For those who live in the temperate zone
summer started last June 21st. Let us toast
to the season. Yes, Summer is here!

At one point, I thought summer was going
fast forward to autumn. Such is the temperament
of the weather. At times, it is unpredictable. It must
be frustrating for the meteorologists. However,
it helps to pay attention to the forecast.

Enjoy we must, the good warm days of summer.
It goes so fast- and never long enough for all the
things planned for this summer. Some of us try to plan
projects ahead. Yet, well into the season, those
renovation plans are going slow, painfully slow.
Grin and bear it- it’s not the end of the world.
I try not to be a slave to my projects. There are
endless interruptions that slow-down the process
for me. So, I appreciate what is done, there is
always next summer.

Gardener:

Enjoy the fruits, the beauty of your garden and
all that hard work. Savor the sweet scents floating
from your garden. Immerse your spirit in the colors
bursting from your flowers. Each flower offers an
attraction that is inviting even to a non-gardener.

Take the time to sit and meditate, relax. Take a book
outside and read to your heart’s content. Catch up
with your summer reading. Don’t feel guilty about
lazing around. It’s good for your body, it’s good for
your spirit.

Don’t let the weeds annoy you. By this time, they
are growing as faster than you can pull them out.
Think of your weeding as a great exercise, allows
you to do your bending, walking , take some
deep breathes and stretch as you.

Quieten your mind and you gain better perspective,
deeper insights into life’s daily challenges.

Traveler:

Drive to arrive. Safe travel starts with a safe
vehicle and good driving habits, awareness of
road safety and road courtesy, which the young
ones can start to learn. Plan your trip carefully.

Have a good conversation with the family about
the trip, keep the young ones informed and excited
about where you’re taking them. Teach them
to be good passengers and not whine too much.
Children love to be treated like adults.
This is a good time for children to learn to admire
Nature’s beauty and bounty.

A good information about your destination would be
helpful - this way, you will not lose precious time
trying to locate places. Make sure you have a good
emergency supply and first aid kit, flashlight , water
and nibbles, important telephone numbers, cell phone
battery charged. A spare blanket can come in handy.

Don’t push yourself too hard to get “there.” A good
planning will ensure that the driver does not get
too tired to enjoy the trip.
Happy travelling.

Housebound or no plans to go anywhere:

Don’t fret. Get outside and enjoy the summer breeze,
listen to the birds singing, have a hummingbird feeder
and watch those little birds flap their wings furiously
as they enjoy their treat. If you don’t have the energy
to plant a garden, enjoy the beauty of a neighbor’s
garden and tell them so.

Have some of your dear friends over for a short visit.
There are all kinds of take out food so you don’t have
to slave over a hot stove. People are more than happy
to come for a visit and won’t even mind bringing some
food. Make it a pot-luck event.

Read, listen to your favorite music, or just enjoy
the peace and quiet. Visit that friend you’ve been
thinking about these past years!

The sociable:

Don’t you just love having friends over for a barbecue!
Such fun. Those pesky and annoying flying insects are
bothersome. There are good insect repellants. Light
citronella candles, spread them around your yard. They
don’t only repel insects, the lit candles add an aura of
serenity . Burn some incense for aroma.

Here’s to a fun summer to all.

Bonnie Moss writes to inspire and to motivate
her readers to explore the depths of their heart and
soul and make a difference in this world. She draws
from personal experience and her interest in the New Age
Visit her website :
http://goldencupcafe.net

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It is almost established fact that the moment your business crosses the geographical boundaries it is ready to get big boost. International trade is just not selling to few more customers. Everybody now is aware of globalization.

If you just look at the daily household goods, it is likely some if not all, will have been produced overseas, and if not, chances are that imported components would have been used by indigenous manufacturer to produce that stuff locally.

You know that Olympics is going to be held in China. China would be requiring to import lot of stuff especially in real estate business. Why not explore to identify the requirements for construction business in China?

On line sites and portals can help you identify details of importers and exporters as well as products in demand. A leading trade house, based in Ludhiana, India, specializes in selling to his client base in UK by sourcing the wares from Dubai.

If you are a newbie exporter or importer, starting a small setup to export is not expensive proposition any more. No need to have large godowns, extra structure and not even to have your own portal too. You can always log on to a trade portal and register your products and services for free.

Here you would be able to get free account where to post your products and services for free. From news and analysis on latest trend in exports, imports, currency fluctuation and travel experiences, you can all find it here. In the forums, you can log in your query and get an answer or help other fellow merchants by answering their queries.

Author, R S Chawla is a CFO and webmaster of http://www.b2blounge.com, a free to register portal for trade and services.

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Travel to an African country that borders Sudan, Somalia, Kenya and
Eritrea can be dangerous to your health in more ways than one. But, if
you’re a skydiving, snowboarding, tomb raiding Indiana Jones kind ‘a
trekker, you might find Ethiopia just your cup of strong coffee.

Since the murder in 1975 of the emperor, strangled in the
basement of his palace, Ethiopia has seesawed from absolute rule by a
God-King, to Marxist/Military totalitarianism to the present Federal
Democratic Republic of Ethiopia with a Constitution. Though tribal blood
feuds do exist in parts of the country, the U.S. has an embassy in Addis
Ababa, and you can check the State Department’s travel alerts.

The Last Emperor

Now that you’ve packed and done your homework, you’re ready to go.
You’ve read that Ethiopia’s history goes back to the dawn of man.
Archaeologists have unearthed human remains that carbon-date 3.2
million years ago. I worked in the capital, Addis Ababa during the reign
of Ethiopia’s last emperor. A tiny man with a title larger than himself,
“Emperor Haile Selassi I, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Elect of
God, King of Kings of Ethiopia” proclaimed himself the direct
descendant of Menilek I, son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

Each Christmas Day, the emperor opened his palace to foreign
embassy bigwigs for tea and sweets while his pet lions strolled around
the gardens. I got to go only because I was taking photos for an official
brochure. Can you imagine tea with Haile Selassi? I lived near the
palace and went to bed each night to the screech of peacocks and the
roar of those noisy cats.

To experience the geological diversity of the land you only have to fly
into the 8,000-foot high capital. The mountains and plateaus seem to
rise up to meet you. Eucalyptus forests, high canyons, steep gorges,
scrub desert and ice-cold lakes are secret untamed places for hikers,
climbers and happy campers. You’ll find yourself eating Injera and Wat
with your fingers. Injera is baked from a sourdough batter and placed on
your tabletop like a gigantic pancake. Wat is the stew that’s served in the
middle of the Injera. You tear off a piece of Injera and use it to scoop up
the fiery stew (chicken, meat or vegetables). You don’t want to find
yourself on the other end of a meal. At the Sudanese border, the Baro
River teems with crocodiles. Sadly, I lost a friend there. See http://
www.peacecorpswriters.org/pages/2001/0101/101cllook.html

Hyena Man

Addis is home to Ethiopian Orthodox Churches, U.N. Economic
Commission For Africa, museums and some modern hotels that did not
exist when I rubbed elbows with the little king! Back then there were no
streetlamps. After dark, hyenas skulked into the city scavenging for
anything they could get their jaws around, garbage or human. There
was a man, a prowler of shadows himself, who had a way with the nasty
predators. Wandering the back alleys, he mysteriously lured the beasts
to him and then out of town, kind of like a Pied Piper. We called him “the
hyena man,” and that is all we knew about him. Present day
“entrepreneurs” have made the former event into a thriving business
performed for tourists.

The Blue Nile Falls

We took off in a single engine Cessna T-210 from the ancient capital of
Gondar heading for Bahir Dar and Lake Tana, source of the Blue Nile. In
Ethiopia, everything was ancient, including the Cessna. A former
Korean War Ace, Walt had been spraying malaria-infected areas for
years. The Blue Nile, as opposed to the brownish White Nile in Egypt,
gets its name from the waters of Lake Tana, the largest lake in Ethiopia,
from whence the river flows to Khartoum and on into Egypt. Walt didn’t
fly over the falls; he practically flew into them. Swooping low on the first
run, I nearly lost my breakfast, but I asked him to do it again for a closer
shot. Staring up at me through the tree branches of the surrounding
rainforest was the white-fringed face of a silky black and white long-
tailed monkey. Hunted to near extinction for its beautiful coat, the
Colobus Monkey, the only kind of its species without a thumb, is an
endangered acrobatic marvel of grace and elegance.

Mist from the thundering waters creates a rainbow bridge to the sun. I
was snapping photos when bullets tore through the fuselage,
zapping Walt in his bottom. We couldn’t see the shooters but we knew
they wanted the Cessna. Despite terrible pain, the seasoned pilot wasn’t
going to let them have it. Shouting obscenities over my prayers, he
managed to hold on to the faltering plane while the floorboards
soaked up his blood. We arrived in Bahir Dar with Walt’s pride as
wounded as his anatomy. After medical attention and a few belts of Jack
Daniels, the bush pilot was on cloud nine.

Rock Churches of Lalibela

Ethiopian Airways’ hotshot pilots take off and land on postage stamp
plateaus. A short flight from Addis is the tiny town of Lalibela whose
airport terminal, in my time, was a tin roofed hut. Never mind. Hidden
under ground are eleven monolithic churches carved from rock. Built in
the thirteenth century, the churches are holy places of Ethiopian
Christian pilgrimage. I had to crawl down into the subterranean spaces
on my hands and knees. Once inside, I was in the Middle Ages. A priest
with a torch stood in the darkness guarding an altar and religious wall
paintings. He looked like he’d been standing there for 500 years! Monks
tell you the Ark of the Covenant is similarly hidden in a monastery in the
ancient city of Axum, where Queen Sheba stayed in the 10th century
B.C. Someone should tell Steven Spielberg.

“Simplicity-Courage-Humor-Soul”

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