Tag Archives: memories

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.

March 18th is Mother’s Day across most of the world and despite the commercialism that has taken it over along with Valentine’s Day and Father’s Day, it’s a day when we should do something that shows appreciation of our mothers.
Think of the pain they went through to bring us into the world, women often joke that if men had to endure the pain of childbirth, the human population would have died out long ago. Then there’s the sacrifices made to be there for us, bringing us up, working to feed and clothe us, going without to make sure that we didn’t.
For my mother, the pain and sacrifice was all too real with her developing a condition during pregnancy that was to affect her for the rest of her life and still does today. On many occasions she’s had to suffer painful operations, been confined to bed or a wheelchair for weeks or months and had her life limited by the restrictions placed upon her. I’m sure that if we were to delve more deeply into the lives of our parents we’d find similar, possibly less obvious sacrifices, but sacrifices all the same.
In my last post I told you about the sad event that had overtaken one of the children I teach and my heart will be going out to her this Mother’s Day when the flowers she gave her mum each Mother’s Day during her lifetime will now be placed onto a cold grave. It’s times like this that I realise I’m lucky to still have my mother and it makes me determined to show her whilst I still can, just what she means to me.
So how will your mum be celebrating Mother’s Day?
Many will be alone with sons and daughters far away, the lucky ones will receive a phone call or a gift whilst others may hear nothing and feel forgotten, unappreciated and unloved. I sincerely hope your mother isn’t going to be one of those. If you’re lucky to be spending Mother’s Day with your mum, then don’t think that just being there is enough. Take time to find her a gift she’ll really appreciate as being the way you show how much she means to you but don’t just stop there. Flowers are a wonderful gift but they’re often used as a ‘catch-all’ when the giver can’t think of anything else. On Mother’s Day, flowers should be an additional gift because they don’t last long and weeks after the event has passed, all your mum will have is the very nice memory. For the best flowers, you have got to trust Cosmea Gardens who, for decades, have been sending love and happy thoughts across the miles through the language of flowers. Last year I used them for Mother’s Day and the beautiful flowers they delivered lasted for nearly three weeks.
I’m in Cyprus this year whilst my mum’s in the UK but on the day, she’ll receive a gift that she’s worthy of as well as the customary flowers. Skype will bring us together and let me tell her just how grateful I am for all she’s done for me.

Every once in a while something happens that makes one stop to consider what is really important in life.
Just that happened to my wife and me this last week. We teach a small group of children from home and they are a great bunch of kids, bright and keen to learn. They have parents who are very supportive of them and of the efforts that we make to give them a good education.
Like many countries around the world at this time of year, Cyprus has a bit of a winter cold or flu epidemic going on and all of the children, my wife and myself have succumbed to it to varying extents. What we didn’t know was that one of the mums had a serious illness that was made worse by catching a cold which turned into a chest infection. Initially we received the news that she was in hospital where she was receiving intensive care treatment then, shockingly, were told that she may not pull through and then, disbelievingly, we were told that she had died. After sitting there in total shock for what seemed like an eternity it dawned on us that a little girl of eleven was now left without a mother and her father was without the partner he had shared life with for sixteen years.
We informed the other parents from our little group and all sympathized, offering help in the difficult aftermath of the mum’s death. We and another family have spent the last few days trying to sort out the fallout from the situation and help the family on the road back to some kind of normality.
It has been a difficult journey, not just for the family but also for those that have offered help for, despite all you do, the terrible loss is still there and nothing will change it. What people don’t realize when something like this happens are the other ramifications of the death of a parent. The little girl was very close to and relied on her mum for ‘girlie chats’ and now has no one to take her place. The father is lost in his grief too and can offer little comfort. By far the greatest difficulty they face and I’m sure many others in the same position face is the financial uncertainty. In looking after the mum and paying for medicines, the family have no money. The weather has meant that the father has been unable to work, even if he had felt like it and the family fridge contained just half a liter of milk whilst the freezer had half a bag of oven chips and nothing else.
Thankfully friends have rallied round to offer help and the family are just about surviving.
It’s the funeral tomorrow and we’re sending flowers from CosmeaGardens.com.  Some might say that money is needed by the family, not flowers that will wither and die so we’ve also given an equal amount to help support the family.
A funeral is a celebration of a life as well as saying goodbye and flowers represent the joy of the person’s life and the happiness they gave to others so they are not wasted.
I’m not sure what the future holds for the family, but with the support of friends they will get over the tragedy and maybe a little way down the line when perhaps they’re feeling sad and lonely, flowers from Cosmea Gardens will cheer them up and remind them that they and their troubles are still in the hearts and thoughts of friends.

Aren’t friends great?

We’re lucky (??) in that by living in Cyprus we have a steady flow of friends who want to come and stay with us. OK, it means several trips to the airport each month but we can keep in touch with home and have someone to share the trials and tribulations of life abroad with.

Our most recent guests have just returned to the UK and after dropping them off very early at the airport we returned home. I doubt we were in the apartment for more than half an hour when there was a ring on the doorbell.

We joked that it was our friends returned from the airport having missed their flight but upon opening the door we found it was a courier who was delivering an amazing bouquet of flowers.

My wife undid the small envelope and read that it was a thank you from our friends. What was more surprising is that it was a bouquet prepared by Cosmea Gardens. I guess the friends must have seen me working on one of my posts and picked up on the name. We’ve phoned them to thank them for their thoughtfulness but I had cause to think that although the bouquet was welcome, we had already received our thanks from the warm smiles on their faces as we showed them the true Cyprus that these days is too often hidden behind the consumerism.

All summer long I’ve been mesmerised by the sight of trees on the road past Coral Bay outside Paphos which have bright green frond-like leaves and vivid scarlet flowers with yellow centres. To say they’re striking is an understatement and I’ve spent ages trying to find out what they are.

I recently holidayed on my second favourite island, Cuba, and saw the same trees there. A local told me that they were called Flame Trees and when I got to a computer I found out that they’re also called the Royal Poinciana and they have been voted into the top five most beautiful trees in the world.

I looked at them in a new light once I’d returned from my holiday and find that each time I pass the tree I’m reminded of my holiday. I got to thinking about flowers that evoke memories and talked to my parents about flowers that brought back memories for them such as Montbretias that remind my dad of his mother and lilac that reminded my mum of her mother. For me, roses always remind me of my wife as they’re her favourite celebration flowers and I’ll be buying some more on Saturday for it’s her birthday. Try thinking about the flowers that bring back memories for others and stir up some with a bouquet from Cosmea Gardens.

I’ve just spent over a month in the UK experiencing what you might call the English summer which, with its usual washout had left gardens and parks looking dull and bedraggled. All it did was to make me wish for the sunnier climate of Cyprus so last Wednesday we grabbed the easyJet flight out of Gatwick and headed for the sun. Before leaving, I texted a friend to ask them to open up the windows so it wouldn’t be too oppressive in the apartment.

We arrived late in the evening and struggled with our bags up the stairs and flung open the door, glad to be home. I wasn’t prepared though for the surprise that greeted us when we went into the dining room for they had organised a bouquet of all my favourite flowers that brighten the island so even though it was dark when we arrived we immediately had a taste of what we’d missed back in the UK. There were the roses that bloom through the most intense heat set against white bougainvillea that in the garden looks like fresh snow in the wintry sun backed with rolled banana leaves. What an amazing creation I thought and looked at the label that accompanied them – Selected and hand-tied especially for you by Cosmea Gardens I should have known!

So it goes to show that if you want something really special or just to say something as simple as ‘Welcome home’ Cosmea Gardens are the ones to help.

This last weekend saw the horrific killing in Norway of nearly a hundred people, many of them young, whose lives, full of potential, have now been extinguished.

After initial media images of the terrible carnage, we now have the tender photographs of relatives and loved ones laying floral tributes to those who were killed. But, as with all major incidents these days, the tributes have been supplanted with many times more from the public expressing their shock at the event and their empathy as well as sympathy with the families of the victims.

The advertising slogan used to go something like ‘Say it with flowers’ and often, when words can’t quite express what we want to say on occasions such as this, flowers do convey our compassionate thoughts and are there as a semi-permanent reminder both at the scene and in photographs.

Flowers can say so much at happy times too so if you’ve got something you want to say but don’t know how to say it, try flowers from Cosmea Gardens.

It’s under a week now until Father’s Day and I’d like to thank my father for all he’s done for me: 47 years of care, advice, understanding and some chiding, but above all, love. I’ve yet to become a father so I don’t know the sacrifices that are to be made to give the unconditional love that father’s give but I see in my father all that I hope one day to see in me. You often hear the cliche, ‘If I was half the man….I’d have done well’ and I could easily apply that to my father.

He’d be happy on Father’s Day to see me and to hear the words from me but I’m in Cyprus and he’s in England so the only way I can express my feelings are with a card – already posted, and, remembering the fondness he had for growing flowers in his greenhouse, a floral arrangement. It may not appear too masculine to receive flowers but I know that by sending an arrangement of the flowers he used to grow, he’ll know that I remember the times we shared. I always choose Cosmea Gardens for my flowers and for Father’s Day they have a special offer. You can save 7% off bouquets and arrangements over 50 euros, just quote WELOVEYOUDAD at the checkout. The offer ends on the 20th June so you can even get the discount if you don’t quite make it for the day! Go on, tell him how much he means to you.

It’s only eight weeks until I make the move I’ve wanted for the last twenty years or more. I’m moving to Cyprus!! I can remember being on holiday with my parents at 18 years old and enquiring at a bank in Ayia Napa if I could borrow to buy an apartment. It’s taken this long but I’ve got there.

Over the years I’ve gained and kept many friends on the island and I’m really looking forward to spending more time with them. I’d like them to become like an old cardigan, well used but loved, rather than the clothes I find in the bottom of the drawer and had forgotten about. My wife is having to stay in the UK to begin with to finish her work contract so I’m expecting to have to spend out a lot on flowers to tell her just how much she means to me. I’n not looking forward to the day of departure because I will miss her so much. I think my first job on getting to Cyprus will be to order flowers for her as it’ll be her birthday six days after I leave. I really need a quality florist with trustworthy partners in the UK so I’ll be choosing Cosmea Gardens to tell her how much she means to me. If you’re going to be parted from a loved one soon, I do sympathise but make them feel better with a delivered arrangement. It may not replace time you spend together but at least it shows they’re in your thoughts.