Texas RV Travel blog

On May 2 and 3, 2008, Cyclone Nargis tore through Burma, also known as Myanmar. More than 22,000 people died, 41,000 are missing, and over one million are homeless.

In the city of Rangoon, a city of over 5 million, the hospitals were leveled and sources of drinking water ruined. The cyclone-related storm surge devastated the Irrawaddy delta, the area’s main rice growing region. Food prices have already doubled.

The political situation in Burma / Myanmar is troublesome to the relief effort. Workers for the United Nations are still waiting for entry visas. Volunteer movements are restricted. Oppression and poverty will prevent the people of Burma from recovering from this cyclone, likened to Hurricane Katrina, without aid.

Be a part of the first-line response to Cyclone Nargis in Burma. Click here to donate $25.  Thank you!

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Willie Nelson is one of those larger than life Texans. Say what you will about his lifestyle or his hair, he has been there for farmers, for small business owners, for truck drivers, for environmentalists and for his hometown church members in Abbott, Texas.

I just finished reading and excerpt from Willie Nelson : An Epic Life by Joe Nick Patoski. Willie grew up in Abbott, Texas. When Willie heard that the Methodist Church in Abbott was for sale and likely to be torn down, he purchased the building and restored the church to the people of Abbott. In July of 2006, Willie and his sister, Bobbie Lee, dedicated the church. They witnessed and sang to an audience of 300.

Happy Birthday, Willie. God bless you.

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This concert is being held in Southern California. Not many of us here in Texas will make it in person, but you can catch the live webcast in the AT&T Blue Room. The concert is for two great causes and features top bands. Happy Holidays!

December 8 and 9, 2007
530 pm PST
AT&T Blue Room

Click to get more information or to watch the LIVE webcast in the AT&T Blue Room. Webcast features bands like Linkin Park, Angles and Airwaves, Muse, Feist, Jimmy Eat World, Modest Mouse, Avenged Sevenfold, Bad Religion, Paramore, Silversun Pickups, Rise Against, Spoon, Serj Tankian and The Shins.KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas benefits local children’s charities.

December 8: AL WOOTEN JR. HERITAGE CENTER Provides a safe after-school environment for hundreds of kids in South Central LA.

December 9: PARA LOS NINOS Helps to bring more than 5,000 families out of poverty and give their kids a brighter future.

Tags: almost acoustic christmas concert, KROQ, benefit concert

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Wave Tea Light

There are many unique items at JacarandaStyle, the purveyor of unique handmade tableware, home accents and jewelry. The gifts made from ostrich eggshells are my favorites. The Wave Tea Light pictured above is made from a natural ostrich eggshell that is hand carved with a delicate wave design. The tea light candle and ebony base are included.

Do you have someone on your Christmas list that likes the unusual, the bold, the daring? Shop at JacarandaStyle to find unique jewelry made of semi-precious stones, dazzling angels with beaded wings, futuristic Lucite laser-etched wrist cuffs, striking lead-free fusion or blue and white ceramics, and distinctive flatware and tableware. All items are hand crafted by South African artisans.

JacarandaStyle donates a portion of all sales to the Ethembeni School, which serves 300 children with physical disabilities and visual impairment in South Africa. The name Ethembeni means Place of Hope.

While newsworthy throughout the year, just in the month of December 2007, JacarandaStyle has been featured in Hampton Style, Food & Wine, and the Ebony Holiday Gift Guide. The Wave Tea Light pictured above is an editor’s pick in the Marie Claire Magazine Holiday Gift Guide as well.

All items over $100 receive free shipping. Enjoy an extra 10 percent off the price of any item by using the code, JSTYLE, through December 14, 2007.

Give hope to children in South Africa and wonderful gifts to your loved ones. Have a blessed Christmas.

Tags: jacarundistyle, ostrich eggshell decor, wrist cuffs, hostess gifts

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You may watch Live Earth : Concerts for a Climate in Crisis on MSN. Select bands are being featured on the Sundance Channel. Look around your TV dial, some other independent stations may be carrying it as well.

The entire idea behind Live Earth is that, if we care about the Earth, which we should, we may each take small steps toward positive change. The impact of many small steps is HUGE. Do not think you cannot make a difference–you can!

If you would like more information about steps toward positive change that you may take, please visit my other blog, Endangered Spaces or the Live Earth site.

I would like to share a funny story with you.

When organizers for Live Earth concert where looking for venues (7 concerts on 7 continents on 07/07/07), they wanted to schedule a concert in our nation’s capital, Washington, DC.

They were unable to because of the objections of a small group of Republican lawmakers, led by Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe. Inhofe blocked a bipartisan resolution that would have permitted Gore to choose the Capitol’s West Front as a Live Earth concert venue. “There has never been a partisan political event at the Capitol, and this is a partisan political event,” said Inhofe in March.

So the native people of the USA stepped up and offered the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian as a venue.

From the website of National Museum of the American Indian:

Preserving the health of Mother Earth is the gravest responsibility of our generation. Taking up this challenge begins with a call to consciousness. . . . there is no more important matter before humankind today, we are honored to bring to the museum musical and cultural talent, and speakers from the scientific and American Indian cultural communities, in the spirit of the Live Earth message.

Back to the funny story:

Live Earth maintains that it is not a partisan political event but is supported by people of all political stripes. “The calvary didn’t ride to the rescue, the American Indians did,” Gore told CBS TV today.

Only in America . . .

Tags: Live Earth concert, Al Gore, SOS, American Indians

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