My World Of Beautiful Flowers

On my third month of pregnancy, hubby gave this purple tulips to me.

Flowers are essential in our life. They have important roles throughout the history. Some of the flowers were used as medicine, some were used as food. Most of all, the role of the flowers connected to our thoughts, to our emotion. Be it love, grief, gratitude, or happiness, we can express our emotions through flowers. It can light the mood of the lonely, can soothe the pain of the sick, and the feeling of being loved to the loveless.

As for me, I also love flowers. Here in the Netherlands, it is very traditional to give flowers. The whole year round, even there is no occasion I always receive flowers from my husband and from my Dutch family and friends. 

It was April 2009 when I have received the first bouquet of flowers that lead me to where I am now. I never received flowers all my life that is why when a courier service called to inform me that someone sent me flowers, I gave the phone to my sister because I thought I was hearing the message wrong. The big bouquet of flowers is from a Dutch guy, that Dutch guy is now my husband and the father of my son. The kind of affection is very Dutch. I went in a nearby photo studio and have a souvenir photo, me with the bouquet. When I  get home my mother exclaimed: "ay akala ko si Ruffa Gutierrez ang dumating!"  

From then on flowers became one of the special parts of my Dutch life. When I am sick, I received flowers, even I do not celebrate my birthday, still, my husband and my Dutch family give me flowers. When I arrived in Holland as a permanent resident, there are a lot of flowers waiting for me at home. I never have a doubt that The Netherlands is going to be my home.

Flowers from a dear friend to welcome me as I live in The Netherlands for good.

Being a homemaker is to always have flowers in the kitchen.

Our kitchen looks so pretty with the flowers. The kitchen is where I always love to put flowers. It brings inspiration for me to cook, to love cooking. 

The largest flower garden in Europe is Keukenhof. I first saw Keukenhof in a calendar when I was but a small little girl. Since our family was learning  from the Bible about this earth will become paradise, the view of Keukenhof strongly entrenched in my mind.  Even we already need to change our calendar, I keep the Keukenhof calendar  pinned on our wall. When my husband told me about Keukenhof that it is here in The Netherlands, I asked him for us to go there. It is one of the best experience I have had, to see the very beautiful flower garden that I thought was just a dream. 

Very pregnant, at Keukenhof.

I was very pregnant when we visited Keukenhof. It is much bigger than I expected. The long lanes of tulips in so many colors are very long and seems to go on forever. I got very tired that the next day I ended in the hospital.

The tulip is the National Flower of the Netherlands. For Dutch people, the tulip is one of the most accurate and beautiful signs of the arrival of spring. And Keukenhof is only open for about two months in the spring. 

So, what is your favorite flower? I see many flowers every day. Even in winter, there are still kinds of flowers that endure beautifully in cold season. Speaking of flowers, I have learned that roses associated with romance and the different colors of roses has meaning, from "I love you" to "thank you."

Wild flowers everywhere.

I love simplicity.

My favorite flowers are wildflowers. Like a song lyric says: wild and free. If ever you come to visit The Netherlands, I am sure you will also love and enjoy this country of beautiful flowers and I hope you will also appreciate  flowers not only in special places but also in the most common places.