Flowers – a Common Bond Across Nationalities and Ages

Spring is officially here although the weather in Maryland this past winter has seemed like we’ve been having spring since November.  Along with the warm weather has been the early arrival of flowers and budding trees.  I love them all – everything from the daffodils along the motorways to the flowers that are adorning my postage stamp garden.  The colors and scents are leaving me in a better mood and happier. In anticipation of planting my containers; I’m beginning my plans for a deck and patio filled to overflowing with flowers this summer.

To begin my spring fling with flowers this year, I visited the Philadelphia International Flower Show.  For those who haven’t been to a flower show but love plants and flowers, it’s an experience that I’d highly recommend; however, a show as large as the one in Philadelphia can be overwhelming.  When you first walk in, it’s hard to know where to begin.

I started my tour through the show with one of my favorite flowers, the orchids. There were so many varieties in gorgeous colors; it reminded me of the orchid gardens that we visited in Kuala Lumpur a few years back.  The Kuala Lumpur Orchid Garden is located at the highest point in the Lake Garden and is filled with flowers and enchanting butterflies. It’s one of the most beautiful and serene gardens that I’ve visited. 

From the orchids, we proceeded on to the masses of tulips.  These displays reminded me of our visits to the Keukenhof Gardens in The Netherlands.  There was even a display there from the Keukenhof. We’ve been lucky enough to visit at the height of the spring blooming season when in addition to the thousands and thousands of tulips, there’s an abundance of colors and fragrances from other spring flowers. It was so stunning that we had to go back a couple of times.

One of my favorite areas was the Ikebana displays.  Ikebana is the art of Japanese flower arranging and the show presented several different styles of arrangements.  I studied Ikebana with a Japanese Master while living in London so seeing these displays prompted me to attend one of the workshops while at the show.  During the workshop, the Master prepared 7 different arrangements, which has inspired me to get out my kenzans and study my text books.  I want to see if I can still follow all the rules and disciplines of my favorite style.

This week, on the spur of the moment my husband and I decided to visit the cherry blossoms in Washington DC.  They were at their peak and the blossoms were the fullest that I’ve ever seen them.  We wandered around the entire tidal basin taking in the glorious blossoms.  It was also fun to hear all the various languages spoken by the other visitors.  People were happily chatting and enjoying spending time together while enjoying the beautiful scenery.

Flowers have always been a huge part of my life.  As a little girl, my mother had several flower gardens that she tended enthusiastically. I’d wander through them and if I thought I could get away with it, I’d pick some to take into the house with me. I’ve since visited gardens in many countries and have found that plants and flowers have the same affect on people regardless of their nationalities, bringing them happiness and boosting their moods.  I hadn’t realized that March 12^th was “plant a flower day”. I missed it but I’m sure that any day will work.  If you love flowers, I encourage you to take the time today to find a way to enjoy them!

 Happy Spring!! 

“Flowers are love's truest language” - Park Benjamin

Happiness is to hold flowers in both hands. - Japanese Proverb

 

Not Just Another Resolution!

Happy New Year! It’s that time again when a majority of us have made our resolutions. According to my Internet search, the usual ones include lose weight, spend more time with family, eat healthy, save money, etc. After considerable thought the heading for my list is Goals for 2012. I’ve decided to choose the word “goals” rather than resolutions because resolutions doesn’t leave me with the same feeling of commitment and those who know me know that I’m pretty goal oriented. That little change in the heading of my written goals (yes, I do write them down) seemed appropriate.

Topping my list is to do everything that I can to make certain my heart is healthy and to encourage everyone whom I know to do the same. Both of my parents died from heart related illnesses at a very early age so I probably have a bigger incentive than most of my friends but I do feel that it is important for everyone – women especially.

We are constantly bombarded through TV and magazine ads making us aware of breast cancer. Yet Dr. Oz said on his TV show last year,

“More than one in four women die from heart disease, nearly triple the number of breast and lung cancer combined.”

(If you missed Dr. Oz’s shows on heart health, you can access them on his website.) Breast cancer awareness and research has had very good PR and survivors can talk about how important it is to have routine exams. Since fewer women survive heart attacks, they aren’t around to encourage us to live a healthy lifestyle and get our blood pressure and cholesterol checked regularly. Also, the symptoms for women are often drastically different than for men and women wait longer to call 911 or see their doctor. Frequently it’s not in the forefront of doctor’s minds so it’s up to us to be on top of this issue.

So, how can we take care of the ones we love as well as ourselves? Be informed -- know how to take the steps to prevent and control heart attacks and strokes and tell everyone you can to do the same. There are now so many wonderful web sites that give us the facts that we need. A really great one that I love for describing symptoms and providing a downloadable checklist to take to your doctor is www.womenshealth.gov/heartattacks. If you haven’t already, find out what your family history is and let your doctor know if any of your family members have high blood pressure, heart disease or strokes.

It’s up to you. Decide now to get a healthier lifestyle. This means eating more vegetables and fruit and less meat. It also means getting some exercise every day. Just remember, you won’t see your blood pressure and cholesterol drop overnight but making these changes will mean less risk of future heart problems and you will be feeling better and enjoying the life that you were meant to live.

Another great way to spread the word to your friends and family is to support the Go Red day on February 3rd this year. Provide your support not just for the one day, but the whole month of February. There are several methods for giving support. Check out the American Heart Association website for ways you can give both locally and nationally. For my friends outside of the US, check the Internet for a similar organization for your country. You can get all kinds of Go Red products with all proceeds benefiting the American Heart and American Stroke Associations.

Even though I knew about my family history of heart related illnesses, I’d not kept track of my blood pressure or cholesterol. One fate-filled day while at work, I spent my lunch and break time having both checked out. Thank goodness I did because I found out that both were sky high and I was a potential stroke or heart attack sufferer! Now I want to be sure that I encourage others to have both checked regularly. It only takes a few minutes and you could be saving your life.

I’m the same as everyone else, if I don’t take my goals (resolutions) seriously and stay on track, I’ll backslide. If I can get as many of you as possible to adopt this goal, we can support each other and get the word out to others that a lifestyle change is important for a healthier and longer life.

To keep the body in good health is a duty. . . otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.
Buddha
Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.
Jim Rohn

Navidad en Mexico -- Christmas in Mexico

My husband and I will be leaving on the 19th for Mexico so we’ll be spending Christmas on our own in Mazathlan – a first for on our own and a first for Matzatlan. The children are adults with children of their own so they want to build their own family traditions. I’m all for this! I absolutely believe that they should be creating their own customs and they have my full support. We had a family get together today, which was chaos but a fun, lovely chaos.

I’ve been so very lucky to have spent Christmas, or some time in the month of Christmas in different countries so have sampled some fabulous traditions. Fo many years, I had Christmas in the UK with Christmas pudding and mince pies (niether are to my liking but my husband adores both!), crackers (filled with little silly jokes, toys and hats) and boxing day celebrations. Every year we would visit an outdoor market in Bath where the aroma of mulled wine mixed with cedar, woodburning fires and other holiday smells filled me with a true welcoming sense that Christmas was almost here. These little stalls filled with fasinating handicraft and traditional items were set against the beautiful backdrop of the Bath Abbey. Often there were choral groups performing a whole medley of Christmas songs. It’s an experience that’s hard to beat.

I’ve also been in Copenhagen and visited the open air handicraft stalls in Tivoli Gardens with twinkling lights filling the park and making it a fantasy land. We also watched the changing of the guard at Amalienborg Castle, the Royal Residence, during a light snow fall and then warmed up in a local pub with grog (warmed, spiced wine) and pepper nuts (the worlds best small spiced cookies). There was also a business trip to Stuttgart where I spent an afternoon wandering through outdoor handicraft stalls and again, the smells filling the air just gave me a sense of what an old fashioned Christmas must have been like before the days of Black Friday at the malls and shopping on-line.

One year, my husband and I were traveling through Paris at Christmas time when our flight was cancelled. We didn’t consider this a hardship at all because Paris during the Christmas season is a fantasy of lights and I think it’s actually known as the “City of Lights”, although they do celebrate Bonne année (happy new year) more than Christmas. We took the train into the heart of Paris for dinner and we were lucky in that there was snow and ice so The Avenue des Champs-Élysées had been transformed into a Winter Wonderland. The trees that lined this beautiful street were covered in strings of lights making it incredibly romantic.

I do really miss the outdoor markets found in Europe because they are all so special but my husband and I are forming new traditions now that we are living in the US. Visiting the beautiful Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania is definitely one that we’ll keep. I guess that it was all of the poinsettias there this past week that really got me into the Navidad en Mexico spirit. And now, I’m looking forward to Christmas in Mexico. It’s a land of fiestas (festivals) and Posadas (processions) leading up to Christmas and I’m excited to see and learn about new customs and traditions.

There are probably as many Christmas traditions as there are families. Whatever your traditions are, I hope that you fulfill them and have a happy and wonderful holiday.

Please send me some of your own traditions – I’m interested to learn how you celebrate the holidays.

Whatever you do to celebrate – have a very wonderful holiday and enjoy the time with family.

Experience the wonder of Christmas through common courtesy

How many times have you been leaving a store or restaurant and hold the door for people coming in or leaving behind you only for them to walk through the door without acknowledging that you are even there, let alone noticing that you’ve held the door open for them. Where has this attitude of entitlement and lack of common courtesy come from? Even though this happens on a regular basis, I’m still amazed that these individuals weren’t given a better lesson as they were growing up. I know that I’m old-fashioned and grew up in an era when respect and honoring another individual was very important but have things changed so much that people today can’t utter a simple “thank you”?

Having just spent two weeks in Japan where courtesy is highly important, I’m now finding it difficult to tolerate these self-absorbed, read – rude and arrogant people as they breeze through doors. The Japanese culture is filled with so many ingrained habits including things such as an enthusiastic greeting from the store clerks as you enter a shop, bowing in a correct way, speaking to someone in an appropriate manner and the removal of your shoes when entering a room is so that visitors quickly get used to these courtesies. Japanese students learn at a very early age that a lazy greeting is regarded with disdain. So is simply walking off without saying anything. When parting, instead of saying goodbye, it’s common for the Japanese to make a wish to meet again.

As the franticness of the holiday season escalates, can we try and remain outside our own heads and be aware of other people within our close proximity and treat others, as we would like to be treated? This means that we don’t have our phones glued to our ear or that we are so busy texting that we don’t realize that there are others around us. Imagine making a sales clerk’s day a little bit more pleasant by making a point of thanking them while looking them in the eye and if they are wearing a nametag, include their name in the thank you. And while you are at it, try looking your family members in the eye as you speak to them too. A simple please and thank you to those whom you love the most might make their day too. It doesn’t take a lot of effort or time but it will help make their day a happier one. Try it – you’ll probably see a smile that might not have been there before.

See how many people you can thank this week and let me know if it’s made your week a happier one.

“A little kindness from person to person is better than a vast love for all humankind.”
Richard Dehmel Poet, Playwright (1863-1920)