Just this morning, I listened to a radio program about a boy in Arizona who plans on sending letters to the American troops overseas all summerlong - he wants to send as many letters as possible.

It got me thinking about the power of a letter. And my research wheels began spinning.

I stumbled across AnySoldier.com.

According to their site:

This effort is 110% voluntary.
You send your support, and maybe some stuff, directly to whatever unit or units YOU select.

And it doesn’t have to some elaborate care package. Letters are the most requested!

There is not one thing on this site, or anywhere, that requires you to send stuff. Letters are THE MOST requested thing by these Soldiers. So, all you need do is send a normal letter in a normal envelope with a normal stamp.

Good ideas: If you want, put your email address in your letter, many Soldiers can and prefer to reply that way. What to write? Too easy: like you are talking to a friend, because that is what that Soldier is going to be real quick. It is also VERY helpful if you leave your full return address as part of your letter, envelopes tend to get trashed quickly.

How great is that? Regardless of your political station, there is a soldier that would love to hear from you. Let’s send something today!

This summer, my garden has provided me with such pleasure. I’m not a great gardener. Heck, I’m not even a good gardener. But somehow, herbs managed to grow as well as some carrots, tomatoes and…weeds. Lots of weeds. Here’s a young girl who took her gardening a bit more seriously:

Alexandra Reau, of Petersburg, Mich., tended to her rainbow chard.

Lawn mowing and baby-sitting are standard summer jobs for the enterprising teenager. Alexandra Reau, who is 14, combines a little bit of each: last year, she asked her dad to dig up a half acre of their lawn in rural Petersburg, Mich., so she could farm. Now in its second season, her Garden to Go C.S.A. (community-supported agriculture) grows for 14 members, who pay $100 to $175 for two months of just-picked vegetables and herbs.

While her peers are hanging out at Molly’s Mystic Freeze and working out the moves to that Miley Cyrus video, she’s flicking potato-beetle larvae off of leaves in her V-neck T-shirt and denim capris, a barrette keeping her hair out of her demurely made-up eyes. Who says the face of American farming is a 57-year-old man with a John Deere cap?
Read more at The New York Times

I stumbled across AmoImages today - a site that compiles photos that make you smile. I’m sure you’ll find it does!

“Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms.”

~ George Eliot

An artistic impression of Epictetus

Before The Secret and other self-help books were the ancients, imparting the same philosophies, only thousands of years earlier!

1.“Every man is the architect of his own future”.
Sallust (86 -35 BC) Roman Historian

2. “Your life is an expression of all your thoughts.”
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180) - Roman Emperor and Stoic Philosopher

3.“Men are not troubled by things themselves, but by their thoughts about them”.
Epictetus (C. 55 - C. 135) - Greek Stoic Philosopher

4.“He has half the deed done who has mad a beginning”.
Horace (65-8 B.C.) - Roman Poet and Satirist

5.“First say to yourself what would you be; and then do what you have to do”.
Epictetus (C. 55 - C. 135) Greek Stoic Philosopher

6.“The nature of man is always the same; it is their habits that separate them”.
Confucius (551-479 B.C.) - Chinese Philosopher

7.“Take charge of your thoughts. You can do what you will with them”.
Plato (428-327 BC) - Greek Philosopher and Prose Writer

8.“They can do all because they think they can”.
Virgil (70-9 BC) - Roman Poet

9.“Where fear is . . . happiness is not”.
Seneca (4BC - AD65) - Roman Philosopher and Playwright

10.“Give me where to stand and I will move the earth”.
Archimedes (287-212 BC) - Syracusan Mathematician, Astronomer and Inventor

11.“Learn what you are and be such”.
Pindar (522-438 BC) - Greek Poet

12.“What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do”.
Aristotle (383-322 BC) - Greek Philosopher

13.“Our life is what our thoughts are make it”.
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180) Roman Emperor and Stoic Philosopher

14.“As a man thinks in his heart, so is he”.
Solomon (10th Century BC) - King of Israel & reputed author of Biblical Books

15.“When the mind is thinking, it is talking to itself”.
Plato (428-327 BC) - Greek Philosopher and Prose Writer

16.“What we are is what we have thought for years”.
Gautama The Buddha (560-480 BC) - Indian Spiritual leader and Founder of Buddhism

17.“How unhappy is he who cannot forgive himself”.
Publilius Syrus - (1st century BC) - Latin Writer of Mimes

18.“Nothing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be a time. Let it first blossom then bear fruit, then ripen”.
Epictetus (C. 55 - C. 135) Greek Stoic Philosopher

19.“Practice yourself for heaven’s sake, in little things; and thence proceed to greater”.
Epictetus (C. 55 - C. 135) Greek Stoic Philosopher

20.“Perseverance is more prevailing than violence and many things which cannot be overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken little by little”.
Plutarch (C. A.D. 46 - C 120) - Greek Biographer and Essayist

Source: Trevor Crook Blog

Going green can save you green. There are an increasing number of incentives when making home improvements or buying a new car that make eco-friendly choices equate to bigger savings. Check out these stats:

30% of a solar-power system for your home. This perk has been available for a while, but tax credit for solar-power systems used to be capped at just $2,000—barely enough to make a difference on a typical $40,000 model. Now, the cap has been removed, so you’ll get big savings when you buy.

30% of a solar hot water heater. This rooftop box captures heat from the sun to warm water for your sink and bathtub, and once again, the Feds are chipping in 30% to make sure you can have a hot shower any time you like, guilt-free.

30% of a small wind turbine system. If your local zoning laws allow it, you could build a wind turbine to provide electricity to your house for about $40,000. Minus the government tax credit, you could end up with big savings over the course of your time in the home.

$7,500 towards an electric car. At the end of the year, Chevy’s introducing the Volt, which can run for 40 miles on a single electric charge. The price will be around $35,000, but the government’s tax credit will make it more affordable to eco-minded drivers.

Up to $1,500 towards green home improvements. If you’re adding energy-efficient roofs, windows, doors, insulation, or heating and cooling equipment to your house, the government will cover 30% of the costs up to $1,500 for purchases made through the end of the year.

Source: Gimundo

Cool Roofs (above), a growing trend

among business and home owners.

Relaxation and meditation can seem daunting for many. But this exercise I discovered makes it as easy as pie. Very basic, simple. Now give it a try.

1. Sit

   Find a comfortable place to sit. Sit with you back straight and feet on the floor. Be comfortable, but alert.

2. Close your eyes

   Just relax. Close your eyes. Let everything fall away.

3. Breathe in

   Breathe in through your nose. Feel the breath fill your body.

4. Breathe out

   Exhale through your nose. Feel your body collapse. Breathe out fully.

5. Repeat

   Continue breathing. After each time your breath in and out, say (or think) the word “One”. Continue for 20 minutes. You can change the word to anything meaningful for you.

6. Practice daily

   Repeat this everyday. Have a set time to do it. Don’t worry about setting an alarm, just have a clock nearby that you can see. If you start drifting in thought, gently return to your breathing.

7. Mini-relaxations

   During your day, stop a few times and ‘do a mini’. Just breath in and out for about a minute. This will relax you and begin to teach your body how to respond to stress in a calm way.

Source: How To Relax By Mark Stibich, Ph.D., About.com Guide

Science is full of fascinating positive news - news which can affect all of us in very real and direct ways:

Scientists have discovered three previously unknown human antibodies that neutralize HIV, two of which target a broad range of HIV strains. The findings, reported online July 8 in two Science papers, come less than a year after another team of researchers discovered two other antibodies that bind to and neutralize HIV.

The discoveries may jump-start AIDS vaccine research. “The path forward isn’t as clear as we’d like it to be, but we are turning a corner, I think,” says David Montefiori, a viral immunologist at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., who was not involved in the research.

Nearly everyone infected with HIV makes some antibodies to it. But while HIV antibodies have been detected since the mid-1990s, none has had the properties to serve as a cornerstone around which to build a vaccine.

Source: US News

At 79, Jean Lichorat of Kissimmee has outlived her family and friends. But she’s doesn’t feel alone.

“My dog is the best companion,” she says of her cocker spaniel, Joanne. “That’s my baby. I love her so much.”

Because Lichorat doesn’t have anyone to care for her dog and can’t afford a kennel, she puts off any medical test or procedure that requires an overnight stay at the hospital. She would rather risk her health than endanger, or possibly lose, her only companion.

That’s why Jimmy’s Place, the council’s soon-to-open pet hotel, means so much to Lichorat and others like her. Depending on the size of the guests staying there, the facility has room for up to 10 pets for short periods while the elderly owners are at the hospital or getting care.

“This kind of situation is very common among our elderly clients with pets,” said Robert Dent, a spokesman for the Osceola County Council on Aging. “Some will even refuse to go to the hospital after a 911 call.”

Advocates for seniors and animals said they haven’t heard of a program like Jimmy’s Place anywhere else in the state but applauded the idea.

“Kudos to them,” said Jake White, executive vice president of the SPCA of Central Florida. “It is great that an agency that supports seniors steps forward to help animals. They [animals] really make a difference in their lives and help them in many ways.”

Many studies have shown that seniors with pets have better physical health and mental well-being than those who don’t.

“A program that provides good care for a beloved animal is also providing an important support for the human who cares for that animal,” AARP Florida State Director Lori Parham said.

Jimmy’s Place has been in the works for more than a decade. It’s the brainchild of the council’s Meals on Wheels volunteers Jimmy Scarborough and his wife, Pat.

Jimmy Scarborough, a retired deputy sheriff who died in 1998, noticed that some of the program’s elderly clients couldn’t afford pet food and would split their Wheels meals with their cats or dogs. Scarborough began to buy food for the animals out of his own pocket and had the drivers — he was the program’s Kissimmee coordinator — deliver it along with the clients’ meals.

Soon the Council on Aging was on board.

“We began to collect pet food in our food drives and have been delivering it to clients with pets for years now,” Dent said.

After Jimmy Scarborough died at 89, his wife made it a point to keep the program alive and expand it to offer other services.

“We began raising money for it at Jimmy’s funeral,” Pat Scarborough, 75, said. “I told people not to spend money on flowers and give me or the council the money instead. I knew that would make Jimmy very happy.

“I spent $150 on rented plants and raised much more than that for a good cause,” she said.

Over time, the council had been looking for ways to make the pet hotel happen. It came together this year after the organization secured a couple of grants to refurbish a small space in a building it already owned.

Jimmy’s Place will officially open Friday, but it is already in operation.

Lichorat hasn’t had to use it yet, but she’s ecstatic to know it will be available for Joanne if an emergency arises.

“That’s good,” she said laughing. “Oh, wow. That’s good.”

Source: Orlando Sentinel

Cloveice DeMaintenon, 85, lives with Teleka, her Chinese crested, in an assisted-living apartment at Oak Leaf Landing in Kissimmee. If she should need to leave home to receive medical care, she won’t have to worry about Teleka, thanks to Jimmy’s Place, the free pet hotel sponsored by the Osceola Council on Aging

“After completing this mission, there was a sense from the team of complete satisfaction,” Subhash Garg said. “All Rotarians involved had a joyous feeling because we were able to contribute something so big.”

One medical team makes a big difference in this touching story:

During a massive seven-day medical mission in March, a team of 37 doctors and volunteers from District 3080 provided care to about 50,000 people in the remote tribal district of Mandla, Madhya Pradesh, India.

Organized by Past RI President Rajendra K. Saboo and Vivek Tankha, additional solicitor general of India and past governor of District 3260, several health camps offered medical exams, dental procedures, and surgeries to a population with limited access to health care.

The team included 24 doctors and surgeons, nine volunteers, and four medical assistants.

“This was an exercise where vocational service was at its best, where doctors made their knowledge and talents totally available to serve humanity,” Saboo said. “We were able to reach the unreachable.”

The doctors and volunteers performed 3,500 dental procedures and 2,000 major surgeries, including reconstructive surgery, orthopedic work, and eye operations.

Source: Rotary.org

In the states, we celebrate the 4th of July this weekend. Yesterday, I found myself wondering what this holiday meant to me. Independence and freedom seem to be at the center of it all. Then I started thinking about personal freedom. It’s a concept we might not pay much mind to it, unless we don’t have it. Then its very much an issue.

I came up with a personal list of ways I discover freedom in my life; inner freedom from worry, anxiety, burdens of life. Interestingly, I realized I do provide myself many “escapes” that are healthy and allow me to fly away. These include: running, surfing, singing, dreaming, driving (yes, driving can sometimes be pleasurable!) and walking dogs (because dogs love freedom.)

Where’s your freedom? How do you fly? Celebrate your freedom. It’s a precious and dear commodity that not everyone possesses.Thank your freedom today, if you have it. If you are trapped, remember there are ways to escape, without going anywhere.