The Meaning of Spring

Hi All,

Well, it looks like - finally - spring has sprung!  But really, what exactly does 'spring' mean?

Indeed, click on this link from the Mother Nature Network to find an article titled 'The Meaning of the Spring Season'. 

Click on this link for more information about spring and its definitions.

And now for the fun part of the blog entry...

Click here to find 50 Fun Spring Activities from RealSimple.com. 
If you have children, you might want to click on this link from PetaKids.com which lists 10 Family Activities That You Must Do This Spring. 

And...click this link to learn how to Enjoy Spring - link is from WikiHow.com.

And finally, click on this link from SparkPeople for an entry titled 'What Do You Love About Spring?

Enjoy the great weather and the sunshine!

Regards,

Stu

Mother's Day 2015

Hi All,

Spring has sprung, the flowers are blooming and the warm weather seems to be here for good - this time at least.

And that means Mother's Day is quickly approaching.  Click on some of the following links about Mother's Day, its history and some background about what moms' currently want for mother's day (hint: its not what you think).

For a bit of context, click on this first link which goes to the Wikipedia link for Mother's Day.  This fairly long article includes a brief history of Mother's Day, Mother's Day traditions and how Mother's Day is celebrated in various countries.  Context indeed!  For a parallel history of Mother's Day, click on this link from History.com - which also covers the history and traditions of this holiday.

From Buzzfeed.com comes this article entitled, '21 Moms Reveal What They Actually Want For Mother's Day'.  Scarymommy.com has an article entitled, '30 Things (Almost) Every Mother Wants For Mother's Day'. (Definitely not your traditional list of flowers, chocolate, etc...)

Babble.com did the same thing, but different with an article titled, 'What Moms Really Want: 25 Best Mother's Day Gifts'.  Parenting.com has the same song, but a different riff with an article entitled, 'What Moms Really Want For Mother's Day'.

Finally, U.S. News & World Report chimed in with an article titled, '7 Cheap But Thoughtful Gifts For Mother's Day'.


And of course there are the traditional go-to gifts like flowers...
FTD.com
1800Flowers
ProFlowers.com

And if you want to find some books about Mother's Day from the library, click on this link which goes to the library card catalog. 


Enjoy the links and Happy Mother's Day to all you Mom's out there!

Regards,
Stu

Floral Decorating - Who Would Have Thought?

Hi All,

Who would have thought it? I'm writing about floral decorating and various and sundry topics that are associated with it!

Well, first...what exactly is floral decorating? From Wikipedia, comes this extensive and comprehensive definition of floral decorating.  Evidently floral decorating has a long and established history throughout the world. The Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romand and Chinese all practiced floral decorating.  See the Wikipedia entry for more information.

For an alternative definition and description of floral decoration, readers can click on this link from Encyclopedia Britannica!

And...readers can see this link - under Floristry - to learn more about floral decorating.

The internet is a wonderful place to meet people who share the same hobbies that you do.  In addition, there is a vast trove of 'how to' information on virtually any hobby you can think of.  Click on this link from MarthaStewart.com for an article entitled, '30 Floral Decorating Ideas'.  And, of course, it comes from the doyenne of domesticity - Martha Stewart. So it has to be good.

Another excellent resource is Better Homes and Gardens - this link is titled, '10 Flower Arranging Tips' and is very nicely organized.  And, too boot, the pictures are very nice!

Finally, this next link comes from a magazine called Real Simple - and it bills itself as 'Making Life Easier'.   The title of this entry is 'Decorating With Florals'.  The real takeway from this entry is the 1-5 list of decorating with florals. For example, item 3 is 'Florals can go anywhere'; item 4 is 'Mixing florals creates energy'...you get the idea - the entry is a quick look at how readers can user florals in a modern setting.

And finally, now that I've whetted your floral appetite, blog readers might want to attend the floral decorating class at Farmingdale Public Library on Thursday, June 19th at 7pm. The class is being led by Scott Lucas, Greenhouse Supervisor at Old Westbury Gardens and will be one hour long.  Attendeeds will be introduced to the craft of floral design using materials readily available fro myour garden or garden center.  Sounds like fun!  Don't miss it!

Regards,
Stu

Spring is Here: Start Your Vegetable Garden.

Hi All,

Judging from the weather over the last few days or so, it seems like spring has sprung and it might just be time for you to start your vegetable garden!

Without further ado, a few (3) good links for you to start your vegetable garden.

From the BackyardGardener.com comes this link. Its a simply designed webpage, but the topic coverage is very broad: with a links to lots of articles, how to's, garden design, and a garden store.

The link to the article entitled 'Vegetable Gardening For Beginners' was very helpful. Here is the link to the page.

Another site with the same coverage (vegetable gardening) but which is a bit different can be found by clicking on this link. On this site users can ask questions and get answers from the site authors.

Want to see someone's blog who is completely focused on her vegetable garden? Click here for alink to Skippy's Vegetable Garden - complete with lots of photographs of the various projects that she is working on in the garden. Great photographs!

Since I'm on the topic of blogs and vegetable gardens, click on this link to Top 10 Vegetable Gardening Blogs - there's an amazing amount of material on the site! With titles like 'Veggie Gardening Tips' and 'Daughter of the Soil' hopefully you won't be disappointed.

Finally, here is a link to explain how to take some excellent vegetable garden photographs. Who wouldn't want to take some pictures of a garden that he/she cultivated and then print them out and put the photographs in a frame so you can look at them in the winter?

Enjoy the links and I hope your vegetable garden blossoms into everything (and more) that you planned it to be!

Regards,
Stu

Gardening Websites

Hi All,

Spring has sprung and the sun seems to be shining - occasionally anyway. With the coming of spring, homeowners everywhere on Long Island hope to have their lawns looking better than they did during November, December, January and February period.

With that introduction out of the way, I'd like to discuss - in some detail - one of the really, really excellent, educational and easy-to-navigate gardening websites that internet users can find on the web. Its name is...The National Gardening Association and you can click here to get to the site.

The National Gardening Association has a very, very helpful website - click here for a link to the site. When you visit the site, immediately on the left side of the screen you'll see a link for 'Expert Advice'. Individual links under this category include, Plant Finder, Weed Library, Gardening Articles, Q&A Library, How-To Projects, How-To Videos, Pest Control Library, Food Garden Guide and Plant Care Guides. Click on any of the previous links to go to that particular topic.

When you visit the site, you can connect to links at the top of the page like, 'Themed Gardens', 'Kids Gardening', 'National Garden Month', and 'Research'. You can also search the site by clicking on the dialog box at the top right of the homepage that says 'Search NGA'.

The site is national - I suspect that you already knew that - but one part of the site is very interesting if you are interested in getting information for different regions of the country. On the homepage, scroll down about halfway down the page and click on the link that says 'Regional Gardening Reports'. Click on this link for the current report - which deals with Hummingbirds. Meanwhile, back on the homepage, you can tailor the reports you see by entering your zip code in the dialog box.

Finally, from the homepage you can connect to other garden related links as varied as 'Garden News' and 'Tip of the Day' (the link wasn't working the night that I created this blog entry...)

Enjoy the gardening - hope your flowers and bushes grow as fast as you want them to!

Regards,
Stu

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Amazing Scenery and Photographs

Hi All,

If 'a picture is worth a thousand words' the links in this posts will fill a whole encyclopedia!

Check out these amazing photography websites!

Scenery Photography.com
Amazing-Scenery.com
Flower Photography and Flower Photography Part II

Tundra Photography From National Geographic
Desert Photography
Tropical Rainforest Photography

Enjoy the photos!
Stu

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