{Our Azaleas Before the Rain}

We have had now several days with heavy rain and that is not so good for blooming azaleas and other blossoms... But here are some photos from our azaleas before the rain:

Are those flowers not a DREAM?

To the left you can see the newly raised, wood trail, as seen from the gazebo. Pond is to the right and center.
You can see those raised edges from the wood trail here:→ {Cashmere Words of Wisdom & Update} - just scroll down to the last 2 photos.

Very lush and healthy!

Greenhouse in the back...

Glad I captured these before they got heavily rained upon!

{Chinese Redbud & Bumble Bee}

We do have a very special Chinese Redbud that started blooming by mid March.

Below this post, you find a link to a previous post with more photos.

But here you see a Bumble Bee enjoying the pollen from its flowers.

Quite striking too, for seeing new flowers next to some old seed pods...

Related link:
{Our Cercis canadensis 'Apalachian Red' & Cercis chinensis 'Avondale'} | previous post by me

{Jealousy Stands in the Way of Success}

Often in life we read and see around us, people that always criticize and blame others for their failure.

As MaryEllen best described it: 'Eliminate The Jealousy Factor And Success Will Follow' ←click for link to her article.

The Success Indicator ←click for link

by MaryEllen Tribby

Successful People: Compliment - Forgive others - Accept responsibility for their failures - Keep a journal - Want others to succeed - Keep a 'to-be' list - Set goals and develop life plans - Continuously learn - Operate from a transformational perspective - Keep a 'to-do/project' list - Embrace change - Exude joy - Share information and data - Talk about ideas - Read everyday - Give other people credit for their victories - Have a sense of gratitude.

 Unsuccessful People: Criticize - Hold a grudge - Blame others for their failures - Say they keep a journal but really don't - Think they know it all - Operate from a transactional perspective - Secretly hope others fail - Don't know what they want to be - Never set goals - Exude anger - Hoard information and data (Yep, Scraped Content!) - Talk about people - Fly by their seat of their pants - Fear change - Watch TV everyday - Take all the credit for their victories - Have a sense of entitlement.

Guess we all can relate to the above!

From the above link of MaryEllen's article, she is citing the success of Ann Curry as read in the USA Today: 'Here's how working mom Ann Curry makes it all work' ←click the link to the article.

The message from highly successful Ann Curry about working Moms and their children:

Tell them you love them — a lot.

'You can never tell them too many times. Let them roll their eyes,' says Curry. 'Life can sometimes be, for all of us, a bully and you need to have money in the bank, that love is money, to get you through all the way to the end. Every time you say 'I love you,' you're putting money in the bank. You're not always going to be there to put money in the bank, so I say you got to stock up so it will last a long time.'

Some very valuable life's lessons!

In our career as International Consultants, we too have always emphasized the points that are listed to the left in this infographic.