Cartoon: Bottled!

Cartoon by Dave Walker.

Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Mum You Are …

MUM YOU ARE...

Someone who cares
when others care less,

Someone who encourages
when others ridicule,

Someone who defends
when others condemn,

Someone with patience
when others are impatient,

Someone who appreciates
when others fail to notice,

Someone who gives security
in a world of insecurity,

You are a friend
for all time,
to cherish
and
protect,
and your achievements
will linger
for generations.

I LOVE YOU.

© All Photos: Riihele. All rights reserved.

These very moving and so poignant words are taken from a card Becki gave me one year for the Mothers Day in Ireland. I have kept it in my wallet ever since through all these years, through all the countries and places it has travelled with me. Heli gave me a most beautifully worded handwritten letter and a note which have also been doing the same ‘travelling’.

It is one of the greatest privileges in life to be a mum.

NOTICE THIS: that in the wide world there is a mother dying every few seconds - the Unicef article of 2003 states that 1400 mothers die every day because of the complications of the pregnancy and the birth. Here is what the UNICEF says about it all. It is nigh impossible to fathom for us in the west and in the parts of the world where the antenatal and the postnatal care are taken for granted.

That to me is the Pandemic Catastrophe of giant proportions and not the other things at the moment that are marketed for us as such worldwide.

I do feel very strongly for these mothers who die each day, for these babies and other children of these mothers who are left orphans for it was most, most difficult and dangerous for me to have children. Each time I faced the more than the likelihood of a miscarriage during the entire nine months. There was no certainty at all - will there or will there not to be a baby at the end of the pregnancy. It was nerve-racking to the hilt! Then the births - they were the riskiest of all, every time, I and the babies were at each birth face to face with death for both of us.

So, for the mothers - all the mothers in the world -

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

Tis for now. Riihele xx.

Tomorrow will be my Mothers Day Take 2 for in Ireland it was already celebrated in March and tomorrow it is the Finnish one. Double the prezzies and double the blessings of being an international mum!

DRIVING: Like a Lady or Ladylike

Picture Perfect: SAFE

SAFE:
Conferring safety; securing from harm;
not exposing to danger; confining securely;
to be relied upon; not dangerous;

a safe harbor; a safe bridge…

A place for keeping things in safety.

© Photos: Riihele. All rights reserved.

Free from harm, injury, or risk; untouched or unthreatened by danger or injury; unharmed; unhurt; secure; whole; as, safe from disease; safe from storms; safe from foes.

This is my entry this week on PICTURE PERFECT.

This photo belongs to this set in this link ere. The light is natural setting sunlight in October, by the way.

Have a super weekend. Da Paparazzi Blonde

Incidents & Such Like: BELL

My favourite teacher at school was the English teacher for she was very young and a most encouraging person.

One time she came to our class still laughing in stitches because she was highly amused of what had happened in the previous class. She turns to me and says:

“I asked in a class ‘How does one ask for time in English?

One boy put his hand up all eager to answer:

I know, I know, he says:
‘How plenty is the bell?’”

We were in hysterics both of us. I still remember it like it just happened.

For non-English native speakers this answer says volumes straight away, for in many languages such as in Finnish and Swedish, for example, the way that one asks for the time, literally is this way.

Years later came the television series that was so popular called: Saved by the Bell; but then it was not known, so the pupil could not have guessed that.

Have a great week.  Rii :))

What kind of school memories do you have?

FRAGILE …

© Riihele. All rights reserved

Beauty is a fragile gift.
Ovid

***********

Lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis)

Commonly known as the Lily of the Valley or Lily-of-the-Valley, is the only species in the genus Convallaria in the flowering plant family Ruscaceae, formerly placed in the lily family Liliaceae or in its own family called Convallariaceae.

Lily of the Valley is highly poisonous, by the way; but very beautiful, methinks. I took a series of photos on the LoV last summer and this is one of them. Fragile, to me it says. This flower is the national flower of FInland.

Best Dressed Caveman …

He sure looks the ‘ticket’ in the sticks, eh?!
I’d say that that tunic he is wearing is
rather on the barest of bear essentials all right!!
But of course, then it was the high fashion, naturally.

LOL

Those days the in-fashion magazine was called ‘Cave People’;
these days it is just called ‘People’!
But i’d bet that the carry on is just what it always was:

Scandalous.

Tis for now, Rii :)_)

LILIES …

Remember
that the most beautiful things
in the world are
the most useless;
peacocks and lilies
for instance.

John Ruskin (1819-1900)

The genus Lilium are herbaceous flowering plants normally growing from bulbs, comprising a genus of about 110 species in the lily family, Liliaceae. They are important as large showy flowering garden plants, and in literature. Some of the bulbs have been consumed by people. The species in this genus are the true lilies, while other plants with lily in the common name are related to other groups of plants.

Some facts about Lilies:

• Lilies are one of the most beautiful, and graceful of all summer-blooming flowers.
• Lilies belong to the Lilium genus consisting of less than 100 known species, occurring in all parts of the Northern Hemisphere.
• Lilies are believed to have been under cultivation longer than any other ornamental flower, having existed in gardens 3,000 years ago.
• Floral designs, particularly of Lilies, made their appearance and became very popular in the 18th dynasty of Egypt.

All Photos: Riihele. © All rights reserved.

The oil extracted from lilies has healing and softening properties. Especially, when the lily fragrance oil is mixed with that of Calendula aka Pot Marigold works wonderful for very sensitive skin. One can use this oil for massage, in a bath, after a bath, for babies, dry cuticles, and elbows, as a facial moisturizer, under-eye oil and hot-oil treatment.

Some of the lilies are edible even such as Lilium bulbiferous ’Orange lily’ — its bulbs are edible tasting sweet and mealy; these lilies make very fair eating and can be used as a substitute to potato!! Other lilies have medicinal properties such as Lilium candidum ’Madonna lily’ — its bulb is employed for medicinal purposes, having highly demulcent and also astringent properties.

Lilium henryi ’Henry’s lily’ or as it is also known Tiger lily relieve congestion, and the nausea and vomiting of pregnancy and also, Lilium japonicum ’Krameri’ is nourishing and useful in diseases of the chest. Lilium martagon ’Martagon lily’ or as it is also called, ’Turk’s cap lily’ their bulb has diuretic, emmenagogue, emollient and expectorant properties. They are used to relieve heart diseases, pain in the cardiac region and angina pectoris.

Kingdom Plantae
Division Magnoliophyta
Class Liliopsida
Order Liliales
Family Liliaceae
Genus Lilium

Fun Flower Quizz in ere for ye.

Lilies on the menu today, for the weather is only miserable over here in Finland these past few days, being more autumn-like than spring,
I so need to think of the time when these bright yellow lilies were in full bloom in July last summer.
Although, the rain came down in buckets, it did not stop their cheerful and vibrant colours showing off at their best!

Do take good care and good cheer. Rii :))
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lily
http://www.theflowerexpert.com/content/mostpopularflowers/lilies
http://www.thelilygarden.com/pages_lilies/asiatic_yellow_2.html
http://www.thelilygarden.com/
The Lily Garden is a most marvellous site for all things Lilies.

Difference in Retail Therapy …

On behalf of the female species I just want to say this:

The female of the species in every culture, in every corner of the globe has one hobby, one pastime that is normally very high on the agenda - the shopping. It is not so much of the actual getting of the goods, but to just to be able to look at everything available, to walk about with your friends and have a quality cup of coffee in a cafe with the right ambience. To be at your leisure is the most important factor in the whole equation. Huh? Sounds complicated, this feminine maths and the female logic to the uninitiated, does it? Aahh, tis plain as mud.

I have two daughters who are all grown-up these days, yet still when we get together, we like to go browsing in the stores in whichever country we will meet. It does not necessarily mean that we will buy that much as it is more to get a feel of the locale. It is a culture test of a kind as what is in the stores speaks volumes to the one that is so inclined.

The word ‘therapy’, in Retail Therapy, means in its original language, Greek,

therap-, -therapeutic[s], -therapeutically, -therapy, -therapies, -therapist

(Greek: heal, cure; treatment; service done to the sick, a waiting on).

So true. Retail therapy could be said to be a ‘service done to the whole business world and the world economics‘, for tis really mostly the females that keep the retailers on the High Street going. This link has the ’scientific’ - read: rather on the dull side - explanations on the High Street. Neither do I think that even if the net domain is called High Street with tons of stores and goods online that it is equal to the real retail therapy experience! No way.

Now a question

“WHO ARE THESE CONSUMERS that keep the world’s markets going?”

The answer:

LADIES, naiset, DAMEN, femmes, WOMEN, frauen ….

It is a fact universally acknowledged that it is the women in every country who mostly do the shopping and so they are the consumers that these statistics are talking about and whose shopping habits they reflect!

We should be given a credit for doing such a noble thing to help the world economy in every country. I suggest the NP aka The Noble Prize* in The Retail Therapy for the best candidate searched with the right criteria et cetera. The NP in Retail Therapy could be a section of the NP in the Economics, for example.

I have been called Queen of Retail Therapy, but I will tell you that those days are long past & gone! Truly. Seriously, now, do mean it. No joking. Actually. Rii :))

PS.
I do vouch 100 per cent that she had a swell of a time every single second of those 3 hrs and 26 mins, because the RT is a cheer for her and not a chore like tis to him,  who is suffering every split-second of those 6 mins, as he dashed into the store & out!! Her money was better spent, I say.

* Nominations taken.

CARTOON: Administration

Cartoon by Dave Walker.

Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.