It's my Eighth Blogiversary!

Hello everyone! I hope that you are all having a wonderful day for yourselves! :) Yes, today is my Eighth Blogiversary! Eight Years?!?! Whoo Hoo. Party time! :)

I checked on an anniversary website and found out that the traditional gifts to celebrate eight years together is to give your partner something made of Bronze or Pottery. The more modern gift is to give your partner is either Linen or Lace. The eighth anniversary gemstone is tourmaline, tanzanite, or aventurine, the anniversary color is bronze, and the flower that you usually give your partner on your eighth anniversary together is either Clematis - which represents cleverness, ingenuity, pretense and intelligence, or Lilac - which symbolizes the emotions of young love, beauty, pride, humility, confidence and youthfulness.

Clematis (also known as Traveler's Joy, Virgin's Bower, Old Man's Beard, Leather Flower, Vase Vine or Pepper Vine) is a genus of about 300 species within the Buttercup family. Hybrids of this particular flower have always been extremely popular among gardeners - beginning with a variety known as Jackman's Clematis - a garden standard since 1862; with many other varieties being produced constantly. Although they are mainly of Chinese and Japanese origin, most species are known as Clematis in English. The genus name originally comes from Ancient Greek, and clématis as it is known, actually translates to "a climbing plant."

There are over 250 species and chosen cultivars of this flower already known, and these are often named after their originators or particular characteristics. The genus is composed of mostly vigorous, woody, climbing flowering vines; although the woody stems are quite fragile until several years old. The leaves of the clematis are divided into leaflets and leafstalks that are capable of twisting and curling around supporting structures to help anchor the plant as it climbs. Some of the species of this plant are shrubby, while others grow into herbaceous perennial plants.

These particular species are mainly found throughout the more temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, although rarely in the tropics. They grow best in full sun, surrounded by cool, moist, well-drained soil. The leaves of the clematis plant provide a food source for a variety of caterpillars - including a particular type of moth known as the Willow Beauty. The cooler temperate species of clematis are of the deciduous variety, while many of the warmer climate species are evergreen.

While wild clematis is native to China, this particular species had also made its way into Japanese gardens by the 17th century. Japanese garden selections were the first exotic clematises to reach European gardens by the 18th century - which was long before the Chinese species were identified in their native habitat by the late 19th century. During the Victorian era - in a time made famous for its nuanced flower symbolism - clematis had acquired several meanings by the time the flower had arrived in Europe; it came to symbolize both artistic and mental beauty, as well as poverty.

Although the European variety of clematis was never incorporated into the herbalists' pharmacopeia, the Western White Clematis was quite prevalent all throughout the American Old West. While the entire genus contains essential oils and compounds that are extremely irritating to the skin and mucous membranes, Spanish colonials had occasionally used small quantities of the seeds and the acrid leaves of the plant as a pepper substitute. Early pioneers and travelers followed their advice, and so nicknamed the Western White Clematis, the Pepper Vine.

Ingesting large quantities of clematis compounds can actually cause internal bleeding of the digestive tract, and so some species of the plant are considered essentially toxic. As a matter of fact, when gardening and dealing with the clematis plant in general it is a good idea to always wear gloves. However, despite the plant's toxicity, Native Americans found that using very small amounts of clematis were an effective remedy for migraine headaches and nervous disorders. Clematis is also an effective treatment for skin infections.

Lilac is a species of flowering plant in the olive family. Although they are native to the Balkan Peninsula, this species is widely cultivated as ornamental and has also been naturalized throughout other parts of Europe such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy, as well as much of North America. It is not considered a particularly aggressive species, usually found growing wild in widespread scattered sites, generally in the vicinity of past or present areas of human habitation. In fact, the lilac is a very popular ornamental plant for gardens and parks to use because of its attractive, sweet-smelling flowers which bloom in early summer.

These flowers can be found in three primary colors: Lilac, Mauve, and occasionally White. Although a smaller variety of lilac known as the Persian Lilac had been introduced into northern European gardens from the Ottomans by the 16th century, lilacs had been introduced to the American colonies by the 18th century. The Lilac has been widely naturalized in northern and western Europe; and as a sign of the Lilac's complete naturalization in North America, it has been chosen as the state flower of New Hampshire.

I originally started reading Back When we Were Grownups: A Novel by Anne Tyler on 11 May 2017, although I chose to restart my reading just this morning - 12 May 2017. This is actually a reread for me from about six and a half years ago - as I originally read the book for the first time in July of 2010. I initially acquired this book from a Library Book Sale that Mareena and I went to in July of 2010; specifically on July 1st, 2010.

Anne Tyler (born 25 October 1941) is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, short story writer and literary critic. She is the author of 20 novels, three of which - Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant (1982), The Accidental Tourist (1985), and Breathing Lessons (1988) were chosen as finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. While all three of these novels are perhaps Ms. Tyler's best-known works, Breathing Lessons actually won the Pulitzer Prize in 1989. The eldest of four children, Anne Tyler was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Her father was an industrial chemist and her mother was a social worker. The Tylers were Quakers, very active with social causes in the Midwest and the South. As a matter of fact, Ms. Tyler spent four years of her childhood - from ages seven to eleven - as part of a Quaker community in Celo, in the mountains of North Carolina, near the town of Burnsville.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

It's my Seventh Blogiversary!

Hello everyone! I hope that you are all having a wonderful day for yourselves! :) Yes, today is my Seventh Blogiversary! Seven Years?!?! Whoo Hoo. Party time! :)

I checked on an anniversary website and found out that the traditional gifts to celebrate seven years together is to give your partner something made of Wool or Copper. The more modern gift is to give your partner any kind of Desk Sets. The seventh anniversary gemstone is onyx, yellow sapphire or golden beryl, the anniversary colors are either yellow or off white, and the flower that you usually give your partner on your seventh anniversary together is Jack-in-the-Pulpit which can represent shelter, security and protection.

Jack-in-the-Pulpit (also known as the Bog Onion, Brown Dragon, Indian Turnip, American Wake Robin or Wild Turnip) is a clustered trifoliate plant that is frequently mistaken for Poison Ivy - especially before the flowers appear or the actual non-flowering plant. Care should also be taken to avoid confusion with Poison Ivy, which has three leaflets somewhat similar in appearance. Jack-in-the-Pulpit flowers from April to June, and the irregular clusters of flowers are usually greenish-yellow or sometimes fully green with purple or brownish stripes. The plant itself produces a berry-like fruit in late summer and fall which ripens from a smooth, shiny green to a brilliantly bright red just before the plant goes dormant. 

Jack-in-the-Pulpit also contains calcium oxalate crystals which can cause a powerful burning sensation and irritation of the mouth and digestive system; and on rare occasions the swelling of the mouth and throat can become severe enough to affect breathing. While the oxalic acid in the plant is poisonous if ingested, if it is properly prepared - dried and cooked - the plant can be eaten as a root vegetable. Preparations of the root were also reported to be used by the Native Americans to cure various ailments - sore eyes, rheumatism, bronchitis, and snake bites - as well as to induce sterility. 

Jack-in-the-Pulpit is native to eastern North America, occurring in moist woodlands and thickets from Nova Scotia west to Minnesota, and south to southern Florida and Texas.

I just started reading Blind Date by Frances Fyfield on 10 May 2016. Despite having three very intriguing books floating around on my radar, I still can't seem to settle on which particular book I actually want to read. That being said, I've decided to highlight Blind Date by Frances Fyfield for my seventh blogiversary post.

Frances Fyfield (born 18 November 1948) is the pseudonym of Frances Hegarty, an English-born lawyer and crime-writer. Born and raised in Derbyshire - a county in the East Midlands area of England - Ms. Hegarty was educated primarily at convent schools until she chose to study English at Newcastle University. Upon graduation, she took a course in criminal law - initially working for the Metropolitan Police and then later for the Crown Prosecution Service. She claims that after dealing for so long with criminal law, she turned to writing as a means of escape: 

"After a long diet of criminal law, including dangerous dogs, rape, mayhem and much, much murder, the indigestion of pity and fury provoked me to write. I wanted to write romance, but the domestically macabre always got in the way."

She has won several awards, including the Crime Writers' Association Duncan Lawrie Dagger (later renamed The Gold Dagger) for Blood From Stone in 2008 and the Silver Dagger for Deep Sleep. In addition, her novel, Safer Than Houses was nominated for the Duncan Lawrie Dagger in 2006. She also writes psychological thrillers under the name of Frances Hegarty, among them, The Playroom, Half Light and Let's Dance, which was published in 1995.

Her novels have been translated into 14 languages. Several have been adapted for television. Ms. Fyfield's Helen West Series has twice been adapted for television. The 1999 television movie adaptation 'Trial by Fire', and a successful British television series which debuted in 2002.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

It's my Sixth Blogiversary!

Hello everyone! I hope that you are all having a wonderful day for yourselves! :) Yes, today is my Sixth Blogiversary! Six Years?!?! Whoo Hoo. Party time! :)

I checked on an anniversary website and found out that the traditional gifts to celebrate six years together is to give your partner any type of candy. The more modern gift is to give your partner iron. The sixth anniversary gemstone is amethyst or turquoise, the anniversary color is white, and the flower that you usually give your partner on your sixth anniversary together is the Calla Lily which can represent magnificent beauty, transition, pure love and growth.

The Calla Lily (also known as the Arum Lily) is a beautiful and remarkably distinctive flower, yet oddly enough, it isn't actually a lily. Calla Lilies come in a variety of different colors such as shades of green, white, pink, purple, yellow and orange. It is also considered to be highly poisonous. The flower itself is actually a member of the Araceae family and is native to Southern Africa - primarily Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique - although some species have also been cultivated to grow in cooler climates such as the British Isles and the northwestern United States. 

The Calla Lily has also been naturalized in other countries such as Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Madeira and Australia - and is classified as a toxic weed and a pest in Western Australia. The flower means different things to different people, and has some underlying meanings in different cultures. The flower's true meaning is beauty, however, it is also a very popular flower usually seen at funerals or other events commemorating death.

The flower was often used in the paintings of Diego Rivera and Georgia O'Keeffe. It also is the national flower of the island nation of Saint Helena - Britain's second-oldest remaining overseas territory - where the flower grows profusely. Since 1926 - the Calla Lily has been an important symbol of Irish republicanism and nationalism - and is used to commemorate the fallen of the Easter Rising of 1916 and onwards.

I just started reading Third Girl by Agatha Christie on 11 May 2015.

Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller, born on 15 September 1890) was an English crime novelist, short story writer and playwright. She also wrote six romances under the pseudonym of Mary Westmacott, although she is best known for the 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections that she wrote under her own name. Most of her crime novels featured the investigative work of such characters as Hercule Poirot, Jane Marple, Parker Pyne, Harley Quin and Mr. Satterthwaite and Tommy and Tuppence Beresford. The novel which launched Agatha Christie's writing career was The Mysterious Affair at Styles - which featured Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, and was published in 1920.

Agatha was born into a wealthy upper middle-class family in Torquay, Devon - the youngest of three children - born to Clara Boehmer Miller, a Belfast-born Englishwoman and her husband Frederick Alvah Miller, an American stockbroker. Agatha Christie always claimed that her childhood was "very happy", although being home schooled, she spent much of her childhood alone and separate from other children. However, she was surrounded from an early age by a series of strong and independent women, and she also spent quite a lot of time with her pets, whom she adored. When Agatha Christie was eleven years old, her father - who was often ill - died after suffering a series of heart attacks.

According to Agatha - the death of her father at the age of 55 - marked the end of her childhood. In 1902, soon after his death, she was sent away to a girls' school in Torquay, but found it extremely difficult adjusting to the disciplined atmosphere. In 1905, Agatha was sent to Paris where she completed her education. She returned to England in 1910 and discovered that her mother was ill.

They decided to spend more time together in the warmer climate of Cairo, which at that time was a popular tourist destination for wealthy Britons. For the next three months, Clara and Agatha stayed at the Gezirah Palace Hotel - where, chaperoned by her mother - Agatha attended many social functions in search of a husband. Although she also visited many Egyptian monuments, she didn't exhibit any of the particularly great interest in archeology and Egyptology that became so prominent in her later years. Upon returning to England, Agatha continued her search for a husband, entering into short-lived relationships with four men and an engagement with another.

She met her first husband, Archibald Christie, at a dance held at Ugbrooke, Devon - about twelve miles from Torquay. The couple quickly fell in love and married on the afternoon of Christmas Eve in 1914, while Archie was home on leave. Agatha herself got involved in the war effort, joining the 'Voluntary Aid Detachment' (VAD) in 1914; she attended to wounded soldiers in a hospital in Torquay as an unpaid VAD nurse - responsible for assisting the doctors and maintaining the soldiers' morale. She worked in that capacity from October of 1914 to December of 1916; qualifying as an apothecary's assistant in 1917 and earning a living of £16 until the end of her service in 1918.

After a period of marital discord between them - which culminated in Agatha's mysterious ten-day disappearance and a high-profile search for her in December of 1926 - the Christies divorced in 1928. Agatha retained custody of the couple's only daughter Rosalind and the Christie name for her writing. Agatha married her second husband - Sir Max Mallowan - in 1930. The couple had met during an archeological dig and had a loving, happy marriage until Agatha's death from natural causes in January of 1976.

To honor her many literary achievements, Agatha Christie was appointed a Commander of the British Empire during the 1956 New Year's Honours; she was promoted to Dame in 1971. Her husband had been knighted for his work in archeology in 1968, and owing to his knighthood, from that time she could be styled as Lady Mallowan. The couple was actually one of the very few married couples where both partners were honored in their own right.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

It's my Fifth Blogiversary!

Hello everyone! I hope that you are all having a wonderful day for yourselves! :) Yes, today is my Fifth Blogiversary! Five Years?!?! Whoo Hoo. Party time! :)

I checked on an anniversary website and found out that the traditional gifts to celebrate five years together is to give your partner anything made of wood. The more modern gift is to give your partner silver. The fifth anniversary gemstone is sapphire, the anniversary color is turquoise, and the flower that you usually give your partner on your fifth anniversary together is the Daisy which can stand for loyal love, beauty, patience, purity, innocence, and simplicity.

There are currently more then 23,000 recognized species of Asteraceae or Compositae (commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, or sunflower family. The name Asteraceae comes from Aster, the most common genus in the family, and is derived from the Greek word for 'star'. The vernacular name "daisy", widely applied to members of this family, is derived from its Old English name meaning "day's eye". This is because the petals open at dawn and close at dusk. Asters are found everywhere in the world except Antarctica or the extreme Arctic.

I just started reading When Satan Wore a Cross: The Shocking True Story of a Killer Priest by Fred Rosen on 12 May 2014.

Fred Rosen was a former columnist for the Arts and Leisure Section of The New York Times. He now is a true crime author living in the United States. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and has suffered from Dysthemia (also known as Chronic Depression) for a number of years.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

It's my Fourth Blogiversary!

Hello everyone! I hope that you are all having a wonderful day for yourselves! :) Yes, today is my Fourth Blogiversary! Four Years?!?! Whoo Hoo. Party time! :)

I checked on an anniversary website and found out that the traditional gifts to celebrate four years together is to give your partner fruit, flowers or books. The more modern gift is to give your partner anything having to do with electrical appliances. The fourth anniversary gemstone is either amethyst or topaz, the anniversary color is blue or green and the flower that you usually give your partner on your fourth anniversary together is the Geranium which can stand for stupidity of folly, but perhaps more positively can stand for comfort and gentility.

There are currently almost 422 recognized species of Geranium. The name Geranium is derived from the Greek word for 'crane', and is more commonly known in English as 'cranesbills' or 'storksbills'. Geraniums are found throughout the temperate regions of the world and the mountains of the tropics, but mostly in the eastern part of the Mediterranean region. The genus was successfully separated into two by Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle (1746-1800) who was a French botanist and magistrate.

Born into an upper-class affluent Parisian family, connections with the French Royal Court secured for Charles his first position as Superintendent of Parisian Waters and Forests at the age of twenty-six. In this capacity, Charles conducted various studies of native trees and shrubs, also gaining an interest in exotic flora. After taking up the superintendency, he appears to have been self-taught in botany.

In 1775, Charles was appointed as the magistrate of a court that dealt with tax offenses. Under the court's president at that time, Malesherbes, the Cour des Aides in Paris became perhaps the only French government institution to protect ordinary citizens against a corrupt state. Malesherbes himself was a keen botanist, but by 1775 had been forced out of office because he published a scheme to reform the tax system.

Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle married Thérèse-Valère Doré in 1775. They had five children in the nineteen years before Thérèse-Valère died in 1794. With his private wealth and public income, Charles was able to pursue his botanical interests as a wealthy amateur. He was a strict follower of the Linnaen system of plant classification. The most influential French botanists of the time - Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, Michel Adanson and others - advocated a more natural system of classification. Charles, however, was friends with such scholars as Georges Cuvier, Pierre Marie Auguste Broussonet and André Thouin - all noted botanists and naturalists, themselves.

Charles soon clashed with certain French botanists who espoused more modern systems of classification. When the French Revolution began in 1789, Charles continued to publish botanical papers. As a magistrate of a respected court, and holding liberal political ideas himself, Charles was at first not at risk when the French Revolution began. In fact, he was one of the few former magistrates to be appointed judge of a revolutionary tribunal. 

In October 1789, he was even appointed commander of his district's National Guard. Acting under his orders, his troops prevented the massacre of the King's bodyguard when the Parisian mob removed the King from Versailles to Paris. In 1790, despite Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, Michel Adanson and Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, Chevalier de Lamarck voting against his induction, he was actually elected as an associate member of the Academy of Sciences. When the Reign of Terror began in late 1792, it is said that Charles was imprisoned for a time, in danger of being executed, until some of his botanist friends managed to get him released. There is no independent confirmation of this, although Charles' former patron, Malesherbes, certainly went to the guillotine on April 23, 1794 for his defense of the King before the National Convention.

About the time that the Reign of Terror ended in 1794, Charles' wife Thérèse-Valère died. His eldest son, Jacques, left home and seems to have become estranged from his father; the eldest daughter went to live with another family, while Charles and his servants cared for the three youngest children. (Rose, the youngest, was only two years old at this time although she lived to be 99 years old.) Charles himself never remarried.

Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle was ruined by the Revolution, and had to take a low-paying job at the Ministry of Justice, although he was also a member of the Commission on Agriculture and the Arts and was involved in the publication of several agricultural reports. In 1795 the Academy of Sciences was reborn as the National Institute of Sciences and Arts, and Charles was elected to full membership, which came with a decent salary. He still owned an herbarium of approximately 8,000 species as well as an extensive botanical library which he allowed young botanists to use freely.

On the evening of August 16, 1800 as he was walking home after working late at the Institute, Charles was attacked and murdered in the street by an unknown assailant. One rumor was that the assassin was his eldest son, Jacques. Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle was described by Swiss botanist, Augustin Pyramus de Candolle as being: 

"A dry man, cold in appearance but actually quite passionate, acrimonious and sarcastic in conversation, given to small intrigues, a declared enemy of de Jussieu, de Lamarck and even of the new methods, but always doing for me acts of kindness for which I was grateful."

According to his friend, Georges Cuvier:

"His works were superb, but his table frugal and his clothes simple. He spent 20,000 francs a year on botany, but went about on foot."

Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle always refused to have any portraits made.

I just started reading Just After Sunset: Stories by Stephen King on 10 May 2013. 

"The most important things are the hardest things to say. They are the things you get ashamed of because words diminish your feelings - words shrink things that seem timeless when they are in your head to no more than living size when they are brought out." - Stephen King

Stephen Edwin King (born on 21 September 1947) is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 500 million copies and have been made into several movies. He is known for novels such as Carrie, The Shining, The Stand, It, Misery and the seven-novel series The Dark Tower, which he wrote over a period of 27 years. As of 2010, Stephen King has written and published 49 novels, including seven under the pen name Richard Bachman, five non-fiction books, and nine collections of short stories including Night Shift, Skeleton Crew, and Everything's Eventual. Many of his stories are set in his home state of Maine.

Stephen King and his wife Tabitha have three children - Naomi, Joe and Owen - and three grandchildren. Tabitha King is herself a social activist and a successful author, having written eight books. Naomi is a Unitarian Universalist Church minister in Plantation, Florida, Joe is an author and comic book writer, perhaps better known by his pen name Joe Hill. Joe Hill is the author of three novels - Heart-Shaped Box, Horns and NOS4A2 - a collection of short stories titled 20th Century Ghosts and the comic book series Locke and Key. Owen King is also a published short story author, himself.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

It's my Third Blogiversary!

Hello everyone! I hope that you are all having a wonderful day for yourselves! :) Yes, today is my Third Blogiversary! Whoo Hoo. Party time! :)

I checked on an anniversary website and found out that the traditional gift to celebrate three years together is to give your partner anything Leather. The more modern gifts to give your partner are Crystal or Glass. The third anniversary gemstone is pearl or jade, the anniversary color is white or jade green and the flower that you usually give your partner on your third anniversary together is Fuchsia which stands for taste.

There are currently almost 110 recognized species of Fuchsia. The vast majority are native to South America, but there are a few species found further north to Central America, Mexico, New Zealand and Tahiti. The first species of Fuchsia was discovered on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (present-day Dominican Republic and Haiti) in 1703 by French Minim monk and botanist Charles Plumier (1646-1704) who named the new genus after the renowned German botanist Leonhart Fuchs (1501-1566).

I just started reading The White Voyage by John Christopher on 12 May 2012.

Sam Youd (born 16 April 1922) was a British author known professionally as Christopher Samuel Youd, although he is perhaps best known for his science fiction writings under the pseudonym John Christopher. Samuel Youd adopted the name Christopher Samuel Youd for his professional writings, leading to the widespread but mistaken belief that that was his birth name. Throughout his life he was known simply as Sam to his friends and acquaintances.

Serving in World War II in the Royal Corps of Signals from 1941 to 1946, Sam was awarded a scholarship from the Rockefeller Foundation, which made it possible for him to pursue a writing career, beginning with 1949's The Winter Swan which he wrote under the name Christopher Youd. He wrote science fiction short stories as John Christopher from 1951, finding his first major success as an author with his second novel, The Death of Grass published in 1956. (the book was published the following year in the United States under the title No Blade of Grass.) In 1966, still writing under the name John Christopher, he began writing science fiction for adolescents - writing The Tripods trilogy from 1967-1968, two young adult science fiction novels - The Lotus Caves in 1969 and The Guardians in 1970 - as well as the Sword of the Spirits trilogy, which he wrote from 1971-1972.

All of these young adult books were well received, particularly The Guardians - which won the annual Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in 1971 - also known as the Guardian Award - conferred by The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom. The German-language translation of The Guardians, won the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (German Youth Literature Prize) in 1976. Samuel Youd continued to use the pseudonym John Christopher for the majority of his writing, including all of his science fiction work.

He did occasionally write under variations of his own name, as well as under the pseudonyms Stanley Winchester, Hilary Ford, William Godfrey, William Vine, Peter Graaf, Peter Nichols, and Anthony Rye. He died in Bath, England, on 3 February 2012 of complications from bladder cancer.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

It's my Second Blogiversary!

Hello everyone! I hope that you are all having a wonderful day for yourselves! :) Yes, today is my Second Blogiversary! I can't believe that I have been blogging for this long already! It's time for me to crank up the jukebox and party down. With my arthritic knees the way they are these days, that's a strong impossibility for me to actually dance around, but I'll just sit in my big, fluffy oversized armchair and jig my feet around instead! :) 

I checked on an anniversary website and discovered that the traditional gift to celebrate two years together is to give your partner anything Cotton. The more modern gift is to give your partner China. The second anniversary gemstone is garnet, the anniversary color is red and the flower that you usually give your partner on your second anniversary together is Cosmos which stands for modesty.

There are currently 20 to 26 species of Cosmos which are native to Mexico, Florida and the southern United States, Arizona, Central America, South America and Paraguay. The first species of Cosmos was discovered by Spanish priests who grew Cosmos in their mission gardens in Mexico. The evenly-spaced petals led the priests to christen the flowers Cosmos, which is the Greek word for 'harmony' or 'ordered universe.'

I just started reading Resistance by Anita Shreve on 5 May 2011.

Anita Shreve (born 1946) grew up in Dedham, Massachusetts (just outside Boston) as the eldest of three daughters. Early literary influences for her were reading Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton in junior high school - a book that she says is still one of her favorites - as well as everything ever written by Eugene O'Neill that she read as a senior in high school. She began her writing career while working as a high school teacher in Reading, Massachusetts. One of her first published stories, Past the Island, Drifting won the O. Henry Prize in 1976. 

She finally decided that she couldn't really make a successful living writing short fiction, switching to journalism and traveling to Nairobi, Kenya, where she lived for three years, writing for an African magazine. Anita Shreve then moved back to the United States and began writing and editing several magazines in New York. She published her first novel in 1989, Eden Close, and since then has written 15 more books.

Anita Shreve is happily married to a man who she first met when she was 13 years old. She has two children and three stepchildren and currently lives in Longmeadow, Massachusetts.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

It's my First Blogiversary!

Hello everyone! I hope that you are all having a wonderful day for yourselves! :) Yes, today is my First Blogiversary! I can't believe that I have been blogging for exactly one year already! Party hats and noise makers for everyone! :)

I checked on an anniversary website and discovered that the traditional gift to celebrate a first anniversary together is to give your partner Paper. The more modern gifts to give your loved one are Clocks  The first anniversary gemstones can either be gold, pearl or peridot, the anniversary color is gold or yellow and the flowers that you usually give your partner on your first anniversary together are Orange Blossoms or Pansies.
   

The Orange Blossom stands for purity, innocence, eternal love, marriage and fruitfulness, and fertility. It is used in perfume making, has been written about as an aphrodisiac and is the state flower of Florida. Orange Blossoms are traditionally associated with good fortune and have been used in bridal bouquets and head wreaths for weddings.

The Pansy stands for thought or remembrance and actually comes from the French word pensee. The flower is so named because it resembles a human face nodding deep in thought. Pansies have been featured strongly in literature and the visual arts: William Shakespeare mentions the pansy in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Hamlet, and poets such as William Wordsworth and and Edmund Spenser have referenced the pansy in many of their works.  

I'm currently reading Under Gemini by Rosamunde Pilcher who, early in her career, wrote under the pseudonym Jane Fraser. Rosamunde Pilcher was born Rosamunde Scott on 22 September 1924 in Lelant, Cornwall. She married Graham Hope Pilcher on December 7, 1946, and they moved to Dundee, Scotland, where she still lives today. She retired from writing in 2000, although her son, Robin Pilcher is also a successful novelist.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight