Have You Ever Seen A 300+ Year Old ???

I was in the US in Apr - May 06. One of the Sundays, my dear friend Joanne brought me to the National Arboretum in Washington DC. This is sort of like a Singapore botanical garden equivalent. Anyway, we were walking thru the huge expanse and came across this Japanese Pavilion section where they featured bonsai plants.

Walking thru the Bonsai Section was a humbling experience. There were many bonsai on public display and amongst these were several that are many many times older than me! (or you for that matter!) The one that is posing beside me... give a guess how old it is??? Go on...

Give up? You can't tell by just looking at it, but according to the sign, this Japanese White Pine bonsai has been cultivated since 1625!!! See the next picture.

Your math would tell you that this bonsai is now 381 years old!!!
It's so awesome to behold...

The next picture is a closer shot of the trunk...


Well, there is a relationship lesson we can draw from this very respectfully cultivated bonsai. Time is a perfecter of issues. With lots of patience and tender loving care, growth is encouraged... healthy growth! There will be storms, there will be winter cold, there will be the scorching and searing heat beating down on the leaves and the branches. But hey, with all the TLC, the life will continue perpetually!

If you do have opportunity to be in Washington DC, do make a trip to the National Arboretum and check it out for yourself!

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Beware! Coffee Drinkers Allergic to Caffeine!

Decaf coffee drinkers who are allergic to caffeine! Beware!

Just read from a Reuters report that the decaf coffee which
some outlets sell may not be totally decaffeinated! Don't
believe? Read the aticle here!

Scary isn't it??? Especially if you are addicted to coffee and
at the same time allergic to caffeine... can't imagine what the
outcome will be...

For me, coffee is a must-have-morning-cuppa-routine-else-
engine-can't-start-kinda-guy... but good thing I'm not allergic
so phew!

Hmmm.. so set me thinking - perhaps someone should invent
a handy pocket caffeine-tester so that those of us coffee drinkers
who are allergic to coffee can always do a dip test to confirm our
cuppa is truly caffeine-free! Or is there such a device already??

By the way, do you know how coffee is decaffeinated?
According to what I researched, it is quite a laborious process.
Starts off with soaking the coffee bean in some specially-formulated
solution that is designed to absorb as much of the caffeine from the
bean. The bean is then removed from the solution. The caffeine-
soaked solution is then processed to remove just the caffeine. The
beans are then soaked into the now-caffeine-free solution to re-
absorb all the other "I-dun-know-what-else" stuffs that is left in
the solution. Ta-da, now you have de-caffeinated coffee!!! ;~)

So now you know! Go ahead, go impress someone with this knowledge!!!

Blue skies to you and your loved ones... always!