Extravaganza from Netherlands

It was truly an honour for me to be a part of the wonderful 2011 Dutch Flower Show held at Al Bustan Palace Hotel, Wadi Al Kabir in Oman, and to be one among the Duchess' of Ambassadors and sit on those beautifully made chairs with them to witness how Tim Van Liepsig, from the land of flowers, Netherlands, made extraordinary arrangements of flowers in a wink of an eye.
I was a bit nervous, to be very honest, since it was my very first 'official' reporting, plus, for a very renowned newspaper in Oman, Muscat Daily. I did not have to beg and plead for information from people since I didn't have any 'ID' to show my journalism reality, which was an added advantage for me. But, I had the coolest and sweetest person, whom I was accompanying, and she made me at ease. We lost our way in the beginning, and not to mention the so-called cleaner or so of the hotel tried to play around with us as well. However, all we had to do was to get to the right floor. The scent of the flowers just led our way to the hall.
As soon as we entered the hall.. Ah what a site.. To see all the flowers sprinkle out from their packets and smell their scent truly made my goosebumps rise up to the fullest. And to add on, the beautiful women all clad in even more beautiful dresses was truly a sight to the eye. And then, to know that they were all Duchess' in one way or the other, was the icing on the cake.
Oh, and not to forget.. The man of the show..
Tim Van Lipseig kept on talking about something or the other. Or maybe about nothing, in special. He just loved to talk. And that is what he was doing. I guess he loved being the centre of attraction among so many beautiful ladies!
And then the most amazing class I have ever sat in. He just played around with the flowers, turning them this side and then the other side, placing them one beside the other. He arranged them mostly in one colour each, i.e, a bouquet mostly contained either white or red or some other colour flowers. And he arranged them in a span of second, and made it look so easy, that anyone could do it. However, one of the Duchess Ambassador mentioned it aloud, that when she tried arranging them it goes one way and the other flower the other.
Not to mention, the women around me did not seem like they were sophisticated women from the big houses. They all seemed to be normal ladies, excited to be there just like me and laughing as aloud as they wish to.
Then, Tim told us various details about various flowers. The do's and don't's while arranging flowers. He also went a bit personal by showing us the bouquet he made for his wife on their wedding. I must say, I wish I had a bouquet like that for my wedding.

I did not know that there were so many varieties of flowers, tulips, chrysanthemums and what not, until I met Tim.
P.S: Don't go to Holland asking for tulips now, because it is very expensive as the season for them are over.

And the calla dark arum lily which he used for his wedding bouquet with the spooky asparagus white leaves were just mind blowing.
Ah I can just go on and on about the entire show. And he loved to click photographs with his bouquet of flowers. He just stood there with his final arrangement of bouquets after every arrangement so that people could go on clicking photographs. I wish I got one of those bouquets. But he would not be doing that this time. Out of the bunches of all the good luck the day brought in to me, this had to be one bad, very bad luck it brought to me.


But , I would still cherish the moments to be one of the best in my professional and personal life.
 Enjoy your life with flowers. Buy them, play with them, come up with beautiful new arrangements, exchange them with friends, greet friends with them, gift them beautifully arranges bouquets. There is so much to do with flowers, that people just don't realize.
P.S: Btw, please do not go to a Chinese hospital, and give them red flowers, if Get Well Soon, is what you wanted to convey. You would turn out to convey a death notice to them! :)