Balloon Flower

Platycodon Grandiflorus...phew! What a long scientific name for a simple pretty blue flower. No complicated-looking petals. No folds. No crazy outlines. Just a classy straightforward design.

I guess it's commonly known as the balloon flower because of its hollow buds. They inflate like balloons and burst open blue elegant beauties when the time is right.

The color blue is a color of mystery to me. A mixture of green and yellow...and walla....blue!

Did you know...

• the Greeks and Egyptians believed that blue wards off evil?
• "Prince Charming" is called "The Blue Prince" in Italy and Spain?
• the God Krishna in India has blue skin?
• Blue is the color for Friday in Thailand?
• it symbolizes conservatism in most of the corporate world?
• to the Cherokees, it means trouble?
• it's a color for baby girls in Belgium?

Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand. - Neil Armstrong -

As full of spirit in the month of May, and as gorgeous as the sun in Midsummer... - William Shakespeare -

In the gemstones world, the blue sapphire symbolizes harmony and loyalty.

Perfect allegiance to the cultural festivities celebrated in East Malaysia, more commonly known to the world as Borneo. Since the 1950s, traditional events and festivities held by the ethnic minorities are the most fascinating, vibrantly colorful, and educational. The grass-roots: loyalty to the respective native tribes and the harmonious reunion of each tribe in upholding their ancestral customs. It is all about remembering and realizing who you really are.

Each moment of the year has its own beauty - Ralph Waldo Emerson -

The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness. - Dalai Lama 

Everyone of us is a cut of a bigger puzzle. Knowing your ancestors and origin, the cultural history of your people, and the challenges they faced in order for YOU to be here today is important in your present living and journey to the future.

Knowing your lineage and culture helps you to configure a sense of pride. It is a guidance to know yourself better. It aids you to construct your identity; especially when this world has turned into a maze of mixed cultures and traditions. Have you heard of "he who controls the past, controls the future?"  Don't underestimate the power of history just because times have changed,and progressing rapidly. Your hereditary empowers you to look at your life from a worldview point; to appreciate the standards of your beliefs and ethics; gives you the confidence in steering yourself  in this unique and complex world better for a more desirable future.

If you don't know history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree. - Michael Crichton