Flower Arrangement ( Floristry) from My Garden at Chateau Du Mer

My Bird of Paradise Flower Arrangement from the Gardens of Chateau Du Mer

One of the many hobbies, I enjoy during my retirement years is Floristry. I have not taken any formal courses on the subject, but I have read several books on the subject. So what is Floristry. Here's what Wikipedia says:

"Floristry is the general term used to describe the professional floral trade. It encompasses flower care and handling, floral design or flower arranging, merchandising, and display and flower delivery. Wholesale florists sell bulk flowers and related supplies to professionals in the trade. Retail florists offer fresh flowers and related products and services to consumers.

Floristry is a term can refer to the cultivation of flowers as well as their arrangement, and to the business of selling them. Much of the raw material supplied for the floristry trade comes from the cut flower industry. Florist shops, along with online stores are the main flower-only outlets, but supermarkets, garden supply stores and filling stations also sell flowers.

Floral Design or floral arts is the art of creating flower arrangements in vases, bowls, baskets or other containers, or making bouquets and compositions from cut flowers, foliages, herbs, ornamental grasses and other plant materials. Often the terms "floral design" and "floristry" are considered synonymous. Florists are people who work with flowers and plants, generally at the retail level. The term is not to be confused with floristics (the study of distribution and relationships of plant species over geographic areas.). Floristry is also not to be confused with horticulture which more broadly relates to the cultivation of flowers and plants. Ability to create a variety of floral designs such as wreaths, bouquets, corsages, boutonnières/'buttonholes', permanent arrangements and other more complicated arrangements is also important".

In my younger years, I joined a Garden Club( Platte Woods, Missouri) so that I can exchange ideas on Floristry and Horticulture with others. A few of my flower arrangement had won ribbons and awards. The above flower arrangement is my 3 in 1 Bird of Paradise Creation, I made for Easter at Chateau Du Mer in Amoingon, Boac. All materials including ferns are grown in my garden. I called it Three in One, because the center of the arrangement is one specie of bird of paradise, followed by two of another specie at the side and three of another specie at the buttom of the floral bouquet. In between are ferns and greenery( leaves) to accentuate and give contrast to the yellow, red and pink colors of the flowers. A good flower arrangement must have balance, contrast and symmetry. I hope you enjoy my creation ( see photo above). Happy Spring time to ALL!

Married for Fifty Four Years-What's My Secret?

At our 54th Wedding Anniversary Dinner with Rene and Genny Nieva
A couple of days ago( May 8), we celebrated our 54th wedding anniversary in Eastwood City, Quezon City, PHL with first cousins Rene and Genny Nieva at the Old Vine Restaurant at the Eastwood Shopping Mall. I ordered a bottle of Australian wine ( around $27) with our dinner of steak and baby spareribs, seafood salad and dessert. Inspite of the expensive wine, our dinner for 4 costs me only $51. Thanks to our 4 senior citizens discount card of 20% each. Rene and Genny are owners of Perceptions, Inc., a PR firm in Makati.

May 8 is also the birthday of our oldest daughter Dinah Katague King. She turned golden this year.

Several of our friends and relatives often ask me what one has to do for a lasting marriage. In other words is there a formula or secret for a lastng marriage? The question has no specific answer and may vary from one couple to another. However, I do believe that the couple must really be in love with each other unconditionally. So, when do you know that both husband and wife had attained unconditional love?

You are truly in love with your partner when you have totally accepted her or his faults, weaknessaes and flaws. There is no perfect human being, so once you have attained this outlook in your married life, your are indeed truly in love with your partner.

Have you felt angry about yourself and feel depressed once or several times in your life? If you have not experience this feeling once or twice in your life, you must be close to a perfect human being and a candidate for sainthood. To feel depressed once and a while is normal, but if this happens frequently, I suggest consult a professional for medical attention.

Now back to my secret for a Lasting and Happy Marriage. I have no secret except that there should always be an open communication between you and your partner. In the case of my wife of 54 years, Macrine Nieva Jambalos, I have accepted her flaws and she has accepted my own flaws and weaknesses. In addition, both of us have recognized our strenghts as well as gifts and different personalities. Again there is no perfect human being, and no perfect husband or wife.

May you have a lasting marriage and if you are reading this blog and about to
celebrate a wedding anniversary, our congratulations. May God bless you in your marriage.

Who Says Marinduque Has No Night Life?

View of Balanacan Cove from the Resort-Photo taken March, 2011
With the exception of Holy Week and during the Moriones Festival, downtown Boac is a ghost town by 9PM. All the stores, restaurants and computer cafes are closed. I also observed this is true for downtown Gasan and Mogpog. I have no idea about downtown Santa Cruz, Torrijos or Buenavista.

But Balanacan Cove in Mogpog has night life on Wednesday and Friday nights from 8 to 11PM. The resort Palm by the Beach ( Balanacan Cove Convention Center) has a live band for dancing. The resort is located 1Km east of Balanacan Port on a top of the hill with a mesmerizing view of Balanacan Bay. The resort is owned by Frank and Flor Irlandez formerly from Batangas. Frank and I were dorm mates during my graduate school days in the late 1950's for one semester. Flor (formerly Bautista) was also my classmate in Chemistry in UP in the early 1950's. She was one year ahead.

The Irlandez are also snowbirds like us. During the winter months they are here in Marinduque or Batangas. On the spring and summer months they reside in the US like us.

If you have not visited the resort, you are missing one of the most beautiful views in Marinduque. The view from the resort reminds me of the View of Taal Volcano and Lake from the Tagaytay Ridge. The resort is open now but construction is underway for the marina and other buildings. I hope The resort will be patronize by all Marinduquenos and hope for its success. Good day to All!

I want to Go Home Now! It is Hot in Here!

The whole province of Marinduque is now celebrating the Moriones Festival. The weather is hot and humid. So a few minutes ago Macrine gave a sigh of yearning, "I want to Go Home now, it is hot here and I missed my rib-eye steak". I immediately replied that we have less than 3 weeks of snowbirding left and she should be patient. I then ask what she really miss in US. Here's her list.

*Cooking in an air conditioned kitchen

* Our weekly trip to the Casino and Dinner Out

* Our weekly visit from Carenna and Ditas

The food that she misses are rib eye steak, roast beef, beef stroganoff, and Dungeness Crabs.

In my case, I really miss my 24-hr internet availability using my 48" PC personal monitor. I also missed the tender and juicy steak from Raleighs and the Chili Relleno from El Torito. Besides the above, what else will we miss when we fly back to US in three weeks?

I will miss my Garbens, Orchids, Fruit orchard, the gentle sea breezes and the lovely sunset.
I will miss the papayas, chicos, bananas and mangoes
I will miss my daily walk and exercise along the beach and inside the compound.

Here are a few things that we will never miss in Marinduque

The crowing of the roosters as early as 3:00AM

The barking of the pack of dogs in the middle of the night

The crazy and inconsiderate jeepney and tricycle drivers

The dogs,pedestrians, children and chickens crossing the national road without any warning

The electrical power brown outs and lastly

The heat and humidity of the summer months of April and May

But next year we will back to get away from the winter chills of US ( our main reason for snowbirding)

No Mangoes this Year, but Plenty of Chicos and Papayas

Chicos and Bananas
Due to the frequent rains in the month of March, most of the mango flowers have rotted except in a couple of trees. However, my other fruit trees are prolific starting with my papayas and pomelo( native grape fruit) trees. I have several varieties of papayas. My favorite variety ( see photo above) is the dwarf. Since December last year and until now we averaged harvesting 2 papayas per week. Our most prolific trees are the pomelos. I have two trees. One is the sweet variety and the other the sour variety. We have harvested more than 100 fruits per tree since last year. We have to give away some of the fruits to neighbors and relatives. The pomelo has even reached to the nephews and niece of Macrine in Manila.

The next tree that was productive was our star apple tree. However, we were able to enjoy only about 2 dozen fruits, most of it was eaten by the fruit bats before we could harvest it. Our big tamarind tree is also loaded with fruits until now. No body wants the fruits and it is just rotting in the ground. Occasionally, one of our temporary gardener picks up some of the fruits makes it into a jelly. It is delicious, but very laborious.

The other tree that is very productive are my chico trees. We have already harvested more than 200 fruits. Some of the fruits are huge, close to the size of a peach. In general chicos are about the size of plums or apricots.

My favorite fruit tree is the jackfruit. We have three trees. One is a native variety and the other two are from Thailand. It was a gift of Gen Recaredo Sarmiento- our local fruit grower expert.

My other trees that are loaded with flowers are the cashew and avocado trees. Oh, yes I have 7 pineapples plants and three of them have already fruits. Too bad when the fruits mature, we will back to US by then.

I have two guayabano trees, three ates ( custard apple0 AND ONE SANTOL TREE. They looked green and healthy, but no signs of flowering.

My two rambutan trees have recovered from the typhoon last year. Unfortunately, my two lanzones and durian trees never recovered from the heavy rains and winds last year.

I am indeed a happy man. My dream in my childhood years to live surrounded by fruit trees had been attained.

Addendum to My Article on Drug Expiration Dates and Its Efficacy

The other day, I wrote my personal comments about drug expiration dating and its efficacy. I had several positive comments and it seems the topic was informative. Below is an article on the subject which added confirmation on my personal knowledge is this subject. I hope you enjoy the article as follows:

Do Medications Really Expire? By Richard Altschuler

Does the expiration date on a bottle of a medication mean anything? If a bottle of Tylenol, for example, says something like "Do not use after June 1998," and it is August 2002, should you take the Tylenol? Should you discard it? Can you get hurt if you take it? Will it simply have lost its potency and do you no good?

In other words, are drug manufacturers being honest with us when they put an expiration date on their medications, or is the practice of dating just another drug industry scam, to get us to buy new medications when the old ones that purportedly have "expired" are still perfectly good?

These are the pressing questions I investigated after my mother-in-law recently said to me, "It doesn't mean anything," when I pointed out that the Tylenol she was about to take had "expired" 4 years and a few months ago. I was a bit mocking in my pronouncement -- feeling superior that I had noticed the chemical corpse in her cabinet -- but she was equally adamant in her reply, and is generally very sage about medical issues.

So I gave her a glass of water with the purportedly "dead" drug, of which she took 2 capsules for a pain in the upper back. About a half hour later she reported the pain seemed to have eased up a bit. I said "You could be having a placebo effect," not wanting to simply concede she was right about the drug, and also not actually knowing what I was talking about. I was just happy to hear that her pain had eased, even before we had our evening cocktails and hot tub dip (we were in "Leisure World," near Laguna Beach, California, where the hot tub is bigger than most Manhattan apartments, and "Heaven," as generally portrayed, would be raucous by comparison).

Upon my return to NYC and high-speed connection, I immediately scoured the medical databases and general literature for the answer to my question about drug expiration labeling. And voila, no sooner than I could say "Screwed again by the pharmaceutical industry," I had my answer. Here are the simple facts:

First, the expiration date, required by law in the United States, beginning in 1979, specifies only the date the manufacturer guarantees the full potency and safety of the drug -- it does not mean how long the drug is actually "good" or safe to use.

Second, medical authorities uniformly say it is safe to take drugs past their expiration date -- no matter how "expired" the drugs purportedly are. Except for possibly the rarest of exceptions, you won't get hurt and you certainly won't get killed.

Studies show that expired drugs may lose some of their potency over time, from as little as 5% or less to 50% or more (though usually much less than the latter). Even 10 years after the "expiration date," most drugs have a good deal of their original potency. So wisdom dictates that if your life does depend on an expired drug, and you must have 100% or so of its original strength, you should probably toss it and get a refill, " If your life does not depend on an expired drug -- such as that for headache, hay fever, or menstrual cramps -- take it and see what happens.

One of the largest studies ever conducted that supports the above points about "expired drug" labeling was done by the US military 15 years ago, according to a feature story in the Wall Street Journal (March 29, 2000), reported by Laurie P. Cohen. The military was sitting on a $1 billion stockpile of drugs and facing the daunting process of destroying and replacing its supply every 2 to 3 years, so it began a testing program to see if it could extend the life of its inventory. The testing, conducted by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), ultimately covered more than 100 drugs, prescription and over-the-counter. The results showed that about 90% of them were safe and effective as far as 15 years past their original expiration date. ( I have personal knowledge of this having worked for FDA for 12 years)

In light of these results, a former director of the testing program, Francis Flaherty, said he concluded that expiration dates put on by manufacturers typically have no bearing on whether a drug is usable for longer. Mr. Flaherty noted that a drug maker is required to prove only that a drug is still good on whatever expiration date the company chooses to set. The expiration date doesn't mean, or even suggest, that the drug will stop being effective after that, nor that it will become harmful. "Manufacturers put expiration dates on for marketing, rather than scientific, reasons," said Mr. Flaherty, a pharmacist at the FDA until his retirement in 1999. "It's not profitable for them to have products on a shelf for 10 years. They want turnover."

The FDA cautioned there isn't enough evidence from the program, which is weighted toward drugs used during combat, to conclude most drugs in consumers' medicine cabinets are potent beyond the expiration date. Joel Davis, however, a former FDA expiration-date compliance chief, said that with a handful of exceptions -- notably nitroglycerin, insulin, and some liquid antibiotics -- most drugs are probably as durable as those the agency has tested for the military. "Most drugs degrade very slowly," he said. "In all likelihood, you can take a product you have at home and keep it for many years." Consider aspirin. Bayer AG puts 2-year or 3-year dates on aspirin and says that it should be discarded after that. However, Chris Allen, a vice president at the Bayer unit that makes aspirin, said the dating is "pretty conservative"; when Bayer has tested 4-year-old aspirin, it remained 100% effective, he said. So why doesn't Bayer set a 4-year expiration date? Because the company often changes packaging, and it undertakes "continuous improvement programs," Mr. Allen said. Each change triggers a need for more expiration-date testing, and testing each time for a 4-year life would be impractical. Bayer has never tested aspirin beyond 4 years, Mr. Allen said. But Jens Carstensen has. Dr. Carstensen, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin's pharmacy school, who wrote what is considered the main text on drug stability, said, "I did a study of different aspirins, and after 5 years, Bayer was still excellent. Aspirin, if made correctly, is very stable.

Now I think I'll take a swig of the 10-year dead package of Alka Seltzer in my medicine chest -- to ease the nausea I'm feeling from calculating how many billions of dollars the pharmaceutical industry bilks out of unknowing consumers every year who discard perfectly good drugs and buy new ones because they trust the industry's "expiration date labeling."

Again, do you find this article informative? Cheers to ALL! Happy Easter!