Why don't you ...?

Flowers - one of the most underestimated and affordable luxuries in life.

So why don't you:

- Buy yourself a small bouquet for your office every week? Or for your kitchen? Or simply for the place where you spend the most time during your day?

Set a budget and just do it.

- Have a simple red terracotta flowerpot with a lovely geranium sitting on your window sill and keep it company during the years?

- Put a simple glass of water with one flower next to your bed?

Please, no big bouquets in the bedroom, as they tend to smell very strongly and if you are not changing the water daily the flower's smell very quickly become something rather unpleasant.... Believe me, I speak of experience. Here again the old word is true: well meant is definitely not well done.

-  I am not speaking of money, but please do always buy the flowers in season. No need to have tulips before Christmas, when you can have lovely Ponsatilla for half the price and the tulips 4 weeks later for half the price as well. It is rather like the veggies: buy what it is season and enjoy the rhythm of the year ...

Btw: Changing the water of a vase on a regular basis does help the flowers to live longer. Even topping up is already better than nothing. I often buy flowers in the supermarket and they do quite nicely. If you can, buy two bunches of the same sort and it looks immediately more appealing. As a rule I like many of the same kind together - combined and styled bouquets are tricky and need really someone with a good eye to be well done. Otherwise they might look as bought at the gasoline station to a 50% discount... You do not want this in your house, let me tell you.

Smile!

Something lovely happened this morning to me.

As I have recently moved more into town and can now take the tram and metro to go the office, I have ample time and opportunity to watch people - if I want. Not in a bad way, but more in a study of my fellow humans in this city.

This morning, gray and cold and still darkish when I left, I had been sitting comfortably in the tram and at a certain point, together with  quite a bunch of fellow to-work-goers, had to change in the metro. Old lady that I am, I refuse to run to catch the Last Metro, but wait patiently for the next, which is - God willing - coming 5 minutes later.

So: I miss it and stand alone on the Peron, waiting for the next metro. All good.

On the opposite side, the metro coming from the other direction is standing a little bit longer and I can see the people sitting and standing in there.

And on one of the doors, squeezed together were children, little faces of all coloures of the rainbow peeping out of huge anoraks and with little hands in gloves - most probably going on a school trip, 8 or 9 years old.

They were looking at me and then the miracle happened: I smiled and they smiled back.

First timidly, then really happy, looking at each other, being delighted, smiling broadly. 

Kids, simple lovely kids, with their own histories, of which I know nothing, they simply smiled back. I waved to them. They waved back. Then the train started and we waved and smiled to each other and went our own ways.

This made me really happy. And I am not a weirdo going around in metro stations smiling to people. But what difference: the grayish crowd of to-work-goers all around me, people looking at their phones, hearing music, the odd one reading (how wonderful, books still exist!). And then three or four young human beings just being, making contact and smiling.

Lovely. Made my day.