BLUE FLOWER HAIR CLIP

He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant. He grew up in another village, where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was 30. Then, for three years, he was an itinerant preacher.

He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a home. He didn't go to college. He never lived in a big city. He never traveled 200 miles from the place where he was born. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but himself.

He was only 33 when the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied him. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his garments, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave, through the pity of a friend.

Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race. I am well within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned--put together--have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that one, solitary life.

--Author Unknown

(First photo taken with my new 55-200mm)

vases of orchids photographed through glass window, florist's shop along George Street, Sydney 31st May 2007

Ultimately, Maytime in the Philippines is the cult of Mary: the pilgrimages to her shrines; the daily afternoon flower rites at her altars; and the Flores de Mayo, which is the Marian procession that closes the month. In the Middle Ages, with the invention in Europe of romantic love, there developed a romantic custom: noble ladies were, on certain occasions, offered crowns of flowers by their troubadours and vassals. This was also the time when the Virgin began to be called Our Lady and it was inevitable that the flower offering should become part of her cult. Such was the origin of the Flores de Mayo.

--- Nick Joaquin, Almanac For Manilenos