Count Your Blessings!

With love and passion, everyone can have a nice garden...Elaine Yim

Count Your Blessings!
Count The Garden By The Flowers, Never By The Leaves That Fall.
Count Your Life With Smiles And Not The Tears That Roll.
..... Author unknown.

Knowing me, Knowing you..... Aha.....!

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Friday, February 12, 2010

Happy New Year, My Valentine!


This year, February 14th is a very special day.
I'd like to wish each and everyone of my visitor who read this post,
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Note: This is my 2010 Valentine's Day post. My 2012 Valentine's Day post is here.


Do you celebrate Valentine's Day?
I do, I do, I do.....!


What do you say on this special day?
I Love You
Saya cinta pada mu - Malay
Wo Ai Ni - Mandarin
Je t'aime - French
Ich liebe Dich - German
Aloha wau ia 'oe - Hawaiian
Main tumse pyar karta hun or main tumse pyar karti hun - Hindi
Nan unnai khadal likeran - Tamil
Ti amo - Italian
Kimi o ai shiteru - Japanese
Tangsinul sarang ha yo - Korean
Mahal kita - Pilipino (thanks to Andrea)
Jag a Iskar Dig - Swedish
Jeg elsker deg - Norwegian (thanks to Mia)
Ya tebya lyublyu - Russian (thanks to Tatyana)
Te iubesc - Romanian (thanks to Meredith)
Sa Ga Po - Greek (thanks to Kimberly)
Tell me more, tell me more .....!


Who is the special person(s) in your life?
Husband, son, daughter, father, mother, girlfriend, boyfriend, brother, sister, nephew, niece, uncle, auntie ..... who else?



What is your present to him / her?
a) Yourself
b) Something money can buy
c) Something money cannot buy


The colours of roses:
Red - Sincere love and respect, courage and passion
Deep Pink - appreciation and thank you
Light Pink - admiration and sympathy
Yellow - friendship, joy, gladness, promise of a new begining
White - spiritual love and purity, bridal rose
Lavender - love at first sight and enchantment
Orange - a passionate desire, enthusiasm and fascination


How many roses do you wish for?
1 Rose - Love at first sight, you are the one
2 Roses - Mutual love
3 Roses - I Love You
6 Roses - I wanna be yours
7 Roses - I am infatuated with you
9 - An Eternal Love
10 - Your are perfect
11 - You are the one I love most in my life
12 - Be my steady
13 - Secret admirer
15 - I am truly sorry, please forgive me
24 - Can't stop thinking about you, 24 hours a day
99 - I will love you for as long as I live
100 - devoted as a couple till ripe old age
101 - You are my one and only one
108 - Please marry me
365 - Can't stop thinking about you, each and everyday
999 - Everlasting and eternal love


In the east, the peony is the Chinese Queen of Flowers. It is a symbol of beauty, love and romance. I have never seen a real peony, neither can I get a real one, so this is a picture of a peony made from silk. In the days of old China, palace concubines used to decorate their rooms with beautiful peonies to keep the Emperor’s desire for them unabated. Families with marriageable daughters will display pictures or real peonies in the living room so that their daughter will get married soon. However, mature couples do not display the peony in their bedroom as this will encourage the husband to be too 'active' and look for 'sweet young things' !
While Valentine's Day is celebrated on February 14th, the Chinese Valentine's day falls on the 15th day of the lunar new year. This year it falls on the February 28th. Here in certain towns in Malaysia, e.g. Penang, Ipoh, Port Klang, events are held where bachelor boys and girls have fun in the throwing of oranges into the sea or lakes in the hope of finding a good husband/wife. The girls throw the oranges while the guys will retrieve them out later. Phone and/or contact details are written on the oranges so that the person who fish out the orange can start the first move later. Folklore has it that in the days of old China, a Lantern Festival will be held on the 15th day. This is the only day in the whole year that young unmarried maidens are allowed to go out, accompanied by a chaperon of course. So, many a gentlemen will also gather in the streets to have a glimpse of the lovely prospects. According to legend, a fairy matchmaker from the moon would tie red strings of destiny on their legs, so couples end up being together.


This is a Chinese New Year decoration at the 1-Utama Shopping Complex with big red lanterns and 3 Maneki Neko cats wishing customers Happy New Year. Maneki Neko is also known as the Lucky Cat or Wealth Welcoming Cat ( 招財貓, pinyin 招き猫). Other names include Beckoning Cat, Welcoming Cat, Money Cat, Fortune Cat. It is believed to bring good luck to the owner. It depicts a Japanese Bobtail Cat beckoning with an upright paw and is usually placed at business entrances or the cashier's counter welcoming customers. A raised left paw is said to attract more customers while a right paw attracts wealth. Some are mechanically or battery powered with a continously moving paw. Perhaps you have seen them before.
In Malaysia, the Lunar New Year is celebrated by the Chinese. It is a cultural celebration of the Spring Festival. This year couples in love will be torn between filial piety and romance. They have to choose between going home for the New Year Eve reunion dinner or celebrating a romantic candlelit dinner for two. I'm sure many will choose the former over the latter. There are other days couples can celebrate romance, like a belated Valentine or their own anniversary dates.

GONG XI FA CAI !

This post is dedicated to Ms Rosey Pollen of Dung Hoe from Colorado, USA. She was the first commenter in my previouse post, "The Mickey Mouse Plant From Flower to Fruit." She lives in a place far far away from me and I have learnt a lot of American ways, expressions and unique words from her. I envy the amount of snow she is getting there now. At the moment, I am sitting by the window wishing that the sky will drop some snow instead of the daily rain water that we are getting. I must admit that what I enjoyed most is the cyber 'hugs' I get from her in my comments section. Yay!

Note: The roses are photographed from the Strawberry Farm at Genting Highlands, Malaysia.

Post publication updates: List of related posts
1. Gardenfrist of Bloomintyme - If You Were a Plant, He'd be .....
2. Kimberly of Garden in Paradise - Passionate Possies.
3. Ami of Southeast Florida Garden Evolvement - Celebration Bouquets for the New Year.
4. Babara of Gardening in Mannheim, Germany - Fairtrade Flowers for Valentine's Day.
5. Poetic Shutterbug - Valentine's Day Poetry.
6. Wendy of Greenish Thumb - Happy gbbd, v-day and Cny, she has the beautiful narcisus bloom that I am longing for.
7. Stephanie of Steph's Green Space - Hearts for the Season.
8. Lotusleaf of Garden Tropics - Blooming Friday-Heart's for Valentine's Day.
9. Helen (Islandgal246) of My Rustic Bajan Garden - Happy Valentine.

This is my entry for Blooming Friday, 2nd week of February 2010. The theme this week is "Colours." My grateful thanks to Katarina at Roses and Stuff for hosting Blooming Friday. To see what others have posted or to participate, click here.
This is also my entry for Fertilizer Friday. My grateful thanks to Tootsie at Tootsie Time for hosting Fertilizer Friday. To see what others have posted or to participate, visit here.
This is also my entry for Today's Flowers #80. My grateful thanks to the TF folks: Santilli, Denise, Pupo and Valkyrien for hosting Today's Flowers. To participate or view other floral displays around the world, click here.

61 comments:

  1. Happy Valentine's Day to you too!
    Ya tebya lyublyu - Russian.

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  2. Happy Valentines Day to you too AutumnBelle. If I get flowers they have to have roots! I like to be able to go and choose them myself too.

    Oh I cannot believe it that you don't have peony roses how come Autumbelle? . I have some in my garden and hopefully when that time comes I will dedicate my article to you. Can you not buy them from the internet from a company like Thompson and Morgan as they deliver worldwide?


    Oh you have a lovely little flower floating down your website also - I've never noticed that one before.

    Have a good weekend

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  3. Happy New Year and Happy Valentine's Day to you! Yes, I also celebrate Chinese New Year, only I live in Florida of United States now. It is funny that I was thinking to write a post with the subject of both Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day. Just have not got time to write it yet :)

    Glad to spot your garden. Very lovely garden you have, and oh, how I love that Peony! Only I can not grow it in my Florida Zone10 garden.

    Welcome to "hop" to my garden (http://sefloridagardenevolvement.blogspot.com/) to take a look anytime. I am still very new to this blogger world.

    Nice Blog!

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  4. Autumn Belle, your post today saturated me with beauty and love. From the gorgeous roses, peony and CNY photos with Red Lanterns and special I love you's in various languages right along with the color meanings of roses, you have simply made my day much brighter. Thank you my friend.

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  5. I love roses for Valentine's Day...pink are my favorite. We celebrate Chinese New Year with our 3 adopted Chinese children. I wish for you a very happy Valentines Day & Chinese New Year!

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  6. What a lovely and interesting post and a happy Valentines day to you.

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  7. Thanks Autumn Belle. But I think I have learned from YOU, oh wise one.

    I have learned a new term today, called a blend. It is a hybrid for blogger / friend. What do you think of that?

    Your roses are lovely, just like you.

    Happy Valentines sweet, and here's another hug for you.
    ((((Hugs)))

    Rosey

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  8. Dear Autumn Belle, What an utterly delightful, beautifully thought out posting. And also very informative!

    Allow me to wish you a very Happy Valentine's Day!

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  9. Imagen my Norweigan husband bringing me 999 roses, it will never happend ;) but I offen hear those three magic worlds; Jeg elsker deg !

    Wish you all the best on the 14th Feb :)

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  10. Lovley roses!! Happy Valentine´s Day to you to :)
    Tjing
    Monica

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  11. Happy Valentine's Day to you, as well! What a pretty, pretty post!

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  12. Gorgeous post ... I really enjoyed reading it and so enjoyed the lovely rose photos. Happy Valentine's Day to you as well!

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  13. Romance is in the garden. Happy Valentine day to you Autumn Belle and a Happy and healthy lunar new year to you too.

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  14. To all the early birds, my grateful thanks for the visits and warm wishes. Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!

    Happy Lunar New Year to Noelle and her lovely kids!

    Do tell me how you say 'I Love You' in your lingo. New phrases are welcome! :)

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  15. Fantastic with some warmth from Malaysia. Lovely country, I've visited 10 years ago! Some beautiful roses and peones you're showing.

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  16. Happy Valentines Day to you too Autumn Belle.

    FlowerLady

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  17. Happy Valentine & a Lovely Properous New Year to you and your family Autumn Belle!

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  18. Happy New Year and Happy Valentines Day Autumn Belle! All your lovely roses have given me a smile. We can get peony roses here, but I've not had much success growing them so far.

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  19. You really have lots of followers, at 9:50am you already have 18 comments. I am trying to be the 1st again but they are awake when we are asleep, hehe. This is a very well planned post, interesting in a very light way. That polka-dotted rose is very unique. I haven't seen those roses at Genting, i only saw the blue lilly. I will not post my rose anymore for Valentine's as it is not as prepared as yours.

    So Happy Valentine's and Kung Hei Fat Choi, my dear friend.

    P.S. Pls change the Tagalog to Pilipino our official dialect. Tagalog is the common term though. "Mahal Kita"- i know you can decipher that my dear friend.

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  20. Have a happy and memorable Valentine's Day with your hubby and family :-D Nice display of roses here.

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  21. Wonderful post, Autumn Belle. In this household we use English and Romanian, which is: Te iubesc. (Pronounced tay you-besk. :)

    That first rose is absolutely stunning, and I enjoyed reading about all of the symbolism of the roses. I personally love the yellow ones best, but my honey always gets red flowers for Valentine's so there's no mistaking his intentions.

    And he misses the peonies of his native country. We hope to grow some in our garden one day.

    I had no idea about that cute white cat. But now that you mention him, I think I've seen him in a Japanese restaurant before. :)

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  22. Happy Valentine's Day to you too..
    Happy Lunar New Year, Welcome the year of the Tiger :-)

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  23. Hi there to all my friends and blends (Rosey taught me this), thank you very much for the wishes! I do appreciate it very much.

    My daughter just came in for the first time to wish me too! Yay Yay Yay! :)

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  24. boy, are you feeling romantic or what?! I like that chart with the number of roses and the meanings. I was also really excited to learn about that cat - I see that think everywhere and always wondered what it meant. I noticed that one cat in your photo had both arms raised. I've seen the ones that are eternally moving. Cool. So for my v-day gift - I'm stealing an idea from Meredith from Great Stems. I'm making my husband a bean mosaic. It's a somewhat crazy idea but at this point, having been together for 20 years, (that's 20 b-day gifts, anniversary gifts, v-day gifts, x-mas gifts) I'm totally gifted out. I'm excited about the design though - it's very symbolic and he'll be happy.

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  25. I'm glad your daughter is in. You have a sweet family!

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  26. Hi, Here's wishing you a Very Happy Valentine Day! An informative post with Roses n Roses n more roses to spread the whiff of Love this Valentine's Day. Thanx a ton!

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  27. I like your falling flowers, Happy Valentine's Day to you too.

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  28. What an interesting post! Ten pink roses from me to you! Have a wonderful Valentine's Day and Happy New Year!

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  29. Beautiful!! I wish for 1 special rose at Valentines..Happy V to you!//Eva

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  30. Happy Saint Valentine's day to you too, what a great post! I love it/ Tyra

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  31. Your roses are beautiful. Thanks for sharing these pictures. they brightened my day! Happy Valentine's Day to you also!

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  32. I can feel the excitement in this post..Happy Velentine's Day to your family.

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  33. Wishing to see a peony is an excuse for you to travel to a colder climate. :) Thanks for the interesting facts about Chinese Valentines day .

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  34. What a wonderful post! Thank you for sharing the photos and information. The story of the oranges is so very interesting. It's always fun to learn how people in other parts of the world live.

    P.S. Peonies are one of my favorite flowers. Not only are they beautiful but they smell fabulous too!

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  35. Happy Valentine's Day to you, too. I love the roses, of course, but the peony is my favorite.
    ... Connie

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  36. Hi Autumn Belle,

    Wishing you A VERY HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! All the roses are so beautiful! And I loved seeing the decoration for the Chinese New Year. Thanks for including that bit about the Chinese tradition. Very interesting.

    Pretty blooms falling down your page. Wish you a Happy New Year too!:-)

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  37. Lovely roses! I like them very much. And i like you post, very good words. Hug from Lena/isis

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  38. Happy Valentine's Day to you too
    Love roses and peonies...fragrance is awesome!
    *hugs*deb

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  39. Happy Blooming Friday and Happy Valentine's Day, dear Autumn Belle!
    -A very informative and interesting post!

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  40. Thank you very very much for the nice comments and happy wishes. It made a great start to my today, especially when I open my blog this morning. I will answer all questions when I have more time later, and I will be visiting you to convey my festive wishes. Meanwhile, I am now busy with my CNY eve preparations. I have also added 2 links I come accross which are related to Valentine's Day. Do hop over to their blogs to read the interesting posts.

    Happy Valentine's Day!

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  41. gung hae fat choy also to you autumn belle, a double celebration with valentines day...hope you get twice the chocolates and beautiful flowers for both special days!

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  42. Autumn Belle, thank you so much for including my Valentine post in your lovely blog! I LOVE the roses, especially the first lavendar rose! Also, my husband is Greek and this is how we say "I Love You"..."Sa Ga Po"!!! You can also ask for a "felakia", or a kiss! :) Happy Valentine's Day!!!

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  43. Gong Xi Fa Chai and Happy Valentine's Day, to you and your loved ones, my sweet friend!
    Great post...exuding much romance and love, with loads of wonderful info on rose colours and numbers and much that I'm ignorant of...haha! Ahah, talking about the special persons in our life, who else?...for me, I'd add God, the universal and eternal lover beyond comparison, yes?
    And, once again 'Yam Seng' and A blessed Golden Tiger Year!

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  44. Beautiful flowers! Wishing you and your family a Happy Chinese New Year.

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  45. Dear Autumn Belle, I'm overwhelmed by your Valentine's Day post with all the happy thoughts. I'm going to go right out and buy some flowers for my husband! All the best to you, Barbara

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  46. absolutely stunning my friend! have a great valentines day!!!

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  47. Beautiful roses and Happy Valentines to you to!

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  48. Thank you for a wonderful post and pictures!!
    Love your blog and will return for more visits.
    - Cheers Gisela -
    Toronto Canada

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  49. The first lavender Rose you posted is simply stunning. I loved to read about the meanings of the colours and numbers of roses. My favorite rose has always been the lavender roses, and I try to grow them here in my own garden.
    Happy Valentine's Day!!

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  50. Hi Autumn Belle,

    those are beutiful roses. I love all of them. Great shots.

    Happy Valentines Day

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  51. wow not only the booms are lovely the post itself is very alluring. I could not take my eyes off the whole post until i read all. What else one can ask for a better post for Valentines.

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  52. beautiful roses..enough to make a woman, who receives this roses smile

    mine is here

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  53. Such beautiful roses and the peony was a special bonus. I live in Arizona and we have roses throughout the winter. However, I noticed today that some people have started cutting their canes back (we are told anytime after Feb. 14 is okay for pruning here), so I probably won't have many more rose pictures for a while. I'll look forward to seeing yours!

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  54. méiguī méiguī I lup chew! Whoa they are so lovely. GongXiFaCai the cats looked slight over weight haha.

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  55. My special thank you very much for everyone for your warm wishes and wonderful comments. My Lunar New Year cum Valentine's Day was a memorable one. Hope yours was just as great.

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  56. Your phots are lovely and so is your blog. So glad I found you. I will be back for sure.!
    Elaine :)

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  57. The right flowers for the right occasion. Happy valentine's day!!!

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  58. Happy Valentines Day to you. So interesting to read about all of your customs. The spotted rose really caught my eye.

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  59. The roses are beautiful. I only have a couple of them in the gardens here, but I do have peony which you said you do not. So I will do a posting of the peony in the future just for you. Happy Valentine Day. Jack

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  60. Solitude Rising, L.Ambler and Jack. This is my old 2010 blog post. I'm sorry that due to a technical glitch which I don't know how to fix, you are still seeing. Please click "My Nice Garden" or "http://www.mynicegarden.com" to go to my latest V.day post.

    Happy Valentine's Day 2012 to you all!

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  61. This is the time to plan out a great upcoming year and an amazing way to say
    GoodBye 2016 Hello 2017

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Words are like the voice of the heart... Confucius

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