Category Archives: Random Ideas

I watched a film the other day called ‘The Vow’ about a woman who had been in a coma and had woken up but had lost part of her memory so she couldn’t remember being married or her husband. The film focused on the attempts he made to help her to remember which included revisiting many of the places they’d been to whilst together and unfortunately none of them did.
The film got me thinking and I did a little research into memory, how it works and how it can be stimulated. It’s a complicated process, completely different to how a computer memory works according to some, for instead of storing information our brains use a series of stimuli gained from our senses to remind us of what we are ‘remembering’.
It covers simple things such as when we see a collection of marks on a piece of paper our brain follows the process like this…

It’s information, so it’s there to tell me something.

The marks look like letters so they must form words

The arrangement of the letters match with words I know

I can link them all up to read the message

I can understand the message being given by those marks

It’s the same when we meet someone again, our brain matches the face to all the faces we’ve seen in the past and if it’s one we’ve been introduced to it will then try to link the visuality of the face to a name.
And again when we taste food that we love or that we hate, memory has a big part to play. In the film, the woman was a vegetarian but because of her memory loss can’t associate the taste of bacon with her former life as a vegetarian.
Some of the most inspiring ones for me are the memories associated with smell and they’re one of the strongest memory joggers. I love the smell of newly made cotton which reminds me of gifts of clothing. Going into a room where onions are frying reminds me of my favourite dish my mum used to make whilst jasmine makes me think of a garden I loved years ago and the people that owned it. There’s perfume or aftershave that lingers on clothes or furniture or in the room that reminds us of our partners too and each time I smell scented stocks, I’m carried back to the summer evenings in my parents’ garden.
Giving flowers isn’t just a visual gift, you can more than double the effect by choosing scented flowers – research has shown that smell is one of the oldest senses and is even used by bacteria to be able to react to their environments.
If you want to create memories or just stir up some from days gone by, don’t just think about that flowers to give, think about what scents those flowers will have. If you’re not sure, the knowledgeable staff at Cosmea Gardens are willing and able to assist in helping you to give the gift of memories as well as flowers.

Although the weather is noticeably cooler, I can’t believe it’s nearly Christmas, so it’s time for some tips on how to make your home look effortlessly festive.

I love poinsettia plants and although there’s a myriad of colours to choose from these days, I still love the ones with the red bracts. You can spice them up by putting them in a festive looking container or simply get a terracotta pot, paint it green and then when dry, daub some wood glue in patterns such as bells, snowflakes or Christmas trees around it and press on some contrasting glitter. Don’t forget to bung up the drainage hole before putting the plant in it or you’ll have a soggy mess on your table!

If you want to keep the pot plain, then a quick squirt of spray-on glue over the leaves, followed by a dusting of silver glitter gives an instant effect.

If you can get hold of any evergreen foliage, it doesn’t have to be holly or ivy, make up a wreath by intertwining the stems and tie in red or gold ribbon in bows, add small Christmas decorations or small sprayed pine cones – there are hundreds in Cyprus at the moment – then hang it on your door or over a fireplace.

Finally, if you can’t afford one of the really expensive real Christmas trees this year which, to be honest, won’t survive long in the Cypriot climate, buy an Araucaria, otherwise known as a Norfolk Island Pine, which looks exotically similar and which will grace your garden afterwards. A 1.2 metre specimen in a pot can be bought for around 20 euros, less than half the equivalent for a Norwegian Spruce. Check out Cosmea Gardens for their range of festive plants and have a Plant-astic Christmas this year.

I was feeling a bit low for a week or so and I think it’s because it’s autumn, even in Cyprus, and the days are getting shorter, the weather’s unsettled and the temperatures have dropped considerably – but should I really be that depressed about it all?

We’ve got plenty of friends back in the UK who’ve said that the constant rain, gale force winds and even darker days are making them miserable and when I look out of the window, I now feel a little ashamed. For here in Cyprus, now is the time when you can get out and see the island without being exhausted by the heat or dripping with perspiration. There are still many sunny days and warm evenings and if it does rain, it’s all over in minutes and the sun shines again.

My guilt came out in talking to my parents who hadn’t been out of their flat in days because the weather was so bad. They’d decided to live off the food in their freezer and sit in and watch TV, shutting the world and the weather out. It would be cruel to describe our sunny, warm but very windy day to them and so I decided to send them a bit of sunshine in a bouquet of flowers from Cosmea Gardens.

I’m a great believer that flowers lift even the darkest of moods and they really appreciated the thought, only I then got to thinking – wasn’t I the one that was feeling low? Again, part of the joy of sending flowers is in the giving and seeing the look on the faces of those receiving them, and after all, I’ve still got sunshine so perhaps I should count my blessings!

I’ve never been in Cyprus in May or June before so this year is a new experience for me. Last weekend my wife and I went over to stay in Ayia Napa for a few days and she kindly drove. This gave me the chance to look around at the countryside, gradually dessicating in the strengthening summer sun but what amazed me was the beautiful sight of the Oleander bushes planted by the Cypriot transport authorities in the central reservation of the motorways.

I’d tried growing an Oleander at home in the UK with no success at all so to see the magnificent display here was breath-taking. It made me think of them as the Cypriot equivalent of the UK’s rhododendron displays.

Now I wondered whether I could do a display of Oleander in the house. I chose a selection of branches from a white and pink Oleander, being careful to wash my hands afterwards as the sap is extremely poisonous. The result was stunning and lasted nearly two weeks. The benefit with Oleander as a cut flower is that it has its own framing greenery, you can just put it in a vase and off you go. Being a semi-hardwood stem, you’ll need to break up the ends first with something heavy but then afterwards you’ll be rewarded with a beautiful display.

I was completely knocked out of the water though by a much simpler and elegant arrangement from my wife who simply took some wasted blooms and put them in a white china cup – so much for the years of study…..!!

if you haven’t got access to any Oleander, you can buy plants cheaply from florists and garden centres such as Cosmea Gardens. Don’t take too much off the plant in the first year though – you don’t want to ruin it!

In the past on this blog I’ve told you about getting stranded in Cyprus because of snow in the UK (just about a year ago) and getting stranded again in Cyprus because of volcanoes. I thought that by moving here, I’d have had the last of problems but no, tomorrow I’m due to fly back to my wife in the UK for Christmas but guess what? FLIGHT CANCELLED BECAUSE OF SNOW.

Ignoring the pathetic nature of how the British deal with bad weather – anyone wanting to invade the UK only need wait for the first sign of winter and the whole country would roll over, I am distraught at the delay. I haven’t seen my wife for two months and was looking forward so much to seeing her again. Instead, as with the last two occasions I was in Cyprus, I’m stuck here. Christmas is rapidly approaching and the chances of being reunited with my beautiful wife are diminishing fast. I think the last time I felt this bad was when my wife returned home in September. It’s strange because I feel it’s my fault even though it’s beyond my control. My wife feels just as bad having built her hopes up but what can I do? Maybe Cosmea Gardens will have the answer.

Before I begin, don’t forget we’re in the last week of the special offer on flower bouquets and arrangements from the Cyprus Online Flowershop. See the last two posts for further details on how you can save 15% off flower orders.

OK, we’ll have a small interruption from what my class think of flowers and talk about my time at the Duckpond Market on Sunday. I love the chance to pick up a book or two so I headed straight to a stall selling second hand books and rooted through the stock they had. Now I’m a big fan of Arthur Mee’s Children’s Encyclopedia, I had a very tatty set when I was a child, passed down from my father, and so I was delighted to see a near pristine set for sale at 20 euros – a bargain! I wanted to familiarise myself with the content before purchasing them and so flicked randomly through volume 5 when suddenly a wafer thin sliver of tissue paper fell out from between the pages together with a small handwritten card. The tissue paper enclosed the delicatest of sweet peas and although completely dry now, it still preserved the beautiful lilac colour it proudly displayed when it was growing. I carefully replaced it in the tissue paper and picked up the card which read. ‘To my dearest Laura, may our love never die, yours truly, Wilf.
No slushy pet names or loads of kisses, just a simple message that conveyed a man’s love for his wife or girlfriend. Eager to discover more I asked the stall holder if they knew who the couple were and I was amazed to find out that it was her grandparents and that she was selling the set of books after clearing the house following her grandmother’s death. She became so emotional staring at my discovery and was so grateful she gave me the set as long as I promised to return any further discoveries to her.

Later that day I found yet more flowers sandwiched between the covers of the heavy books and called her. When I visioted to drop off my finds I discovered that she’d framed the card with the flower and it now took pride of place on a bookshelf in her home.

Leaving later I pondered on how a flower that would normally wither and decay days after, had survived over half a century and returned to bring back memories

Now you may think there’s only a limited number of uses for flowers but my class at school have come up with a number of different ones which I’ll share with you over the next few weeks, but before I continue, have you taken advantage of the offer from the Cyprus Online Flowershop yet? Don’t forget to do it before the end of November – 15% off orders over 40 euros. Click here to visit the shop and just enter the code READNSAVE15NOV at the checkout.

OK so what did my class want to do with flowers? Well, on the local forum there’s an article about a young girl in the mountains whose family is struggling with the recession and the poor girl is not being fed properly. We wanted to help and so a girl suggested we buy a bunch of flowers from the local florists and split it into individual flowers, design a tag telling people what we are doing, to attach to the flower, and then sell them individually for five euros each. They’ve worked out that for a bunch of decent flowers such as roses or gerberas they can make between 100% and 400% profit, giving this to the worthy cause. I laud their enterprise, next is will they manage to pull it off? I’ll let you know!

Near where I live is the area known as Sea Caves/St George and it is a beautiful area that is slowly being spoiled by creeping development. For now though it’s an agricultural area that is dotted with pretty villas that overlook the stunning natural scenery.

I love cycling in the area, even though there’s a mile long hill down to the sea which I need to cycle back up at the end of my ride.

Last week I had a bit more time on my hands and spend a little of it exploring the area more thoroughly and was surprised at what grew there. I was able to find avocado trees laden with shiny fruit on long strands like some natural Christmas decoration. Further along there were guava trees with the air surrounding them pungent with the scent of the sweet ripe fruit. Oranges, mandarins, bananas, pomegranates and massive fig trees abuzz with bees and wasps looking for the split fruit spilling their sweet contents. Earlier in the summer there were peach and nectarine trees alight with the golden globes of juicy fruit. As I sat on the cliff edge eating the figs I’d gathered from the roadside I thought how close this must be to what the Garden of Eden was like, fruit in abundance provided as a result of warm sunshine and fresh water. I’ve turned my balcony into a little citrus grove but my exploration made me realise just how much more I could be growing. I’m looking forward to my next visit to Cosmea Gardens to find which other fruit trees I can add to my collection.

It’s amazing just how long summer, or for us gardeners, the growing season lasts. My school is next to a farm and whereas back home they’d be tidying up and ploughing the fields ready for the spring, here though it’s row after row of new plants, lettuce, peppers, tomatoes and the list goes on. Getting the growing bug, I’ve invested in a truckload of soil, some sacks of compost and a few packets of seeds from Cosmea Gardens and I’m going to see just how long I can make summer last. I’ll be updating you in the coming weeks and months to make you all jealous as I crop tomatoes in November and pick fresh crisp lettuce at Christmas. I’m going to grow some of the more exotic bedding plants as well so not only will I have delicious freshly picked veg but also a beautiful garden in which to eat them!

I actually now have time to be able to look around me now my life isn’t so stressful and it’s amazing what I’ve been missing.

We had a barbecue today in a beautiful garden full of stunning colourful flowers but my wife wasn’t happy! Every time she sat back, or reached for a bite to eat, it was like crossing a motorway for the number of bees that were flying by or buzzing around her. She postulated that it would be a stress free, enjoyable barbecue were it not for the bees and wished that there weren’t so many flowers there that kept attracting them. I thought about it and said that yes, were there no flowers there’d be no bees but equally, were there no bees, there’d be no flowers and wouldn’t that make for a dull world. Another friend ventured that it was her getting in the way of the bees, not the other way round and that if she was careful to let them go about their business then they’d be unlikely to bother her. A few moments of deep breathing later and she began to ignore them and they, her. Everyone happy then and a wonderful afternoon was had by all. Help make the world a beautiful place by encouraging pollinating insects – and even birds! – into your garden. Choose scented, bright flowering plants from Cosmea Gardens and you’ll be doing your bit too!