A Spring Arrangement

I made my first arrangement of Spring using fresh flowers cut from the yard. I used two varieties of Daffodils, some Snowdrops, and a few branches of Japanese Magnolia. It is amazing what a difference a nice container can make. Here are the fresh cuttings stuck in a plastic cup of water! Here is the finished arrangement! The first thing I did was choose an appropriate container with the Goldilocks rule; not too big, not too small, but just right. I chose the medium size container. Next...

A Visit to a Buddhist Temple

While we were in Shanghai we visited a Buddhist temple. The temple is right in the middle of town, surrounded by modern architecture. As I mentioned in my previous post on China, Shanghai is the business center of China and Beijing is the historical center of China which is reflected in the architecture of these cities. While the historical sites are in Beijing, Shanghai is full of modern skyscrapers which makes the temple really stand out. Unlike western countries where churches are seen very...