Spring-series V.

„Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night.”                                                                           Maria Rilke

Spring is green, tender, and alive. It’s the childhood stage of the seasons of transitions where innocence and purity permeate the atmosphere.

Spring seems to bring a rebirth to all of nature.  The blossoms arrive, the yellow daffodils and tulips show their colors, and the trees begin to display the light green shades of new leaves.  Our gardens begin to show signs of new life as the vegetables rise from the soil.  Spring means rebirth.

For animals, this season is a time of emergence and migration. Insects and hibernators emerge from their winter sleeping places.
Birds stake out their breeding, nesting and feeding territories so they may raise their young. The air is filled with birdsong.

Bees and bee mimics fly through the air to pollinate trees, shrubs and native flowers. Butterflies emerge after overwintering in tree crevices, as adults. Salamanders, toads and frogs emerge from hibernation. Frogs sing their mating songs.

„The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring.”                                                    Bern Williams

Spring-series III.

For travelers seeking affordable prices, small crowds and pleasant weather, spring is the perfect time of year to travel. Many destinations are at their best during the spring, when temperatures are warm but not too hot, lively seasonal festivals are going on, and blooming flowers set parks and gardens ablaze with color.

Our stunning spring destinations are wonderful to visit throughout the year, but each place is especially dazzling and unforgettable in the spring.


Paris, France

There are lots of reasons that the old song lauds Paris in the spring, but here's just one of many: the city's famous gardens and parks are simply breathtaking this time of year.

A few days of strolling past 17th-century fountains, banana trees, roses and majestic sculptures nestled in the leafy hidden corners of Parisian gardens will make you too fall in love with springtime in the City of Lights.

The Netherlands

You've seen pictures of those iconic flower fields in the Dutch countryside, but a real-life look at the massive fields is an unforgettable and astonishing experience.

The Keukenhof Gardens, open from March to May, are one of the best places to see more than seven million tulips in full, vivid splendor.

Another fantastic way to see Holland's flower fields is to take a bicycle tour along the Flower Bulb Route in North Holland.

April is the best month to go to the Netherlands if you want to see blooming daffodils, and for the best views of the tulip fields at their peak, visit in May.

Spring-series

“When spring came, even the false spring, there were no problems except where to be happiest. People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.”  Ernest Hemingway

Spring is the most anticipated, exciting, and blessed season of the year.  The cold weather, low temperatures, bracing wind, and even occasional snow and ice all pass away.  The deadness of the trees, the barrenness of the gardens, and the colorless grass pass away, to be replaced with refreshing showers, delightful temperatures, and bright sunshine of March, April, and May.  The summer’s burning rays and burdensome heat have not yet arrived. Spring is a delightful time.

For most people that means getting outside and seeing everything bloom, including us. Spring offers warmer days and lighter and longer evenings, which means we are more inclined to exercise and spend outdoor time and activities with friends.

To make things a little easier, we made this sort for the first week of spring, that will help you keep yourself cheering and enthusiastic!

Recycling – The highest level

Have you ever wondered what happens to your beer bottles once you've finished drinking the beer and threw away or recycled the bottle? There are some extraordinary buildings that may give you an answer why recycling is such a great and useful thing!


Buddhist temple built from beer bottles

When you’re free-associating about Buddhist monks, beer probably isn’t the first thing that comes to your mind. Drinking is forbidden in Buddhism indeed, but they certainly don’t have any issues with building temples from beer bottles.

In the north-east of Thailand, there is a temple built from more than 1.5 million recycled beer bottles, called Wat Lan Kuad, the Temple of a Million Bottles.

Using Heineken bottles (green) and Chang Beer bottles (brown) monks were able to clean up the local pollution and create a useful structure. The bottles do not lose their colour, provide good lighting and are easy to clean.

The monks have created a complex of around 20 buildings, comprising the main temple over a lake, crematorium, prayer rooms, a hall, water tower, tourist bathrooms and several small bungalows raised off the ground which serve as monks quarters.

They also created decorative mosaics with the leftover bottle caps. The only part they didn’t use is the actual beer.

The beer can house

In 1968, John Milkovisch was just another retired employee of Southern Pacific railroad. He lived in an undistinguished house in an undistinguished suburban neighborhood of Houston. Then John got antsy: he turned his 6-pack a day habit (he believed it was the cure to whatever ailed him) into an 18-year home renovation project. John decorated his Houston, Texas house with aluminum siding made from flattened cans, streamers of beer can pull-tabs, and an odd assortment of beer can sculptures.

Milkovisch started his project in 1968 inlaying thousands of marbles, rocks, brass figures and metal pieces in concrete blocks and redwood, all of which were used to make patios, fences, flower boxes, and an array of other items. The result was a yard with no grass, as the entire front and back yards were covered with cement. When asked why he did it, John simply answered, “I got sick of mowing the grass.”

John considered his work an enjoyable hobby rather than a work of art, but he did enjoy people's reaction to his creations. He once said, "It tickles me to watch people screech to a halt. They get embarrassed. Sometimes they drive around the block a couple of times. Later they come back with a car-load of friends..."