March 8, 2019: Happy INTERNATIONAL WOMEN's Day!

As the entire world is celebrating today (March 8'19) the beauty of womanhood, I’m sending along my best greetings wishing all my friends, near & far, a marvelous International Women’s Day, filled with much love & joy!

Ladies, wishing you each have a wonderful day, packed with many precious moments together with your dear ones, while feeling loved & appreciated!

 “A woman with a voice is by definition a strong woman. But the search to find that voice can be remarkably difficult.” (Melinda Gates)

Saluting the Romanian tradition called “Mărțișor”

On Friday (March 1, 2019) I was delighted to be able to meet at a public library with a group of friends to celebrate an ancient Romanian tradition, called 'Mărțișor'. 

Before I will give you the usual, concise, update on how things went, I would like to briefly elaborate a bit on what “Mărțișor” really means. The name “Mărțișor” (mərt͡siˈʃor) is the diminutive of “Marț”, the old folk name for March (“martie”, in modern Romanian language), and literally means "the little March". On the other hand, the actual “Mărțișor” is made of a small decorative object, tied to a white and red string, with two hanging tassels, which is offered customarily on the 1^st day of March to girls, women & men (in some parts of the country) as it is believed that the wearer will stay strong and healthy throughout the entire year ahead. In the old times “Mărțișor” was regarded more as a protective talisman, but in modern days, and especially in the urban areas, most of its talisman properties got lost and “Mărțișor” became more a symbol of friendship, love, appreciation and respect, as well as a symbol of the coming spring in addition to the snowdrop flowers. (In the comments section I’m posting a more elaborated description of the history & the legend of “Mărțișor”.)

For this very occasion (this evening's event being called "LEGENDA MARTISORULUI"), personally, I’ve crafted a number of “Mărțișoare” and I was truly happy to be able to gift each of my guests with…each lady that night was glowing with joy.

Our group this time was fairly large and we all were pleased to have with us again two guests of honor – Dr. Ovidiu Grecea together with his wife. Dr. Grecea is Consul General of Romania in Vancouver, Head of the Romanian Diplomatic Mission here as well as Plenipotentiary Minister of Romania.

Dr. Grecea transmitted us all a beautiful message of peace, highlighting again the importance of effective communication and productive collaboration.

Additionally, Dr. Grecea brought us a number of special “Mărțișoare” especially hand crafted by a group of young students from an elementary school from Bucharest (Romania), accompanied by a kind letter, initialised by all those children; personally, I found this gesture truly heart touching!

Aside of that, two other guests (Maria & Dana) also brought “Mărțișoare” for each participant, creating even larger waves of joy and excitement.

After all the gifts were distributed, we continued our program with the cultural section, which was meant to focus on the legend of “Mărțișor” as well as sharing regional customs inherited from our ancestors.

All the presenters that night (Dorina, Lidia, Ileana, Ligia, Monica, Dana, Camelia, John and Teodor) highly spoke about this Romanian tradition (called “Mărțișor”) ….different legends were re-iterated, poems were recited (some are published in the comments section below) and fond memories were refreshed….facts that made each of us recall the childhood times filled with such unforgettable fragrance…you know, those little special memories, which last a lifetime!

The time we spent together flew by very, very fast and by the end of the night, we all enjoyed a well garnished selection of light refreshments, which allowed for prolonged socialization. Definitively, a beautiful evening filled with many special moments and for these I’m sending along my sincere gratitude to each participant that night. Until next time, best wishes to all!

Alice

Mesaj primit înspre publicare din partea Domnului Dr. Ovidiu Grecea* şi al Doamnei Liliana Grecea

Draga Alice, am ajuns cu bine acasă, parca mai bogați sufletește și intelectual, mai bucuroși că am avut ocazia, privilegiul și onoarea de a fi împreună cu niște oameni deosebiți, atât de erudiți, de binevoitori și de înțelepți. Desigur că, un merit deosebit îl ai tu care prin stăruința, tact, perseverență și gingășie ai reușit ca să aduni niște adevărate repere ale românilor-canadieni din Vancouver. Fie ca acești primi pași în prag de primăvară să aducă revigorarea adevăratei calități umane și de înaltă ținută, de adevărata probitate profesională și morală, de reprezentativitate a sevei sănătoase românești pe aceste meleaguri. Sperăm să auzim numai de bine și să ne revedem sănătoși și voioși la alte asemenea întâmplări ale lui Alice cu ... comoara minunilor de caractere frumoase prin simplitatea lor și atât de puternice, prin sensibilitatea sufletească pe care o împărtășesc cu o deosebită generozitate.

Cu sentimente prietenești,

Liliana și Ovidiu Grecea

*Domnul Ovidiu Grecea este Consul General şi Ministru Plenipotenţiar al României la Vancouver

“Our culture, our traditions, our language make the foundation
upon which we build our identity.“

This event has been delivered in Romanian Language, featuring Romanian culture. 

● A previous card I've created referring to "Mărțișor" – 2019 

● Fotogallery published on their website by the General Consulate of Romania in Vancouver

● ARTICLE featuring our event on March 1’19 offered by OBSERVATORUL (from Toronto)

“March 1” – a day to celebrate spring return

On "March 1" some European countries celebrate (un-conventionally) the beginning of spring, when small tokens of appreciation, mostly flowers, are exchanged amongst friends.
Wishing you & your friends share this beautiful custom, meant to harmonize even more your existing relationships.

“Ultimately the bond of all companionship, whether in marriage or in friendship, is conversation.” (Oscar Wilde)

Love is in the air – Happy VALENTINE’s Day!

Dear friends, by this note I’m wishing you a wonderful Valentine’s Day, filled with much love, peace and joy!

LOVE is the bridge between you and everything.

~ A brief historic background ~

       Valentine's Day is named after ‘Saint Valentine’, a Catholic priest who lived in Rome in the 3^rd century. There are many stories about St. Valentine and over time these stories grew into the legend we know today.

       In our days, the Valentine's Day became an annual festival celebrating the romantic love, friendship and admiration. Every year, on February 14, people honor this day by sending messages of love and regard to partners, family and friends expressing their affection.

     While Valentine's Day is celebrated in most countries, different cultures have developed additional traditions for this. The greeting cards especially crafted for the occasion usually are decorated with pictures of cupid, hearts & flowers, while containing few sentimental rimes, emphasizing how special the receiver is, becoming easily recognizable all over the world. With the rise of technology, the Valentine's Day customs diversified even more, but continue to have LOVE at the core.

Alice’s Book Club – WINTER session of 2019

This Friday evening (on February 8’19), I was truly happy to be able to organize a teleconferenced gathering with some of my dear friends in order to cover the winter session of our social book club. Each of my guests were also invited to bring along a freshly made cup of herbal tea to enjoy as discussions would unfold. Joining the debate from the comfort of our living rooms made us all completely ignore the cold weather outside that we are still facing these days (a real winter with lots of snow).   

We started our evening together with a pleasant conversation and then we began the work….reading, commenting, analyzing, debating, sorting, voting, all together made each of us totally forget the time, but at the end we all were glad to choose a beautiful novel for our next book club session, which is scheduled to happen (in person) by the end of spring; we all are looking forward to that with much anticipation...it will be great! 

Needless to emphasize how delightful it is to team up with positive people, willing to focus on beautiful matters. Aside of that, I believe that no matter how much stress one might have at times with work or with the countless aspects of the daily life, it all slips away when you lose yourself in an activity that you really like.  

On the other hand, while at this page, I would like to quickly mention few valid points the scholars usually emphasize in their papers about the benefits of reading (in essence, why it helps to read at least a bit every day):
 - Reading books allow readers to gain better insights into human nature (you could gain interesting and helpful knowledge that never can be taken away from you)

- Readers become more sensitive to the emotions of other people, quality which seems to disappear in today’s world

- Good literature of any language improve and expand the comprehension skills; also, at the same time, by considering all the aspects involved, you could become even more versed with your critical and analytical thinking (the more skills you have, the better equipped you are to tackle any challenges that sometimes life might present). Additionally, a well written novel could 'transport' you to different places, while an engaging article might distract or keep you in the present moment allowing relaxation to occur. 

- A book always stimulates the brain (amazingly enough, through reading new brain pathways are created and the existing ones become even stronger, facts that assist with the short-term memory recalls as well as mood stabilization).  
So, once again dear friends, please be kindly reminded that the journey of a life time starts with the turning of a page. 

Until our paths will meet again on this wavelength, my best wishes to each of you for a peaceful rest of winter.

Alice

“The reading of all good books is like having a conversation with the finest minds of the past centuries.” (Descartes)