Poppy and its meanings

A poppy is a flower, typically with one per stem, belonging to the poppy family. They include a number of attractive wildflower species with colorful flowers found growing singularly or in large groups.

Those that are grown in gardens include large plants used in a mixed herbaceous border and small plants that are grown in rock or alpine gardens. The flower colours of poppy species include white, pink, yellow, orange, red, and blue where some have dark center markings.

The species that have been cultivated for many years also include many other colors ranging from dark solid colors to soft pastel shades. The center of the flower has a whorl of stamens surrounded by a cup or bowl-shaped collection of four to six petals. Prior to blooming, the petals are crumpled in bud, and as the blooming finishes, the petals often lie flat before falling away.

Symbols

Poppies have long been used as a symbol of both sleep and death. Sleep because of the opium extracted from them, and death because of their (commonly) blood-red color. In Greco-Roman myths, poppies were used as offerings to the dead. Poppies are used as emblems on tombstones to symbolize eternal sleep.

This aspect was used, fictionally, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to create magical poppy fields, dangerous because they caused those who passed through them to sleep forever.

A second meaning for the depiction and use of poppies in Greco-Roman myths is the symbolism of the bright scarlet colour as signifying the promise of resurrection after death.

The poppy of wartime remembrance is Papaver rhoeas, the red flowered Corn poppy. This poppy is a common weed in Europe and is found in many locations, including Flanders Fields. Canadian surgeon and soldier, John McCrae wrote the poem In Flanders Fields on May 3, 1915, after witnessing the death of his friend, Lt. Alexis Helmer.

The opening line of the poem vividly describes the image of the poppies blowing in the wind amongst the many crosses that mark the resting places of fallen soldiers. Thus the plant became a symbol for the dead World War I soldiers.

In many Commonwealth countries, artificial, paper or plastic versions of this poppy are worn to commemorate the sacrifice of veterans and civilians in World War I and other wars, during the weeks preceding Remembrance Day on November 11. In the United States, it is common practice to wear "Buddy Poppies" during the weeks preceding Memorial Day, the last Monday in May to commemorate the sacrifice of veterans in the various wars, whereas Veterans Day on November 11 is used to honor "living" veterans. The design of the Canadian poppy consists of petals made of red plastic with a felt lining and black centre held on by a pin. In 1980, the Royal Canadian Legion formed a committee to decide the future of the poppy and it was decided that the centre should be changed to green to represent the green fields of France. This proved unpopular with the Legion membership and the design was changed back in 1986. Unfortunately a large quantity of green felt had already been purchased and it was decided to keep producing the green centres until the supply of felt was exhausted. It took until 2002 for the green felt to run out and the traditional black centres reappeared. Those who were unaware or had forgotten that black centres had been used in the design of the poppy from its introduction in 1921 until 1980 found the change somewhat controversial. The California poppy, Eschscholzia californica, is the state flower of California.

Flavor

The white poppy seeds form part of the Indian spices. They are added for thickness, texture and also give added flavour to the recipe. Commonly used in the preparation of Kurma, ground poppy seed, along with coconut and other spices, are combined as the masala to be added at the end of the cooking step. It is quite hard to grind them when raw, so it is best to dry fry them, and then mix with little water to get the right paste consistency.

Poppy seeds are widely used in Turkish, Andhra, Bengali, Oriya, German, Slovak, Czech, Ukrainian, Malabar (Northern Kerala), Romanian, Hungarian cuisine and the Cuisine of Austria.

Although the drug opium is produced by "milking" latex from the unripe fruits ("seed pods") rather than from the seeds, all parts of the plant can contain or carry the opium alkaloids, especially morphine and codeine. This means that eating foods (e.g., muffins) that contain poppy seeds can result in a false positive for opiates in a drug test. The test is true positive in that it indicates the presence of the drug correctly; it is false only in the sense that the drug was not taken in the typical manner of abuse.

The sale of poppy seeds from Papaver somniferum is banned in Singapore due to the morphine content. Poppy seeds are also banned in Saudi Arabia due to various religious and drug control reasons.

Source:Wikipedia

Adopt a Stray

Scores of bundles of canine joy will seek new homes and loving families on Sunday, May 31 at the first 'Take Me Home' Adoption Day organized by 'Embark', the personal CSR initiative of ODEL founder and CEO Otara Gunewardene.

Dog lovers interested in taking home healthy, vaccinated, warmed and groomed homeless puppies have been invited to visit a demarcated area near the entrance at ODEL's Alexandra Place store on that day, to make their pick.

The puppies have been rescued off the streets and cared for by the Lucy Trust and the Laika Therapy Centre, and their re-homing will be facilitated by Embark, which will register the new owners and offer advice and follow-up assistance to ensure happy and successful adoptions.

"This is the first phase of our new Adopt-a-Stray campaign to resolve the problem of stray dogs in Sri Lanka," explained Ms Gunewardene, the World Animal Day Ambassador for Sri Lanka. "We hope to organize one Adoption Day event every month, to bring dog lovers and homeless stray dogs together. Well-looked after strays make loving and loyal pets, so it's a win-win proposition."

Two special marquees and a dog pen will be set up for the Adoption Day on May 31 and puppies aged 3 to 12 months will be given away on a first-come, first-served basis between 3.00 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Volunteers from Embark will make periodic visits to home that adopt dogs to offer advice and help where needed. Sterilisation surgery, if requested by the new owners of the adopted dogs, will be provided free of charge by Embark.

Embark began in March 2007 with the aim of reducing cruelty to animals and focusing on animal well-being and initiated a range of activities to achieve these goals, from sterilization surgeries and puppy re-homing campaigns, caring for injured stray animals and educating the public about the importance of animal welfare. Since its inception, Embark has helped change the mentality and thinking patterns of community, encouraging love of community animals and has to date sterilized nearly 2000 strays in seven campaigns.

Underneath the Mango tree

Mangoes belong to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous species of tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae.

Cultivated in many tropical regions and distributed widely in the world, mango is one of the most extensively exploited fruits for food, juice, flavour, fragrance and colour. It is also the national fruit of India and the Philippines. The Mango' comes from Portuguese manga, which is probably from Malayalam manga.

Mango trees reach 35-40 m in height, with a radius of 10 m. The tree is long-lived with some specimens known to be over 300 years old and still fruiting.

The ripe fruit is variable in size and colours like yellow, orange, red or green when ripe. When ripe, the unpeeled fruit gives off a distinctive resinous sweet smell. In its center is a single flat oblong seed that can be fibrous or hairy on the surface, depending on the cultivar. Inside the seed coat 1-2 mm thick is a thin lining covering a single embryo, 4-7 cm long, 3-4 cm wide, and 1 cm thick.

Mangoes have been cultivated in the Indian subcontinent for thousands of years and reached East Asia between the fifth and fourth century BC and by the 10th century AD, they were transported to East Africa and subsequently introduced to Brazil, West Indies and Mexico, where climate allows its appropriate growth. The 14 century Muslim traveller, Ibn Battuta, reported it at Mogadishu. Mango is now cultivated as a fruit tree in frost-free tropical and warmer subtropical climates like that of the Indian subcontinent; nearly half of the world's mangoes are cultivated in India alone.

Other regions where mango is cultivated include North, South and Central America, the Caribbean, south, west and central Africa, Australia, China, Pakistan and Southeast Asia.

Food

A ripe mango is sweet, with a unique taste that nevertheless varies from variety to variety.

The texture of the flesh varies between cultivars, some having a soft, pulpy texture similar to an over-ripe plum, while others have firmer flesh like a cantaloupe or avocado.

In some cultivars, the flesh has a fibrous texture. In western recipes of 'Chutney', ripe mangoes are often used, but chutney in the Indian subcontinent is usually made with sour, unripe mangoes and hot chillies or limes such as the famous Andhra mango avakai pachadi from the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh where almost every family of Andhra Pradesh prepare mango pickles during the red hot summer season. In India, ripe mangoes are often cut into thin layers, desiccated, folded, and then cut. In many parts of India, people eat squeezed mango juice (called ras) on a variety of bread. This is part of the meal rather than a dessert.

Unripe mangoes (which are extremely sour) are eaten with salt, and in regions where food is hotter, with salt and chili. In Kerala, ripe mangoes are used in a dish called mambazha kaalan.

During the hot summer months, a cooling summer drink called panha (in Marathi) and panna (across north India) is made with raw mango. Mango lassi is made by adding mango pulp to the North Indian yoghurt drink lassi. The fruit is also used in a variety of cereal products, in particular muesli and oat granola. Wikipedia

Chester Williams Muthuveloe

Chester was only a dog but he had the skill of making people feel SPECIAL. Maybe that was his gift to us, the Muthuveloe family. As he battled with increase in age, stiffness of his hip joints and unpredictable sphincter functions, putting him down seemed to be the most correct thing to do. But the end was the most difficult for us, his family, and waiting for the vet was the longest and saddest time for the four of us.

I never thought that any situation like this could cause me such distress. As a forensic psychiatrist, I have dealt with death, including suicides in my career, which has never had this great effect on me. Chesters death was entirely different to all the others. I will never know why this was to be so.

Fifteen years ago I put up the strongest possible case not to have a dog but was outnumbered 3 to 1. I had allowed my daughters to have a hamster and a rabbit but was definitely going to draw the line at a dog which was going to cost us over 300 pounds! I lost the argument and the battle. But had I won, it would have prevented me from ever getting to know the character who was to be Chester.

Chester was the runt of a litter of 6 golden and 3 black Labrador pups and entered our home at the age of 5 weeks as a ball of black wool hardly bigger than my foot! South Africa had won the World Rugby cup in the summer of 1995 so we named him after the black South African rugby player, Chester Williams. Chester, though built like a rugby player and at times behaving like one by hurling himself at you for a tackle, was not capable of winning anything other than HEARTS!

Our life together started off as a form of boisterous and chaotic so-habitation, which had to be lived mainly by his rules. He proceeded to destroy my house and garden in grand style! We had a reasonably well-landscaped garden with a fishpond, a fountain, a lily pad and carpeted floors in the house - none of which remains today! Chester jumped in and out of the pond, killed the fish, ate the lily pad and then chewed the wires of the fountain.

He then ran amok around the house turning my clean pale carpets into a darker shade of brown. He then broke the fence of our home and ate all the flowers in our neighbours gardens. There was no knowing which irate neighbour we would have to placate on our return from work or school. I was convinced that we would lose favour with our neighbours and alienate friends but strangely the opposite happened.

Chester introduced us to so many people that even the stiff upper-lipped kind became friendly with us in no time. He was known throughout Great Linford as 'Chester, the doctor's dog'. Children who consulted my husband Sam spent time talking about seeing Chester on his walks. He made us walk miles and I am sure I have clocked up walking to Sri Lanka and back if I was to add up the hours of walking that I have done with him in sunshine, rain, hale and snow!!

We laid Chester to rest in our garden. The spot we chose to be his final resting place was the site of our pond, which no longer exists. Neither is there fish, a lily pad or a fountain. Maybe he knew all along that special place belonged to him.

Ayesha Muthuveloe

A home for Suki and Suzy

Suki and Suzy have been wormed and innoculated against Rabies, Parvo and DHL. They are healthy and affectionate and will make loyal and loving pets. So if you are interested and want to give these two loveable dogs a happy home to live in please call 0777-221444. STRICTLY FOR ANIMAL LOVERS.