ヽ(´▽`)/ A big thank you to SirenaTales for joining in the fun and sharing her love with us.ヽ(´▽`)/
We do look forward to receive more lovely contributions from all lovely souls out there soon!
Before ending this post, we’ve another lovely soul, Mummyshymz, leaving us a comment about her listening to Kit Chan’s “Home” while reading our Let’s Play: Home Sweet Home post.
Since our National Day is coming soon, we would love to take this opportunity to share this lovely song with all of you.
Do enjoy and have a lovely day ahead, always!
Till then,
Cheers & TTFN~ 😀
Credits: All cute and lovely pictures found in this post are downloaded from FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Just seven days ago was the beginning of the lunar seventh month
The Hungry Ghost Festival
A traditional Chinese festival and holiday (not in Singapore 😦 ) celebrated by Chinese in many countries.
BUT NO…THIS IS NOT GOING TO BE A POST WITH SOME CREEPY GHOST STORIES OR PARANORMAL ENCOUNTERS.
LOVE IS IN THE AIR BECAUSE TODAY IS THE 7TH DAY OF THE LUNAR 7TH MONTH
A day to remember the tale of a forbidden and yet undying love between two lovers – A celestial being and a human being.
Niulang And Zhinu (Photo Credit: Wikipedia)
Qixi Festival also known as the Chinese Valentine’s Day, is a Chinese festival that celebrates the annual meeting of the cowherd and weaver girl in Chinese mythology.
The general tale is about a love story between the weaver girl (one of the seven celestial maidens), symbolizing Vega and the young cowherd, symbolizing Altair.
Their love was not allowed, thus they were banished to opposite sides of the Silver River (symbolizing the Milky Way). Once a year, on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month, a flock of magpies would form a bridge to reunite the lovers for one day.
This is an important festival, especially for young girls. During the festival, girls make a display of their domestic skills and make wishes for marrying someone who would be a good and loving husband.
Traditionally, there would be contests among young girls who attempted to be the best in threading needles under low-light conditions like the glow of ember or a half moon. Today, girls sometimes gather toiletries in honour of the seven maidens.
The festival also held an importance for newly-wed couples. The celebration stood symbol for a happy marriage and showed that the married woman was treasured by her new family.
Japanese woodblock print of Tanabata festivities in Edo (Tokyo), 1852, by Hiroshige (Photo Credit: Wikipedia)
Tanabata (meaning “Evening of the seventh”) is a Japanese star festival, originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival which was imported to Japan by the Empress Kōken in 755.
It gained widespread popularity among the general public by the early Edo period. Like Qixi, Tanabata was inspired by the famous Chinese folklore story, “The Weaver Girl and the Cowherd” and the most popular version is as follows:
Orihime (The Weaving Princess), daughter of the Tentei (Sky King), wove beautiful clothes by the bank of the Amanogawa ( Milky Way). Her father loved the cloth that she wove and so she worked very hard every day to weave it.
Being concerned about his daughter who was too busy to find her true love, Tentei arranged for her to meet Hikoboshi (Cow Herder Star) who lived and worked on the other side of the Amanogawa.
When the two met, they fell instantly in love with each other and married shortly thereafter. However, once married, Orihime no longer would weave cloth for Tentei and Hikoboshi allowed his cows to stray all over Heaven.
In anger, Tentei separated the two lovers across the Amanogawa and forbade them to meet but later gave in to his daughter’s persistent pleading.
The two can only meet on the 7th day of the 7th month if she worked hard and finished her weaving. It is said that if it rains on Tanabata, the magpies cannot come and the two lovers must wait until another year to meet.
In present-day Japan, people generally celebrate this day by writing wishes, sometimes in the form of poetry, on small pieces of paper, and hanging them on bamboo, sometimes with other decorations (see also Wish Tree). The bamboo and decorations are often set afloat on a river or burned after the festival, around midnight or on the next day
Popular customs relating to the festival varied by region of the country, but generally, girls wished for better sewing and craftsmanship, and boys wished for better handwriting.
So, do smile often and who knows you might just find that special someone who would take your breath away (well, of course in a good and lovingly way…hehhee).
Before ending this post, let us share a lovely P.O.V. contribution about family love by Yuna:
A big thank you to Yuna for joining in the fun and sharing her love with us.
ヽ(´▽`)/
We do look forward to receive more lovely contributions from all lovely souls out there soon!
Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do… but how much love we put in that action.
Mother Teresa
So, may it be towards a sweet heart or a loved one, start injecting tons and tons of love into your actions now!
Have a great Valentine’s Day (Chinese or Japanese Style) ahead!
Till then,
Cheers & TTFN~ 😀
Credits: Some cute and lovely pictures found in this post are downloaded from FreeDigitalPhotos.net
In human context, a family (from Latin: familia) is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence.
The diverse data coming from ethnography, history, law and social statistics, establish that the human family is an institution and not a biological fact founded on the natural relationship of consanguinity.
The term blended family or stepfamily describes families with mixed parents: one or both parents remarried, bringing children of the former family into the new family.
As an agent of socialization, family is the primary source of influence behind the formation of personality and the growth of a child due to its influence on the basics of personality and its role providing gender identity.
This impact is large as the family confers its social position onto the child when it is brought into the world.
Contemporary society generally views the family as a haven from the world, supplying absolute fulfillment.
And the following is how a lovely soul, Robin, views the FAMILY as
We’ve received a comment from a lovely soul, ParentingIsFunny, sharing with us her P.O.V in our “Let’s Play: Home Sweet Home” post:
This lovely comment of hers made me remember an SMS message that I’ve received from a friend, sharing with me the meaning of the word – FAMILY – itself.
Perhaps you might already knew about this, but I found it very true and interesting so I’ve decided to share with you lovely souls this lovely message:
Maybe the person who came out with the word ‘Family’ did not form the word basing on the above acronym, but isn’t it amazing to be able to make this word so true to itself?
A big thank you to ParentingIsFunny for joining in the fun and sharing her love with us.
ヽ(´▽`)/
We do look forward to receive more lovely contributions from all lovely souls out there soon!
Family is not an important thing.
It’s everything.
~ Michael J Fox
I would love to take this opportunity to thank all the lovely souls who have been so kind and sweet enough to spare some of their precious time in penning down very motivating words concerning that graph that I’ve drawn in our previous post.
THANK YOU FOR SHOWERING US WITH SO MUCH MOTIVATION!
Have a lovely Sunday and a wonderful Monday ahead!
Till then,
Cheers & TTFN~ 😀
Credits: All cute and lovely pictures found in this post are downloaded from FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Since the day my doctor announced to me that my body had literally broken down like an overhauled engine.
He told me two things
1. I was lucky because I was not yet a mother
2. To stay away from babies because the negative energy from my health condition might affect them
It has been so many years since that day and I always try not to carry any babies (just for the benefit of doubt) of my friends or relatives. I would just play ‘peek-a-boo’ with them from a distance for it always makes me laugh whenever the ‘peek-a-boo’ trick works on a baby.
This year has been a wonderful year so far because I’ve not been on medication for the past six months!
Today, I’ve decided to break the rule after meeting this beautiful soul.
Hey you! Beautiful soul
How was your day?
Loved the way you looked at me
” Carry me, carry me”
Those eyes cried out to me
Made my hands act faster than brain
“Don’t worry, be happy”
A valuable message in all your smiles
Sixty-minutes of joy that no money could buy
A baby is God’s opinion that life should go on. ~ Carl Sandburg
Today’s contribution comes from the lovely Shruti @ Ashadeofpen
Wow! I cannot imagine living with so many people under the same roof!
Way to go, Shruti!!
A big thank you to Shruti for joining in the fun and sharing her love with us.
ヽ(´▽`)/
We do look forward to receive more lovely contributions from all lovely souls out there soon!
Wanted to take more pictures but I was rushing to another place during that time and had to interrupt his feeding time while taking these two pictures. However, he didn’t seem to mind and gave me one of his most beautiful smiles…ヽ(´ー｀)ノ
This 5-month old baby comes from a single-parent family. He has an older brother who is around one year old plus and his mother is only 21 this year.
What was I doing at the age of 21? I couldn’t help but wonder while my friend was telling me about her story.
Did she make a right or wrong decision for defying her parents? I cannot really judge since everyone has the right to fight for their love, no matter how crazy it might have been.
All I can see now is a beautiful young lady who is willing to bear the full responsible for all her actions.
I sincerely wish her all the best and may her two lovely gems do her proud after they’ve grown into fine young men.
Before I end this post, here’s another lovely song to share with all lovely souls out there and may your heart be filled with love and hope whenever you see a smile on someone else’s face.
Have a lovely Sunday and may your Monday ahead be one of the best days in the week!
The above two flowers — from some previous arrangements — were brought back by Lovable Mum while she was changing new flowers at one of our H.Q.s for some new occasions.
She would never waste a flower in her arrangement and thus these two flowers were being ‘recycled’ by her, along with some other flowers so that they can be further admired by her lovable children (i.e. Bro, Baby Sis and Yours Truly…LOL).
Though I have no talent in flower arrangement, I am being blessed and motivated by many lovely souls out there and I am glad to be able to come out with the following creations which are now available at our online shop:
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched
They must be felt with the heart
~ Helen Keller
We’ve another lovely contribution, this time, by a lovely soul – Pinkgoeswithanything – to be shared out on this lovely Friday!
She has managed to locate all the 10 factors
ヽ(´▽`)/ Yay!!! ヽ(´▽`)/
And the following would be what she thinks the most important factor in order to transform her home into a
HOME SWEET HOME
A big thank you to Pinkgoeswithanything for joining in the fun and sharing her love with us.
ヽ(´▽`)/
We do look forward to receive more lovely contributions from all lovely souls out there soon!
Since Pinkgoeswithanything did mention that if we don’t laugh at least once a day, it would be a day wasted.
Have you already had your first laugh of the day, especially on this lovely Friday?
If you have not, here’s a video by my favourite Hoops & Yoyo to express our sincere gratitude to all the lovely souls out there who have been with us all these while. 😀
Have a great Friday and wonderful weekend ahead, always!
Till then,
Cheers & TTFN~ 😀
Credits: All cute and lovely pictures found in this post are downloaded from FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Every Little Thing In Your Home Influences You Through Its
Colours, Shapes, Textures, Smells
Take A Look Around Your Home
What Can You Change To Transform Your Home Into A
HOME SWEET HOME
(Extracted From Message From God, with revision done)
ლ(｀ー´ლ) YES! IT IS TIME FOR ANOTHER LET’S PLAY INTERACTION! ლ(｀ー´ლ)
There are 10 words to be found in the above puzzle!!
Try finding all of them, ponder over them and let us know by listing them down from the most important to the least important (from your P.O.V) factors at the comment box.
If possible, do share with us how you think that the chosen factor to be at the top of your list has made a difference to you and your loving family?
We may want to feature your insightful P.O.V (if any) in our future posts.
Who knows?
Your lovely contribution might just influence some troubled souls who managed to stumble upon this blog of ours?
Everything happens for a reason, don’t they?
Awaiting those lovely lists or P.O.V from all lovely souls out there soon!!
A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body. Benjamin Franklin
Family was all I’ve had when our father went missing during one fateful day, many many years ago,
Leaving us with no money, only lots of unknown debts to be paid off.
Food and fire for the body were provided to us by many kind relatives from the maternal side
Food and fire for the mind,
They were provided by what’s left in the family so that we can stay always strong as a family
And not just people, living inside the same house.
Have a lovely and fun-filled Tuesday ahead!
Till then,
Cheers & TTFN~ 😀
Credits: All cute and lovely pictures found in this post are downloaded from FreeDigitalPhotos.net
These two amusements will never do any harm to the world.
~ Voltaire
I may need to include “LET US WRITE” in the above quote since this post will be the result post of our “Write It Out”!
How time flies and since we’ve not been very prolific in our post publishing lately (⇀‸↼‶), we’ve managed to make the result post our 200th one and with the hope of making at least two souls to join us in this dance of joy.
Before announcing the result, we must proclaim that ALL submissions in this ‘Write It Out’ are lovely and wonderful. The only reason why we’ve the voting is just to help us decide to whom we should give the token of appreciation to.
So without further adieu, here’s the poem that all lovely souls out there have helped us decide:
“Beautiful Eyes” is the 10th poem submitted by Shruti @ ashadeofpen
The picture quality in this post may be a little off because my brother is currently not in the country and took the camera with him…*sob*sob*….ಥ_ಥ…..why????????
Since this is a “Write It Out”, I’ve written the poem down and made this little card for her. Besides the card, we will be giving Shruti our“Fairy Tale Reborn” bookmark, which is no longer a bookmark because we’ve modified it into a hanging ornament. We do hope she will like it. 😀
And now, via a random selection process, the following lovely soul will receive our “Fairy Tale Reborn” necklace as a token of appreciation for participating in the voting:
A big thank you to Kavita @ Talking Experiencefor her lovely participation.
The above necklace was originally a double layer necklace but we’ve decided to make it into a short necklace because we realized that the pendant would be more prominent looking when going with a short necklace.
ლ(｀ー´ლ) Of course, we would love to express our deepest gratitude to all the lovely souls out there who had make this event possible by casting their votes ლ(｀ー´ლ)
Last but not least, we would love to dedicate this post to the following 8 lovely souls who have made the entire event possible by “WRITING IT OUT”:
Today is a rainy day and I am now enjoying the rhythm of the rain as I type out this post.
Since I am not able to share with you lovely souls the rhythm of the rain that I am now enjoying, I would like to share the following song with you and perhaps you can consider joining us in this dance of joy.
We’ve started this “Let’s Play’ event since 17th April 2013 and how time flies, it is already the 13th day of the month June!
And it is time to wrap this event up and move on to another Let’s Play activity as we’ve managed to received 10 entries!
YIPPEE!
However, before wrapping up, we would like to present the last 4 entries by the following lovely souls:
Write It Out – 7th Entry By Michael
I always visit Michael’s blog for a quick dose of vitamin for my soul as we need to constantly remind ourselves to be kind to others and of course, to ourselves as well. Do you need a dose of vitamin, not just for your body, but your soul as well? Visit his lovely blog and pamper your soul with his enlightening words of wisdom.
Thank you, Michael!
Write It Out – 8th Entry By Catherine Johnson
Catherine has a very versatile soul and you will be able to realize this virtue via reading her lovely blog. She is also one of the sweet souls who has extended her love for our humble blog via Tweeter.
Thank you, Catherine!
Write it Out -9th Entry By Gregory
Is your restless soul craving for some beautiful flowers to look at? If yes, you may consider visiting Gregory’s lovely blog. His flowers always managed to cheer me up and I bet they will have the same effect for you lovely souls as well since it is always restful to look at flowers.
Thank you, Gregory!
Write It Out – 10th Entry By Shruti
Awww…Shruti is a lovely lady with a sweet and adorable soul and has been playing a very supportive role in our blogging days. Her lovely blog consists of lovely poems to write-out for certain products or services…that’s Shruti’s style.
By the way, this entry is her second submission as well.
Thank you, Shruti!
Since this is a wrap-up post for our Write-it-Out activity, how can we possibly miss out thanking all the lovely souls who have brightened our days by being us with!
All the 10 poem entries will be uploaded to our Clouds N Cups blog and our Facebook Page during the next few days time for voting purpose.
Please be so kind to cast your vote (For voting at our blog) or press the like button (For voting at our Facebook Page) for your favourite poem.
The poem with the most number of votes (tabulated from number of votes from blog and ‘likes’ received from our Facebook page), the lovely soul will be receiving a bookmark with his/her poem.
If any lovely soul out there is interested to receive the above bookmark+necklace set, all you have to do is to leave a comment at the post of your favourite poems telling us that you are interested in taking part in this give-away event after you’ve voted.
The winner will be picked randomly after the voting session.
Last but not least, here’s another lovely song to share with all lovely souls out there who are reading this post right now.
March 3, 2014
CloudsNCups
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