A Clever Spell

One of the greatest private joys in cottage life is the ability to walk barefoot throughout your property. Whether our happy-feet are skimming across sun-baked stones along the shoreline or across the mossy velvet of our lawns; nothing can compare to the exhilarating and “freeing” feeling that “going barefoot” gives you.

Going barefoot reacquaints you with a sense of carefree youthfulness and simple joy. To me, the gentle sound of the crunching leaves and the feeling of earth beneath my toes wash away the tensions and hostilities of “city” life.

“Healthy feet can hear the very heart of Mother Earth”

proverb of Sitting Bull

As a friend of mine proudly states each summer as she proudly flutters barefoot at her cottage; “going barefoot is the ultimate relaxation method. What you feel with your feet is as far removed from you brain as possible - making you concentrate on your body - your environment - and all of your senses.” My belief is simpler:

1.	It feels good
 2.	It's relaxing
 3.	It connects you with nature
 4.	It's fun

However, before you begin to randomly shed your shoes, make sure
 That you closely inspect your property and avoid the following:

1.	Beware sharp edged Reed grass - they have a tendency to “bite”.
 2.	Inspect your patio, barbeque and dock areas for broken glass, metal objects and litter.
 3.	Always step straight down.  Avoid shuffling, dragging or kicking your feet and legs.
 4.	Always watch where you step.
 5.	Place your weight on the balls of your feet and not on your heel.

Another grace of going barefoot at your cottage is its minimum impact upon nature. Whereas a booted foot on our trails and naturalized areas encourages erosion and “imprinting”, a bare foot leaves no mark or effect. Thus, while you are enjoying the sensation of the earth, grass, moss, and pine needles between your toes, you are at the same time preserving your piece of Nature.

Another offshoot of “going barefoot” at the cottage is its ability to encourage everyone who visits you cottage to be aware of their actions. Going barefoot quickly eliminates any “litter-bug” tendencies in not only yourself but in your guests.

Come Spring “planting” make sure to consider your feet when selecting your plants. Try planting a foot-friendly ground cover such as Anthemis (Chamomile). This wondrous plant can establish itself in any soil condition, gives off a delicious subtle fragrance, can be walked upon and has a lovely delicate blossom. Try A. nobilis for its white blossoms and silvered foliage or A. nobilis treneague for its strong aroma and durability. Just remember only to walk on it in your bare feet so as not to disturb its root structure.

Moss is another consideration. Encourage moss to grow across and amongst all of your rocks and woody areas. This can be achieved by simply spreading moss seeds on to the rocks in a mixture of 1-part moss seeds and 2 parts Buttermilk. Remember to continue drizzling buttermilk across the moss until it has become firmly established.

For your pathways consider using your natural pine needles. This environmentally sound choice not only looks great, it is easy to do and feels great on your feet.

Some other practicalities of going barefoot at the cottage include:

1.	Set up "Rinsing Stations" for bare feet.  Simply take an oversized wide mouth galvanized container and fill it with fresh lake water each day.  Place one near your cottage and another near your dock.
 2.	Always keep on hand near the cottage "rinsing station" a bar of gardener's soap.  Gardener's soap will not only deeply cleanse, it moisturizes and exfoliates as well.
 3.	Make sure to stock a jar of Gardener's Hand Lotion each summer.

It’s mixture of beeswax; glycerin, lanolin, aloe and vitamin E will insure “happy feet”.

Great Design in essence is about the creation of an exquisite stage for the beauty and quality of life we all desire. From ultra urban to ornate opulence, Robin and his team have passionately and successfully designed it all. Robin’s interiors have graced the pages of magazines Worldwide. Robin has designed interiors for feature films, major retailers such as Home Depot (Style Ideas Magazine) and the Designer Showhouse. From smaller scale interior projects to full scale restorations and developments, Robin’s passionate and creative eye overseas all aspects. While fluent in all design trends and philosophies, Robin is most passionate about historic preservation and the creation of elegant, functional and memorable spaces that convey the best attributes of each owner while respecting and celebrating the architecture that encompasses them. Visit http://www.robindegroot.ca

In Orchid Care The Flower Will Tell You About Some Diseases

Tale for orchid care the flower. The orchid flower is usually a thing of beauty. When diseases strike it can be tell - tale. Like the leaves, the flower can tell you a great deal. Let’s take a look at what we will learn…

Spotting of Flowers

A sign of fungal infection or mold is pink or light brown spots on the flower. When you see either, orchid care will suggest to be careful with your other plants as the infection can spread to other plants.
Remove the orchid flowers that are affected. The remedy is to get more circulation.

Flowers With Punctures

Yes, those aphids can get at orchids, too. Also, some insects including Thrips.
Orchid care the flower suggests that the remedy is spray the orchid with malathion, but be careful and use a face mask.

Flowers With Mottled Colors

Here caring for orchids will strongly suggest a second opinion is necessary. The cause could be a color losing virus. Even if this is suspected then isolate the plant. If it is a virus then you need to destroy the plant.

Bruised Flowers

The causes of bruising are many. It could simply be from mechanical injury. If this is the case the area of damage will not increase or go on to other flowers.

But it could also be from slugs or even cockroaches. You may need to investigate and use some dust to bait them. If from cockroaches then diazinon or Sevin on the ground around the plant, on the plant and the pot as well.

Caring for orchids also shows that the bruising can be from red aphids. If so use the malathion treatment.

Rapid Wilting Of The Flower

If you see wilting of the flower, especially the dorsal or upper septal this can be caused by a sudden temperature change or pollination from an “unknown” pollinator. (I didn’t think orchid flowers were that particular!!). The remedies are those that make sense, moderate the temp changes and remove the affected flowers. Not sure what to do for the unknown attacker.

Deformed Flowers

Caring for orchids is not complete without the a word about deformed orchids.

Common causes include;

low humidity or high temp when the buds were developing
mechanical or chemical injury during bud formation

the bud has acquired an unexplained deformity

the potential of a virus infection, (you see many of the flowers have the deformity). Need to isolate the plant.

Caring for orchids does involve looking at the “whole plant”. In orchid care the flower is important.

Visit our Orchid Store: http://www.orchid-store.orchids-plus-more.com

** This article can be used freely as long as the author and the Orchids-Plus-More.com are identified within the article

This site http://www.orchids-plus-more.com is devoted to these wonderful orchid plants. Did you know they are the second in popularity only to the poinsettia plants? You will find a good deal of information on how easy orchid care really is. They are wonderful to have around your home or for that special gift. Orchid flowers are beautiful and can last for years. Your plant will be appreciated for years and years.

Where to Start:

Most novice marketers have definite fixed ideas about direct mail that are way off base - most often in the area of what to spend and how much to do. You should determine what you are able to spend for your marketing budget, spend it, and determine the maximum number of leads that you can create. For instance, I’ve heard this statement quite often: “We aren’t that large of a company. How could we send out 2,000 postcards all at once?” because “What if they all call?” - seems like a valid concern, right?

Here is the reality behind it: Unfortunately they won’t all call. However, a good deal of them very well may and making sure that your traffic in is not more than you can handle is something to think about. Truthfully, there is no sure way to tell exactly how many people will call if you haven’t done this type of marketing before. Think of it this way. What would happen if they did all call? You may not be able to handle all of them, but you would handle as many as you possibly could, right?

In this scenario, you would have maximized your income for that time period providing you could close up all those callers! You can also explore the idea of expanding your operation to handle the number of leads that you can create.

What if you didn’t max out your promotion at the very start? You can afford to send out 4,000 pieces every two weeks but you think that you will simply get too many calls to be able to handle them all. You, instead, send out only 2,000 and the response is decent. However, you still have some down time where you are having to try to “manufacture” sales.

You saved $400 in marketing money but you had enough down time where you could have closed quite a few more sales than you did. The question now is “Which gives me more money in my pocket? Saving $400 on marketing or closing quite a few more sales and earning an extra couple of G’s potentially.” More than likely the answer is to spend as much as you possibly can on your marketing, right?

By spending all that you can afford on marketing when you start a program you maximize your income almost immediately.

Okay, Time to Track Results.

Hopefully you have more than one way that you try to recruit new customers. So how do you know which ones are working and which aren’t? Set up a system to track the results.

Let’s take for example a situation in which you decide to start a Postcard Marketing Campaign for your business. The first week you send out 3000 postcards. When they start hitting homes you get 30 calls. Did all of these leads come from the postcards? Probably not. Because the week before you got 8 calls and hadn’t sent out any postcards yet. So how can you tell who actually got a postcard?

The Answer: All you have to do is ask them. “So how did you hear about our company?” The hard part is making sure that any employee in your company who answers the phone and may talk to a new prospect remembers to ask the question every time. The fewer prospects who answer this question, the less accurate your information will be when making future marketing decisions.

Now let’s assume that you have been sending out postcards for a while and you have a good number of calls coming in. If you ask the question “So how did you hear about our company?” they may respond, “I got your postcard in the mail.” But, by now you have mailed postcards to 4 different lists, 3 times each. How do you tell which list and which mailing this customer was from?

The Answer: Put a marketing code on the postcards that will tell you which specific postcard they received and when it was mailed.

Give each list a name and work the date into your marketing code as well. And the only thing your representatives have to ask is “Would you mind reading me the marketing code above your address?” This code should give you all the info that you need to know and help you keep your Marketing Results Tracking as accurate as possible.

Try not to operate off of assumptions about “how to market” if you haven’t educated yourself. And make sure you collect all the data and make your future marketing decisions based on the facts.

About The Author:
Joy Gendusa founded PostcardMania in 1998; her only assets a computer and a phone. By 2004 the company did $9 million in sales and employed over 60 persons. She attributes her explosive growth to her ability to choose incredible staff and her innate marketing savvy. Now she’s sharing her marketing secrets with others. Visit http://www.postcardmania.com

Copyright Joy Gendusa - http://www.postcardmania.com

Outdoor patio furniture is made from a wide variety of materials including treated wood, stones, vinyl, metals, glass and plastics. If you patio is outside then plastic garden furniture is a great idea because it is naturally waterproof, cheap and can be left outside all year long. Plastic furniture easily holds water which means that the furniture will often look dirty and might even grow mold or mildew. Wooden furniture is suitable if it has been properly varnished. Teak furniture does not need to be varnished as it is naturally weatherproof. Teak furniture is extremely expensive though. Aluminum furniture is relatively cheap and tends to be long lasting.

If you are going to be lounging in your patio at night then you are going to need some particular outdoor patio furniture. Obviously, you’ll want to invest in a patio heater. As the name implies a patio heater will help keep you warm during cold weather or cold nights. It is a great idea to get some type of insect screening or repellent. Mosquitoes can ruin the experience within a few short seconds. You can purchase four mosquito lamps for around sixty dollars. For a cheaper fix of only eleven dollars you can buy a triple wick citronella bucket candle. Screen enclosures cost about eighty five dollars and a Vesta patio torch costs almost two hundred dollars.

More at the patio expert