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 I arranged the cuttings into a loose bouquet in my hands. For picture taking purposes, I put a rubber band around the stems like so. Next, I made a clean cut of all of the stems. It is possible to stop here and put the bouquet in the container, rubber band and all, then use a stem, raffia, or a ribbon to cover the rubber band. This is particularly useful if the opening of the container is too large to support the bouquet intact. I chose to remove the rubber band and then sorted the cuttings. Then I started with the branches of  Japanese Magnolia. The stems of the branches will help hold the other cuttings in place. Next I added the Daffodils (this picture does not have all of them in yet!)
then added my accents of Snowdrops. As the Japanese Magnolia branches began to open, the burgundy color was beautiful.
   This simple arrangement has brightened our kitchen table all week! Have a great first week of Spring!

I’ll be linking to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch , to Not Just a Housewife, and to Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style.

Technorati Tags: decor,in the garden

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 often, places of worship are quite rarely seen in China. Of all of the places in China that I have been, I have only seen two Christian churches and a handful of Buddhist temples. Everyone paid admission to enter, even worshippers. (I wonder how many people would pay to come to my church.)The architecture was absolutely beautiful.     I have no idea what these tall poles mean but they were very interesting.  Unfortunately, most of the signage and the brochures were written in Chinese so we could not read them. Most of the worshippers buy three long (about 24”) sticks of incense and light them in this cauldron, then hold the sticks to their forehead and bow facing the temple.  The two ladies in suits in the lower left corner of the photo below are doing this. (I guess the cars inside belong to the monks since they were the only ones allowed to drive inside.)       Apparently it is good luck to throw a coin in this thing. We saw several people tossing coins like those below.                     All of the wood is teak and the white balustrade appears to be marble.            The craftsmanship was stunning. The shot below is looking up at the ceiling.         Here’s a closer shot. It’s almost like puzzle pieces.

I loved the beautiful doors. As you can see below looking in from the outside, this is the big silver Buddha. It is about 28 feet tall and is made of 15 tons of silver. (That sign was in English!)   We could not get a shot of the whole thing from inside. Here you can see how massive it is.   You can see in this photo that there is another Buddha to the side. There was also another one on the other side.      My heart breaks for these elderly Chinese people. I so wanted to tell them about my God.  The room under the big Buddha has these Buddhas. There were 18 of them. Worshippers came in and prayed and bowed in front of each one.   The shot below is very fuzzy since we were clicking quickly while trying not to disrupt worshippers but I wanted to show that each one has different positions of their hands and some are even holding various objects.         Other rooms had other Buddhas. This one must be the happy one!      This one seems to be female. We really needed an interpreter here!    This one appears to be female too. I guess she’s the smart one! (Just kidding, no disrespect intended.)We also wondered what those banners on the walls were about. This is a photo of one of the monks.  For just a fleeting moment I thought about a career change. I think I could adapt to wearing something akin to my robe and slippers all day sitting around reading. I wouldn’t have many bad hair days. It was just a fleeting thought.

 

China Part 1

Back in October, the hubby and I cashed in our frequent flier miles for a trip to China to visit our daughter who was studying there for the semester. We have been to China before but had not been to Shanghai. We have been told that Beijing is the historical center for China, comparable to our Washington, DC, and that Shanghai is the business center for China, comparable to our New York city. Shanghai is much more cosmopolitan than Beijing. We saw many more international people in Shanghai than in Beijing. In fact, we saw no westerners on the streets of Beijing with the exception of family members of Olympic athletes when the games were there. Shanghai is a HUGE city. There are many skyscrapers, many cars, and many, many people. There is a considerable amount of smog. Many of these photos were taken from a moving taxi so they may be a little fuzzy. This shot is the skyline on a typical day.

This photo is the skyline on an unusually clear day.

I especially liked this shot of the painted water tower that we passed on our way into the city. Most people live in government apartments like these.

There are some luxury apartments too. I don’t know if these are government subsidized or not.

There are so many cars that some of the roads are “two layer” if you will. They have what they refer to as the elevated road which runs right on top of another road and both of them were packed with cars. 

 

  Throw in several million bicycles….(look closely next to the black fence).. scooters …..

trucks…three wheeled tractor trucks….and rickshaws……   and you have semi-organized chaos, otherwise known as Chinese traffic.

There were people galore. While we were there the international expo was going on so many, many visitors were in Shanghai for the expo. Many of them were Chinese who were bused in from other cities for the expo. We enjoyed a tour of the city on “The Big Bus”. We’ve taken Big Bus tours in other cities and thoroughly enjoyed them. We were able to see just how crowded the streets were from the top of the bus.

I couldn’t believe all of the people around the corner!  I’m not sure that the pictures do it justice.

This area is called the Bund. It is a street of beautiful historic buildings along the waterfront. Notice all of the Chinese flags along the tops of the buildings. Perhaps Americans could learn a lesson here. Patriotism is instilled in Chinese people from the day they are born.

We enjoyed some very good Chinese food. This restaurant had round tables with a lazy susan in the middle. The food was served in large bowls that were placed on the lazy susan so that each of us could taste all of the dishes. It was a great way to taste a variety of foods without making a commitment to any particular one of them.

The purpose of our trip was to visit our daughter who was studying at Fudan University.   When the weather was warm she rode her bicycle to school everyday. My question was how in the world do you find your bike after class since they all look just alike! There must be thousands of bikes lined up all the way around the square on both sides of the street! When the weather turned cold, she took a rickshaw to class. We spent one night at the VERY modest hotel on the university campus. We decided to take the rickshaw to the hotel. Since the three of us could not fit into one rickshaw, we had to take two. We were having a grand time racing in the rickshaws until a party pooper policeman came up in his car speaking Chinese over his car’s PA. We were trying to figure out who he was talking to when just as we arrived at the university my daughter exclaimed “Oh my goodness, he’s yelling at us! Get out, hurry!” As soon as we got out, the policeman drove away and the rickshaw drivers drove away, no questions asked! Apparently, they were breaking the rules! The hotel which was inside the gates of the university was next to a dormitory building. I was amazed at the laundry hanging outside the dorm rooms in the morning. The students wash their clothes in a small plastic bucket each day and hang them out to dry! Many of them also walk down the street to a bathhouse to shower (sort of like summer camp). The lovely daughter also planned a cultural activity for us. We went to an art studio and took a Chinese calligraphy class one night! The instructor spoke NO English so we had to have an interpreter. He was very serious about his art. It was one of the hardest things I have ever tried. The brush must be held a particular way half way up the handle. I felt like I would have more control of the brush if I held it lower down but he would not allow me to do so.

I’ll be adding other posts on the trip as I have time.