Day 362-Celebrating The 4th Year

How shall I celebrate my 4th year? 

A question that has plagued me for days while I laboured over this anniversary post. It came to me when I was lighting up this incense, thinking how my 4th year drifted by so fast, it was like the smoke through my window, dust in the breeze. Then it struck me. Perhaps I shouldn't only be asking the question how, rather, it should also be about what. With that, the answer was clear as day.

With incense and perfume, for friendships and love.

 Rosanna's Gift in 2010 with an incense holder I bought only yesterday. 

Perfume and incense makes the heart glad, but the sweetness of a friend is a fragrant forest- Proverb 27, Bible

In a weird and wonderful way that is blogland, great blog friends can become constant companions who never met, confidants with no need for conversations, chums who know you sometime better than you know you.

There's not a word yet, for old friends who have just met- Jim Henson, favourite Songs From Jim Henson's Muppets 

Like this porcelain trivet that Ro brought me from Provence in 2010. It was  her 1st visit to Singapore and only the 2nd time we met. The trivet has a garden motif and appears now to be the harbinger of things to come. Be it serendipitous or acumen, gardens figure significantly in my creations this year. Was I thinking about this trivet or inspired by it? The answer would have to be no .Ro however could already see back then how much I love plants and gardens. 

What is a friend? A single soul in two bodies- Aristotle

On Saturday, I walked into a 2nd hand bookstore and quite unexpectedly found a pre-loved, Oriental incense holder going for a token S$3, definitely not something you would find in a bookstore.  The French trivet flashed through my mind and I knew immediately that I have found for it a sister from the East. I came home, placed one on top of the other and it was a if they were made to match. Incense and perfume. I brought it to Our Dollhouse and finally knew what I wanted to write.

With suitcases and flowers, travelling to afar.

Can miles truly separate you from friends...if you want to be with someone, aren't you already there?- Richard Bach

This year started with fulfilling a wish I had way back, would you believe, also in 2010, just after a year of blogging. I had dreamt of making a trip to meet 3 blog friends, picturing all 4 of us having a picnic under the stars. So I travelled and I did it in 2 ways. The far and wide one took me the whole of this year. This was me celebrating the friendships in my 3rd year. 

Some of the materials for building the suitcase gardens

If I had a flower for every time I thought of you... I could walk through my garden forever- Alfred Tennyson.

For the time that I was building your garden, my friend, you were in my thoughts, constantly. Your colours, your pets, your projects, your words. Even though I didn't travel with the suitcase garden, it was as if I was there, watching your expressions when you opened them. In this way, my rusty suitcases and I went to Poland, Spain, Germany, America, Israel, Italy and hopefully Mexico. Sometimes I was spot on, sometimes I caused puzzlement, sometimes the reaction came much later after the initial what the hell  should I do with this? I finally only finished the last 2 just this month. It was not easy, building each and every one of these suitcase gardens but it was small recompense for your constant companionship, unfailing support and generosity.

Flowers I picked while trekking with Ro in Liguria- March 2012

You can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes - A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh.

Europe 2012 will remain forever and ever for me, one of Life's most beautiful experiences. And if  forever and ever can be measured in any way, then it surely must be the same way they measure the warmth, care and attention showered upon me during that trip. A trip so incredibly amazing and made possible only because of  my extraordinary friends in blogland.

Ewa's candies for the girls in Spain, April 2012

It takes a minute to say hello and forever to say goodbye- Anurag Gupta.

With a lump in my throat, I thank you,  Eva, Ro, Birgit, Sylvia and Ewalina, you and your dear sweet family. You had offered me your home, food, even your bed and treated me like one of you. We have travelled together, sometimes across states, sometimes across countries and sometimes just for a drive or in a train but every single one of that journey has left an indelible imprint in my heart. I can never forget and only pray that one day, you will allow me to do for you what you did for me.

I thank you, Roberta, Ascension, MaLu, Maria Luisa, Marta, Gina, and Eva Fernandez for taking the time to meet with me. And you, Teresa and Margriet, for your thoughtful gifts. To the ladies at the Arnhem Fair, thank you for the laughter. And to the others I have yet to meet, thank you for always being interested in me, my life, my work, even my journeys.

The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again- Charles Dickens,Nicholas Nickleby

Have I told you yet that Rosanna and Eva were 2 of the 3 friends I wanted to meet together in 2010? By now, we have visited each other 4 times, Ro and I, twice with Eva but Rosanna and Eva did not meet, That changed in August this year when Rosanna went to Barcelona. I was almost as excited and happy as the both of them. New friendships fostered, closer bonds established.

The link I dreamt of in 2010 is almost complete, pending the big reunion and in 2012, I wish for more links, further links, one after another until we are all real friends, all 429 of you.