73 countries and over 152,000 page views!

poko'j

- all one word, with the ' directly above the 'o'

(Polish and Slovakian for 'peace')

Today I wish to recognize all the beautiful countries that have checked out my blog.

I just feel so honored that other people like what I am doing!

It is very self-assuring and quite wonderful!

Here is the amazing list:

 

Argentina

Armenia

Australia

Austria

Bangladesh

Belarus

Belgium

Bolivia

Bosnia & Herzegovina

Brazil*

Brunei

Bulgaria

Canada

Columbia

Croatia

Czech Republic*

Denmark

Estonia

Egypt

Finland

France

Georgia

Germany

Ghana

Greece

Hungary

India

Indonesia

Iraq

Ireland

Israel

Italy

Japan

Jersey

Jordan

Latvia

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Macedonia [FYROM]

Malaysia

Malta

Mauritius

Mexico

Netherlands*

New Zealand

Nigeria

Norway

Pakistan

Palestinian Territories

Philippines

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Russia

Saudi Arabia

Scotland

Singapore

Slovakia

South Africa

South Korea

Spain

Sri Lanka

Sweden

Switzerland

Taiwan

Thailand

Trinidad & Tobago

Turkey

United Arab Emirates

United Kingdom

United States of America

Vietnam

Wales

wow.

That's 73 different countries.

* countries that I have featured in previous blogs

http://www.skyscanner.net/

If you don't see your country listed, please forgive my oversight,

and drop me a note!

My new comments section is very easy to leave a comment.

Lofer Province, Salzburg, Austria

girls carrying harvest crown during the Harvest Festival 

If you all only knew how much I would be delighted to visit you and your country!

I do have a traveling heart, but alas my feet have remained pretty firmly in the USA.

40th Annual Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA International Balloon Festival

I did visit both Mexico and Canada while growing up.

I have fond memories of our long-haired dog, Snuggles, playing in the snow in summer in British Columbia, Canada!

We also have a hilarious family story that concerns Mexico, traffic lights and policemen,

and my Dad's quirky sense of humor!

On our honeymoon Michael and I visited Haiti, Dominican Republic,

U.S.Virgin Islands Territory (St. Thomas) and the Bahamas.

Port au Prince, Haiti

5-27-2011

Subsequently via another cruise, we have visited

St. John's and Puerto Rico.

When you cruise, you do get to visit different countries

but it is in a very controlled way, and not really geared to the country

so much as it is geared to tourism.

cruise ship in San Juan, Puerto Rico harbor

As tourists, we do have to be careful about going off the beaten track

depending on the country, political air, etc.

Michael and I were able to explore the 'back roads' in Haiti,

St. Thomas and St. John's for just a brief jaunt.

We got in big trouble in Haiti, but that is a story for another time!

We kinda' got lost in St. Thomas, and we were not welcome
where we wandered to. Oh well. We did see a wonderful old cemetery

but we didn't go in as we didn't want to inadvertently offend anyone.

Savan Jewish Cememtery, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands

http://www.jewishphotolibrary.smugmug.com/

Although, I do love cemeteries.

So much history and life drama and beautiful art.

When I start my blog with a 'hello' in a different language,

or  say 'peace'

or a seasonal greeting,

I try to pick a language that perhaps some of my readers are familiar with.

To me, they are 'foreign' simply because I am not fluent in that language.

But it sure would be fun to be able to communicate in the local language,

when I get to really travel around that is!

Until then, I will continue to do

'armchair traveling'.

That means checking out new countries by movies,
documentaries, tv specials - and of course my trusty internet!

Navratri Festival, or Festival of Dance
Ahmedabad, India, 2011

Here's a little challenge for you:

Watch one of your favorite movies
but in a different-than-your-own language!

Check out a Steven Seagal movie in Spanish!

Watch Jackie Chan in Mandarin!

See a James Bond movie in French!

It's quite fun.

:0)

La Baule, western France

10/02/2011

I hope you have had fun with my little anecdotes and photos
of places around the world.
I would love to feature each country that checks out my blog,
but if I did that and no other topics, it would take me almost 3 months!!
So, I will do little bits here and there,
and will always 'tag' the country that I have blogged about.
If there is a country that YOU would like to learn more about,
let me know!
Check out past blogs for Brazil, Czech Republic and Holland.

traditional Belgium costumes
http://www.gettyimages.com/

That's it for today!
Have a wonderful family time tomorrow,
while giving thanks to God for all His gifts.
Happy Thanksgiving!

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

 

The Language of Flowers - Chrysanthemum Part II

Damai

(Indonesian for "Peace")



Today I will continue to discuss the Victorian language of flowers,

and the November Flower of the Month:

the Chrysanthemum

www.fotos-bilder.biz

Just as many of the previous flowers we have looked at,

the chrysanthemum has several slightly varying meanings

depending on who you consult.

A red chrysanthemum symbolizes 'love'.

Another source states that a red mum stands for 'sharing'.

Hmmm..., okay.

A yellow mum symbolizes 'neglected love', or 'platonic love'.

'Platonic Love' is described as a 'just friends' type of love.

www.Pacificumscientific-web.com

The Society of American Florists has specified that

bronze mums symbolize 'excitement'.

Hmmm, can't find that anywhere else,

and besides, just what the heck is a bronze mum?

They do come in a rainbow variety of colors, but I'm not sure I would say

any of them are 'bronze'. Rust, yes. Orange, yes.

Oh well!

Who am I to fuss with experts, right?

:0)

A white mum symbolizes 'truth' and 'devoted love'.

The Society of American Florists agree that a white mum stands for 'truth'.

www.flowerpics.tk

Next, we have the traditional symbolism of any color chrysanthemum.

www.flowerinfo.org

Teleflora says that the mum is a 'symbol of the sun',

and that it symbolizes 'optimism' and 'happiness'.

Now, if you are sending mums to those grieving the death of a loved one,

and they are in Europe,

sending mums is an expression of 'sympathy'.

www.enenda.net

In Asian cultures, mums are 'a symbol of life'.

http://www.ehow.com/facts_5811329_meaning-chrysanthemum-flower_.html

www.clker.com

In 1920 Japan declared the chrysanthemum as its' national flower.

The mum is honored yearly during the Festival of Happiness.

The mum is an honored flower and adorns many family crests of nobility.

The mum is the emblem of the Japanese emperor.

vintage soap label

Generally, the mum is second only to the rose in its' popularity.

It is believed that a mum petal inside the bottom of a wine glass

ensures a healthy and long life.

an embroidery transfer from turkeyfeathers

The mum also represents fidelity, long life

and joy.

They represent love, praise and admiration.

'Golden Autumn with brown birds' painting by Qin Xing,

a Chinese painter.

Confucius suggested they be used as an object of meditation.

The chrysanthemum originated in China as a flowering herb,

and Confucius is the first to describe the mum in his writings.

www.flowersgallery.net

From 365 AD - 427 AD, T'ao Yuan Ming improved on mum cultivation techniques.

Today we have over 200 varieties, shapes, and colors!

Now, in the 4th century mums reach Japan.

Japan closely guarded the secrets of mums and cultivation for the next

1,500 years!!

In the mid-19th century mums finally made it to Europe, and then England.

From there they made their way across the Atlantic to the Americas.

Quite the long history.

I bet there's a very interesting story behind that first mum that reached Japan

in the 4th century!



Teleflora tells us that the Japanese consider the orderly unfolding of the petals of a chrysanthemum represents perfection.

cool!

www.mzephotos.com

Well, that almost makes a book about mums!

Hope you have enjoyed the long history and many meanings of

the chrysanthemum.

www.flowerpics.net

Okay, I just have to share with you these last two things!

First, a Scott Joplin song -

c.1904

and I have to get in at least one fairy.....

Have a wonderful autumn day, with mums!

;0)

inkspired

www.inkspired.etsy.com

www.inkspiredmusings.blogspot.com

www.myinkspired.com

November Flower of the Month Chrysanthemum

Greeting to all!
I am fighting major headaches (storms moving in, out and all around apparently).
Plus, we still haven't figured out why our internet is being squirrely. Is it our computer? Is it the blogspot's computers? Twitch in the cable? Did someone open up a computer room with scads of computers hooked onto the same cable as ours?
These are deep questions....
oh not really. They just seem important when I am trying to post a blog!
:0)

November's Flower of the Month is the Chrysanthemum.
From here on I will refer to the flower as 'mum' as I don't feel like typing the whole word out each time.

photo by Yuriy Brykaylo

The Mum has a very long history, and appears to start in China.

I found 2 theories on how the mum got its' name.

The first is:

Chrysanthemum is derived from the Greek words

'chrysos' meaning gold, and 'anthemon' for flower.

However, others believe that chrysanthemum is derived from a

Latin compound word meaning 'golden flower'.

Different original languages, but both came up with the same meaning-

golden flower.

shutterstock photo of the week

www.freshfreestuff.net

The thing is, mums come in a rainbow of colors and shades -

yellow, purple, pink, deep pink, orange, white, red, green

and more!

http://www.greenfingers.com/

Now this next was news to me -

the blooms come in a huge variety of 'forms'

such as Incurve, Reflex, Decorative, Pompon, Single, Semi-Double,

Spoon, Quill, Spider.....and more!

a 'pompon mum

http://www.thefloweringgarden.com/

white mum, http://www.ferenc.biz/

a 'spider' type mum

a 'garland' mum, http://www.types-of-flowers.org/

Some of the photos I saw that said they were so-and-so type mum

I woudn't have believed it until I did some research!

courtesy Swaminathan

I need to close now,

but I do have lots more info for you about mums,

their history,

vintage art, vintage song sheet covers,

lots of fun!

I'll try my best to post tomorrow!

:0)

'bubble romper'

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

http://www.myinkspired.com/

http://www.inkspiredmusings.blogspot.com/

Silky Sharks and giving Thanks

Pyong'hwa

Korean for 'Peace'

a painting of North Korea by a North Korean artist

There was news today about the silky shark

and an international co-op committee of sorts

that met to discuss oceanic ecology

and the prevention of species extinction.

Declines of the silky shark have been recently showing up as much as

a 90% drop in populations.

Their findings and new laws you can find out about here:

http://news.yahoo.com/conservation-body-agrees-protect-silky-sharks-104556772.html

http://www.camerasunderwater.info/



So, it's a shark right?

Sharks are bad, right?

'Jaws' taught us that a dead shark is a good shark, right?

So why would I care if there is a decline?

Less sharks to eat people, right?

WRONG!

"When the last individual of a race of living things breathes no more, another heaven and earth must pass

before such a one can be again."

- William Beebe, scientist

silky sharks off Malpelo Island, near Cocos

found at http://www.uwphotographyguide.com/

The silky shark is the second most common shark caught as bycatch.

(The blue shark is the most common.)

So, what's bycatch?

That is all the other sea life that are caught in a fishing net

that is meant for another kind of marine fish.

Like blue tuna.

A favorite food for silky sharks and dolphins.

In centuries past and not so past, the fishermen would just throw the mostly dead

or dead unwanted sea life (fish, mammals, whales, etc.) back in the ocean.

This has caused a large decline in the population of dolphins and whales.

There have been international laws in place for a little while

(thanks to Green Peace and other animal rights groups)

to protect some species of whales, and dolphins.

First time for silky sharks.

a silky shark caught in a net, www.arkive.org

SOME SILKY SHARK FACTS:

A silky shark has a slender, streamlined body and typically grows to 8'2" (2.5 m).

It is called a silky shark because it has a smooth texture of its skin!

Silky sharks are very mobile and migratory.

Individual sharks have been tag-tracked to travel as much as 37 miles per day (60km) and covering distances of up to 832 miles (1,339km).

That's a whole lotta' swimming.

diagram of a silky shark, www.dpi.quld.gov.au

Silky sharks are open ocean sharks and are found from the surface to 660 ft (200m) down, however they do dive to 1,600 ft (500m) or more.

They spend 99% of their time cruising within 10 ft.(50m) of the surface.

They like their water temp at 79 - 86 degrees F (26 - 30 'C).

They hang out over deep water reefs and around islands

for around 82% of their time.

So again, why should we care if they are becoming extinct?

I believe that all things are created by G-d.

We are all connected through our Creator.

If one strand is disturbed, then unbalance occurs.

If G-d made this world complete (which I believe He did)

then losing a species of any kind will create unbalance

and chaos.

Not to mention being incredibly rude to G-d who has given all of this for us to protect and to use wisely.

picture taken off the coast of Cuba

"The loneliness of man is the loneliness of the animal.

We must have one another.

The baboon seeks his troop, the book keeper his busy office,

the buffalo his herd,

the weary bricklayer his fellows at the corner pub,

the herring his schools in the cold North Sea -

all for quite the same reason:

because we cannot survive without one another."

- Robert Ardrey "The Social Contract"

I have gathered quite a bit more info on the silky shark, but this isn't really

a scientific blog, now is it?

Much of the info I have found is from Wikipedia.

What a marvelous source of information!

We should all know however that silky sharks, like many other sharks, are deliberately killed for their fins.

Shark fins are highly valued and a main ingredient in 'shark fin soup'.

Captured sharks are often 'finned' at sea, and the rest of the body

discarded.

Why does this make me think of rhinocerous'?

The American buffalo?

The African elephant?

The black bear?

Each of them have been hunted for only one body part,

the rest is left to die and rot.

Doesn't sound like a very good use of the gifts God has given us.

Silky sharks are also hunted for their meat (sold fresh or dried/salted), skin, and liver oil. The dried shark jaws are sold as curios to tourists in the tropics.

Fins from these silky sharks are traded an estimated

500,000 to 1,500,000 per year.

(That's half of a million to one and a half million for those of you

who don't like to count zeros!)

The Hong Kong fin market represents over half of the global trade.

The silky shark is the 2nd or 3rd most common species auctioned.

a dried shark jaw, www.elasmo-research.org

People, people, people -

we've GOT to get our priorities straight.

You know the next threat to the silky shark?

Sport fishermen and tourists that fish for them.

Is it really worth putting a stuffed shark on your wall,

or a photo of you and a dead shark on your home website

to cause the extinction of a species?

"Teach your children what we have taught our children -

that the earth is our mother.

Whatever befalls the earth,

befalls the sons of the earth....

Earth does not belong to us;

We belong to the earth."

paraphrased from a speech by Chief Seattle

As we enter this time of Thanksgiving for all the bounty we have received from the past year,

let's give a prayer for us all to respect nature.

To thank God for what He has given us.

And yeah, that includes sharks.

http://www.kilkykipevansphotography.photoshelter.com/

and PLEASE,

think twice before you go on a sports fishing adventure,

or you see shark fin soup on a menu,

or 'just picking up mementos' from a vacation.

'There is always hope

when people are forced to listen

to both sides.'

- John Stuart Mill

Thanks for listening to one of my 'rants' about the earth,

and our individual responsibilities to the world around us.

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

http://www.inkspiredmusings.blogspot.com/

please post comments here

It really is easy!