Flying

at the canoe park in FL
Do you remember your first bike? When you first learned how to ride? When they finally let go of your seat and you flew solo? The utter terror...and total exhilaration?

It was my 6th birthday. My grandma took me to a bike store and let me pick the bluest, the shinest, the coolest looking bicycle they had (at least in my 6-year old opinion ;-).
My older brother taught me how to ride - it took less than half an hour - and I was flying up and down our hilly neighborhood. Do you remember that feeling of absolute power and freedom? I don't think I ever felt like that again...

"Every time I see an adult on a bicycle I no longer despair for the future of the human race."
H.G. Wells

Secret Garden

4 shades of bougainvillea around our Florida home


When I was growing up in Northern Europe and then in Northern US, I dreamed of living one day in a warm paradise, full of sunlight, azure skies and balmy waters. I had no vision of the house itself but one thing I knew for sure - there would be an abundance of cascading bougainvillea all over my garden.

You know "The Secret" Oprah is talking about? The philosophy that claims "that we create our own circumstances by the choices we make in life. And the choices we make are fueled by our thoughts—which means our thoughts are the most powerful things we have here on earth. So if you really want something, you have to visualize it".

Well, at least in one aspect of my life, The Secret has worked - there is bougainvillea in 4 vibrant colors (salmon, red, burgundy and purple) cascading around my place...