A flower story to share today !

Hello everyone, the weekend calls for some time with friends, to meet and eat, dine and wine ! We have friends over for dinner tonight, and I've been frantically calling family for recipes, fishing out 'cook-in-a-jiffy' recipe books, browsing the net all night long for concoctions, and huffing and puffing in the kitchen, trying to put a decent meal together ! :-) Ok, take that with a pinch of salt, dhaniya and mirchi, it's not all that bad! :-) The situation is under control and I have surfaced out of the kitchen in good enough time to go do the easier (and definitely prettier ) part, shop for flowers !!!

What's a dinner at home without 'Faffas' as my niece used to call them :-) And is there anything more therapeutic than arranging flowers in your home for a get together later in the evening ? I think not ! 

There is a sweet old lady (perhaps in her late seventies) who has a small little flower shop by the side of the street as we make our way to the riverside near our home. 'Ajumma' (that's an elderly lady or aunt in Korean), has some of the prettiest flowers in her tiny little kiosk and we make it a point to buy our flowers from her, more so because we love seeing her. The love with which she caresses her flowers and plants, how her wrinkled hands quiveringly reach out for the ones we choose, and how she hunches over them , and slowly makes a beautiful bunch out of them, is an experience to cherish !

These are what I picked up from her today, gorgeous aren't they ? She had lovely roses in deep red and flaming orange and shocking pink carnations, but I chose a softer, more soothing combination :-) 

A touching anecdote to share here, the first time we bought flowers from her, we actually ended up giving her more money than we were supposed to. My ability to count in Korean is still fairly feeble, and that is entirely to blame for this. But it was amazing to see that she returned the extra cash to us, and in her broken English, explained that we had overpaid :-) This incident, and her lovely flowers put together, she had found a returning customer in us that very moment :-)

And so here are the flowers, lying on the table, waiting for the cellophane to be unveiled, wondering which vase they are going to find their abode in for the next few days :-) Happy to have brought them home, and looking forward to arranging them now. Have a wonderful weekend folks ! And go flower shopping if you get a chance, nothing more relaxing or soothing than that, and who knows, in the process you just might bump into a lovely soul like 'Ajumma' at the flower shop  :-)