March 1st traditions in Romania, Bulgaria and Wales

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1

March 1 is the 60th day of the year.

March 1 marks the beginning of spring in Romania, Bulgaria and Moldavia

Holidays and Observances

• Mărțișor (Romania and Moldova) It is a symbol of the coming spring. Usually, both women and men wear it pinned to their clothes, close to the heart, until the last day of March. The first 9 days of March are called Baba Dochia's Days, Baba Dochia being an image of the Great Earth Goddess. The tradition says that you must pick a day from 1 to 9 March, and how the weather on that day will be, so it will be for you all year long.

• Martenitsa (Bulgaria) On the first day of March and for a few days afterwards, Bulgarians exchange and wear white and red tassels or the Pizho and Penda dolls. In Bulgarian folklore the name Baba Marta (in Bulgarian баба Марта meaning Grandma March) is related to a grumpy old lady whose mood swings very rapidly.

• Saint David's Day or Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant (Wales and Welsh communities)

Birthday card from Helen

This is a very unusual birthday card as it is made of recycled wood.
Helen used to be my student and she remembered my birthday.
I was deeply touched and I called her to share my joy.

It is so simple to bring joy.

Why does it seem to be so difficult?

Birthday flowers

This year I had green flowers for my birthday.

Green flowers are quite unusual, almost unnatural. We are used to red, yellow, blue, white flowers. When we see green or brownish or any other deep dark tone, we find those colours strange for flowers.

But they are beautiful.

Our planet on Google maps

Last night I was exploring our planet on Google maps.
It is so fascinating to be able to see streets and buildings we'll probably never going to see in real.
I looked at some houses in Greenland, beaches in Croatia and apartment buildings in Romania.

I consider Google Earth the greatest tool we have available to explore our planet.
It is amazing, humbling and it makes one think of our intelligence and thirst for exploration and knowledge.

Sick and tired of winter

I never thought that, one day, I would be so sick and tired of winter.
But I am.
I have recently seen some images from Vancouver taken in February 2015, featuring flowers and trees in bloom, and I almost felt like crying.

The image of a tree in bloom is the most powerful spring symbol.
I would like to live near an orchard so that in spring I could evade just looking at those delicate apple blooms.
In autumn, the apple trees with all those red, yellow or green apples would be another moment of celebration.