This summer Douglas and I decided that, now was the time we made some badly needed order in the clutter and chaos we have created for too long in our Annex

Upon sorting cases, and boxes, and see if there where any keep sakes at all, I made an accidental discovery

On the uppermost shelf sat an old worn box with ("Douglas's stuff from childhood") written on it, 

Douglas looked at it and said: Oh yes, that was the one Mom gave me after Dad had past away, but I do not think there is anything valuable in it, I have had a look once, but found nothing of interest.

The box had been there for so many years, been taken with us every time we had moved to another house, so now I thought it was time to open it and have a look...
It showed up to be filled with old papers, some old moth eaten books, mostly old worn Bibles and such,  So Douglas decided to get rid of it once and for all,

 And that was when I made my discovery.

 In the bottom of the box I spotted what turned out to be an old exercise book with Douglas's name written on it

 Inside, it was filled with dried leaves and dry flowers and small plants, Most of them broken or erode and crumbled away.

Douglas told me to just throw it out, since everything  was "all gone" anyway,
But he told me that he did remember having collected them, and pressed them before leaving his beloved homeland China, And that was 70 (seventy) years ago !!!

As I have told before, Douglas is born and brought up in China. He has once mentioned  to me , that the day he was first told that  he was to leave China and travel to Denmark ( his Mothers homeland ) in order to have a proper schooling, and eventually an education, he was just 12 years of age, He should leave his parents, his sister and little brother, all his friends, and the  only land he new, China, his homeland.  Young as he was, his little heart broke, and he was full of sorrow and fear!!

The very next morning after he was told all this, he thought:  "What can I bring with me to this strange land Denmark, so far away from home?

He went down in the valley, were he used to play and loved  to go swimming and have a good time with his little friends and siblings, ( bare in mind, he was only 12 (twelve) years old.-
And Denmark was in his mind, so far far away,

He has told me, that in the valley it came to his mind that maybe he could pick some flowers and leaves, press them, and take them with him as a memory.

 There were a lot of plants to pick from, blooming at his feet, and it was as though they stood there and said: 

Look at us, all last winter we slept, but at the right time God awakened us, and here we are to comfort you. !!!

Take us, take as many as you like. - And so he picked and picked all he wanted

Every child is born a naturalist. His eyes are, by nature, 
open to the glories of the stars, the beauty of the flowers, 
and the mystery of life.

 But back to the story:

 On a closer look I saw some of the contents in the book, still with faint colors, and not completely destroyed. So I put the book aside for  later, without telling Douglas,,
My thought was to see, if I could save at least some, and make him a little memory. Something that would fill some of the many holes of long gone old memories, feelings and unforgettable adventures from his childhood, and I thought it would be a perfect little gift.

Now I'll describe all the preparations, I had to do.  As I think you all know how that is done,  I'll spare you for to many details, but tell you that to prepare seventy years old fragile plants, is something that calls for a lot of patience, and one have to be very very careful not to spoil the ever so fragile materiel.

I loaded all the contents from the book into a bowl filled with lukewarm water, and then let them stay there until they unfold, and I was able to see which I could use for the purpose, I had in mind.

The ones I could use (out of many many) was only a few, and to my big surprise, I saw that some had even kept some of its COLORS

Then I picked them up from the water ever so carefully and spread them out on a piece of baking-paper to dry.

 The most difficult task was, when they were nearly dry, - to arrange them so they would fit and look nice, on the white thick, fotopaper I choose as background for the picture I would make.
Boy, was that a work that brought sweat to my forehead, 

Moving them around, was dangerous, in case I would spoil any, so I had to picture in my mind how I wanted it to end up,

Having placed them all, I had to lift them a bit up again with a little pair of tweezers, and ever so gently place a very tiny amount of transparent glue underneath to hold them into place, and then just wait to everything was dry and looked pretty.

Then I placed a baking plate over the whole thing, and carried it all very gently out to the car, and I had to sit and hold on to it, while driving down to the picture Framer,
I selected a silver frame and a matt surface-glass, to avoid glare, and then I finally did a writing to Douglas, on the backside of the frame.

Who would have thought it possible that some tiny little flowers
could preoccupy a person so completely that there simply
wasn't room for any other thoughts? Finally it was done, and to my satisfaction.

I gave it to Douglas shortly after, and I can't describe how enormously happy he was when he got It.!!!

Now it is hanging in our living  room,,  in a place with no sun coming in to fade the colors of the plants, since some of them still have their a bit of their colors,  (after being kept in seventy years, between the pages in a book!!)

Some of the leaves has still kept a little of its greenish -and a Daisy, a Lilly, a Lotus and a little Orchid has faint colors.

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