a poem that she mentioned in the note.*

The front of the card shows a small girl standing in a field, with her arms outstretched to the sky. A flock of geese is flying overhead. The printed message on the card says: "We don't wait till all our years are spent to experience heaven. In sunlight and the breath of wind, in the smile of a baby, in the song of a child, heaven reveals itself to us every day."

Mom wrote: "Enclosing copy of poem I copied in my little spiral notebook ~ probably in 1940 ~
I'm sure I memorized it at the time and I never forgot it - which is why I always knew it was better to let the "work" wait and enjoy the walking through the fall foliage ankle deep on the sidewalk and climbing up The Mount to dawdle in the October sun and I treasure every moment I ever "wasted" that way with you. Love, Mom

Here's the poem she included:
-------------

Last October
By Elaine V. Emans

There never comes a day like this, all gold
And shining like a bubble in the sun,
But I recall the afternoon I told
You I'd no time for play: work must be done!
Work must be done, and there the gold day wasted.
And there the mellowness of earth and sky
And leaf and air went hour by hour untasted
For scruples sown too well in such as I!

And there October's brightness faded, turning
Her dear enchantment into dull November,
And setting in my brain one question burning
Now what can I, now what can I remember
Of work I bent above that day until
It was too late to climb the golden hill!

*Poem was copied from hand-written note. I apologize for any mis-copied words.

------------

My mother instilled a love of nature in me that has helped to create who I am. The love is so strong, that I don't just spend every free moment I can enjoying nature, but I try to do everything I can to get other people to see it the same way so that they will love and protect it, too.

The beauty of life is in the details. My mother taught me that. I hope that I can help encourage you to appreciate the details.

Betsy S. Franz

*You can read one of many articles I have written about my mother in Chicken Soup for the Soul: A Tribute to Moms

Why buy the cow...

2009-05-02T19:22:00.005-04:00

Ever since I was young, I've always wanted to be a writer. It wasn't that I thought it would ever make me rich. It's just that I've always thought that some of my thoughts are worth sharing.

But once I got into the business, I realized that I often wasn't writing for the reasons that I set out to. Although I've made it a practice to never take writing assignments that went against any of my personal beliefs, I have often struggled with the money and the copyright aspects. Is it more important to be able to write the positive, meaningful things that I want to write? Or is it more important to make money? If I have a positive thought or idea or suggestion that might help other people through life, is it more important to horde it to myself until I find someone willing to buy those thoughts, or is it more important just to share them?

I often compared my works to the old adage "Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free." I assumed that giving away my writing for nothing would devalue it.

But today I realized that the point is Udderly MOOOOoooooooot. I need to write just as much as the cow needs to give her milk. My creative cup runneth over.

So I'm going to try to start updating my blog more often and just operate under the assumption that somebody out there is going to read it. Maybe even use the link provided to subscribe to it.

I'd love it if you are an editor or you know an editor that wants to buy some of my work. But even if you don't buy anything from this old cow, I hope that some of my words can help to quench your thirst.

Here's my interesting tidbit of the day

2009-03-05T18:46:00.001-05:00

I recently ordered a couple of used books online. One is the book I mentioned in my previous post: "It's a Meaningful Life." And the other is by the same author, Bo Lozoff and is called "We are All Doing Time."

I was just thumbing through the "...Doing Time" book and realized that it is autographed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

I find that very cool!

A great book when you need a spiritual boost

2009-02-28T13:02:00.011-05:00

I just finished a great book called "It's a Meaningful Life - It Just Takes Practice". I highly recommend it to anyone who needs a spiritual boost.

The Gratitude Dance

2009-02-24T09:28:00.003-05:00

I was browsing around at somebody's profile on the AARP website the other day (yes, I'm that old) and it mentioned the gratitude dance. I immediately went and checked it out.

I was so inspired by the craziness and joy of it, that I signed up for their email list. I love it! Love it! Love it! Daily reminders about the importance of living with gratitude. I encourage everyone to sign up!

Some articles available for purchase

2009-02-14T09:46:00.001-05:00

Hello! I am a freelance writer and photographer specializing in the Green movement, nature, wildlife, the environment and both humorous and inspirational human interest topics. My articles and photographs have appeared in many publications including Florida Gardening, Florida Sportsman, E - The Environmental Magazine, BassTimes, Spirituality and Health, Florida Wildlife, South Carolina Wildlife, Spaces and others.

I'm an avid environmentalist and a complete critter loving nature nerd, working hard to educate and encourage others to stop and look and appreciate the wonders around them and then learn how to Take Care of Their Share of the planet.

My motto: "I don't just hug trees. I fondle flowers and caress critters and play in the dirt!"

Since I do make my limited income from my writing and photographer, full versions of some articles are availble for purchase only. If you are interested in publishing one of my articles, please Email me! Thanks!

Help Save My Planet!! Don't Flush

2009-02-02T09:12:00.011-05:00

© 2009 Betsy S. Franz

If you are a writer, someday, it eventually dawns on you that much of what you write is probably read from someone whilst sitting on the toilet. This is particularly true if you write short essays and, dare I say it, blog entries.

Most bathroom readers do not want to start something that will leave them hanging, and certainly no one wants to dawdle in the bathroom to finish a chapter. Short essays are much easier to digest in one sitting and blackberries and other portable electronic devices allow us to take our reading with us.

Modern writing is much more disposable than it used to be. Back when everything appeared in print, once your words hit the printed page, they at least had a chance for some sort of permanence. Making it into a national magazine usually meant that your words would be archived in the files of great libraries, either in hard copy or on microfilm or microfiche. You could scan the issues of A Reader's Guide to Literature and there you were. Your legacy. Words that would remain if not forever, at least for a decade or so.

Newspapers don't seem to have the same shelf life as magazines. Newspapers smell funny if you keep them for too long and most communities allow you to easily recycle them. Plus, they work so well for training puppies, putting under the cat's litter box and lining the bird cage. But magazines can be recycled by donating them to libraries or thrift stores or rolling them up and winding Christmas lights around them or even making them into coasters. All of these things keep your words of wisdom around a little bit longer, perhaps to pass on to the next generation.

But blogs make our words too easy to flush away. They show up one day and perhaps someone will read them. Perhaps they won't. Be they are very quickly pushed down and out by the next blogger.... The next words that appear. And soon they find their way into the great sewer system of the Internet and are lost forever.

So do your favorite writers a favor and recycle their words. Help save their stuff. Hit the share button. Retweet them. Digg them. Stumble them up.

Down For the Count

2009-01-29T13:36:00.000-05:00

By 8:00 a.m., I was already down for the count, and I knew it was going to be one of "those days".

I woke up and saw "that man" lying next to me, and I immediately started to mumble to myself "That's one," I thought.

I looked outside and saw our little patch of forest. "That's two." I walked out the door and saw two barred owls and heard a hummingbird twittering in the trees. "Three, four, five."

Back inside, I checked my email and found messages from some of my best friends, "Six, seven, eight" and even an acceptance letter for one of my articles "that's nine."

And then my husband woke up smiling and singing and that was it, I was down for the count.

Down on my knees (figuratively at least), counting all of my blessings and giving thanks for each and every one.

What a wonderful way to start the day. 8:00 a.m. and I was already down for the count!

Tithe Where You Get Your Spiritual Food

2009-01-28T10:53:00.000-05:00

I recently read a short book entitled The Five Lessons a Millionaire Taught Me About Life and Wealth, by Richard Paul Evans.

I was happy to learn that, according to Mr. Evans, I already have a millionaire's mentality, since I follow most of the principles that Evans recommends. But then I got to lesson five: Give Back.

Evans says, "Hoarding wealth will make your life small and cold. Giving will expand it." He goes on to say, "And service, through sharing our wealth and our time, is love made visible."

Evans, like many people, states that he tithes 1o percent of his income. He does not, however, mention whether his tithe goes to a church or to some other purpose.

A tithe , according to most dictionaries is: A tenth part of one's annual income contributed voluntarily, especially for the support of the clergy or church.

My personal belief is that you should "tithe where you get your spiritual food."

When I used to attend church, I did give generously to the church, since they helped a lot in my spiritual growth and "nourishment". But I had to stop and think, when I read Evans' book, about whether I still tithe or not.

I decided that I do.

There are a lot of things that nourish my spirit, and I make an effort to give generously to all of them. Nature, my mother, and the public library all provide me with spiritual insight and enlightenment and so I give my time and money to those causes.

Some people might think I am stretching the definition of tithing, but I don't think that I am. What difference does it make whether I am helping to support a church, a person or a place? I tithe to the things that help me to grow and to become a better person. The things that "restoreth my soul".

Evans believes in financial karma: that "we get back when we give". And I agree. We get back WHEN we give, during the act itself, not after -- not as a reward for the giving.

A lot of people are in need of a spiritual re-charge right now. And my advice to you is this: "Tithe where you get your spiritual food." In the giving, you may just be the spiritual food to others.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Albert Einstein:
It is every man's obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it.
Anne Frank:
No one has ever become poor by giving.

John D. Rockefeller Jr.:
Think of giving not as a duty but as a privilege.

Maya Angelou:
I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.

Peyton Conway March:
There is a wonderful mythical law of nature that the three things we crave most in life -- happiness, freedom, and peace of mind -- are always attained by giving them to someone else.

Thornton Wilder:
Money is like manure; it's not worth a thing unless it's spread around encouraging young things to grow.

Winston Churchill:
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

We're back!!

2009-01-27T14:05:00.000-05:00

We just got back from a great trip to Las Vegas and then on to Solitude, UT.

The International Builder's Show was in Las Vegas this year, so I went along with Tom to see what Las Vegas was all about. It was interesting and exciting.

We had fun betting a little bit and we had some great dinners and stayed in a nice room in Caesar's Palace, but to me, the highlight of the trip was seeing Bette Midler. She is still as great as ever, both in her music and her humor.

Then, we went on to Solitude, UT so Tom could do a little skiing. It snowed almost non-stop while we were there, so I didn't take any ski lessons or even venture out very much, but Tom got in 2 full days of skiing.

We had a great time but as always, it's great to be home!

My Bio

2009-01-25T17:16:00.000-05:00

Hi. My name is Betsy S. Franz

When asked to provide a by-line with a published article, I usually rattle off that "I am a freelance writer and photographer specializing in nature, wildlife, the environment and both humorous and inspirational human interest topics." If you wish to read the rest of my 'professional' resume, you may view it here, along with a complete list of my published works.

That bio, however, is only a very small part of who I am.

I'm a fifty-something year old woman who, for all practical purposes, has everything I ever wanted in life. I wanted to retire early, so that I could spend my time doing what I pleased. I wanted to marry a wonderful man. I wanted to build a cozy home on a beautiful piece of property and wake up every morning to a yard filled with the wonders of nature. I have all of those things.

I am also the emotional caregiver of my mother, who has Alzheimer's. That wasn't exactly a part of the dream I had for the second half of my life. (Although, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if I didn't use to pray to God that my mother would live for a very, very long time.) But the experience with my mother is a unique and special one.

So now I am at a place in my life where I wonder, should I just sit back and enjoy all the blessings that have been given to me, or should I set new goals and create new dreams? And if so, what in the world would I dream for?

So that's where I am in life. I wake up in the morning and think, what now? Do I need to make more of a name for myself as a writer? Should I focus on being a better wife? A better daughter? Or should I just sit back and enjoy my 'retirement' years?

I'm sure some of those thoughts and mental exercises are bound to find their way into this blog.

I also maintain several websites to try to help educate and encourage others to appreciate and protect the natural world around them. Two of the most popular of those sites are Take Care of Florida, which was created to help preserve the beauty of the state in which I live, and Take Care of Your Share, which was created to help preserve the beauty of the rest of the world.

So thanks for visiting. I hope you'll come back and maybe even drop me a line and say hello.