I have a dream……that I can continue doing this for another year.

On the six month anniversary of the Happy Flower Day project, I hope that I can find a way to continue sharing the thousands of bouquets donated by Trader Joe’s. I am jubilant when picking up and passing out the flowers.

Today was the milestone of 8,596 bouquets that were rescued, re-purposed and gifted to random people as a random act of flowering.

In a world full questions, I have a simple one for God. “If you want me to continue, can you please send me a way to provide for myself and my family; a means to pay my car expenses, health insurance, cell phone bill, rent and the other expenses needed to live simply.”

Here is a Reflection written by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Arranging a bowl of flowers in the morning can give a sense of quiet in a crowded day –
like writing a poem or saying a prayer.

Just wondering, does that quote apply to arranging bouquets of flowers on the chairs in an activity room to surprise the residents?

Yee-Ha! A Double Blessing with Flowers Today.

Yes, a double blessing. A blessing for me and a blessing for the flower recipients. Staff, residents and family members.

I woke up sad. But I knew that I had flowers waiting for me at two Trader Joe’s. My mother is very ill. The Hospice nurse was coming to talk to me at 3 pm about end of life issues.

I had to put on a happy face and a happy dress and as the commercial says, “It is time to make the doughnuts.” For me, “It was time to take the flowers.” I was a little teary driving along but when it was time to walk into the nursing home, I acted like I didn’t have a care in the world. And it worked. I love my Flower Work…..and it sure helped me today. Visiting lots of residents’ rooms, going on my flower route to four locations, passing out 420 bouquets lifted my spirits and gave me a heaven – scent mission today.

It is as “easy as pie” to bring flowers and smiles to seniors!

I think the best way to describe today is Fellowship with Flowers – 420 bouquets donated to me. I think that is the most yet. Monday mornings with flowers – what a great way to start my week!

A lady was walking out toward the parking lot. Slowly walking away from the building at Saint Joseph’s Manor. I handed her a bouquet of flowers. “My husband died three weeks ago at this nursing home. I am just here paying the final bills. I felt so sad leaving here knowing that he is not here for me to visit. Maybe he made these flowers the messenger that he is thinking of me. Can I have an extra one for my sister? I am going to visit her now in the hospital.”

Then I walked inside and asked to see the activity director. The receptionist called her and told her that “The Happy Flower Day Project” selected their facility to receive a sunshine gift of 60 bouquets of flowers. Not sure that is what I said but it sounded good to me and to Megan who happily took me from floor to floor and from office to office and to activity rooms to dining rooms. We passed out lots of roses, tulips, lilies and clematis. On a chilly Monday, they warmed lots of hearts. Sprouting smiles wherever we went.

Miss, your flowers are blooming love here. Where are they from? Oh my goodness. You mean everyone here is getting one. I cannot believe my eyes. Oh, Happy Day! The flowers are a slice of bright sunshine for me.

This is what I miss. Fresh flowers from my garden. We had an old porch swing where we would sway. I loved it on a rainy day. It seems like such an age ago. I loved my garden so much. I had green hedgerow, lilacs, hollyhocks and roses blooming and the fragrance you could smell from the driveway.

Whenever I feel lonely, I am going to remember Happy Flower Day. My husband is in the hospital. I just live down the street from this senior center. Would you like to come to my house for a cup of tea and some butterscotch cookies? It is as easy as pie to find my house. I can give you directions now.

On the road again with flowers. Off to Abington Hospital. Spoke to the administrative staff and they took 60 bouquets, not sure what unit would pass them out…..maybe one of the clergy or someone in the pastoral care office. They were so happy to be able to have them to pass out to those who needed a little cheer. In the age of technology, there is no App for that.

And at a senior living apartment community, I just went up and down the halls and placed a bouquet outside of 40 apartments where the independent folks lived.

And at a facility in Philadelphia, 200 people were surprised with comfort in the shape of a floral bouquet.

I had twenty bags of flowers today. Here is a picture of the first batch. Then back into the store for more carts.

420 bouquets delivered this morning. Yes, you saw that correctly.

It was an absolutely surreal experience. Ivy Hill Nursing Home and Rehab, Abington Hospital, Saint Joseph’s Manor, Redeemer Village and people in the parking lots of all of those places. Started at 10 am and got home at 2:30 pm. That means that 420 people who were just having a ho-hum normal kind of Monday had a change in their normal routine. Lots to share later.

Joy to the World with Flowers – but how can I continue doing it?

I think being The Flower Lady is a job worth keeping, volunteer job, that is…….but funding it has become difficult. I hate to give it up. As of today, 8,516 bouquets have been passed out – all donated by several Trader Joe’s stores. It has become what I do full-time. I do not have another source of income at this point. And I need to pay my personal bills. YIKES!

If you would like to help to keep the Happy Flower Day Project going, please consider making a tax-deductible donation on the Donate button. We are a 501 (c) (3) organization so you can take the tax credit for a charitable donation.

Please click the link below to read an article written by Joan Wester Anderson about The Happy Flower Day Project.
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What flowers can do!

Flowers made the employees smile too! This young lady has lots of residents to give the flowers to.

Mother Teresa’s Shelter or St. Patrick’s Church – for flower sharing?

I am not always a rational type of thinker. Just sort of quirky and creative. A right brain kind of gal. I depend on my fun side…..the side that says, Okay God, where do you want me to take these flowers? Who needs them today?

I guess that is why I never have a detailed plan for where the flowers will go.

I asked my mother if she wanted to go for a ride….with her oxygen tank. She wouldn’t be able to go in and out of places with me to give out the flowers. She had her Philadelphia Inquirer to read and a can of soda. My deliveries are of the quick in and out type so I knew she would be okay wherever we ended up.

Sometimes 100 bouquets can be given out in less than an hour. Blooming joy to lots of strangers. I always loved that Dr. Seuss story – Oh, the Places You’ll Go.

That’s seems to be the theme of my life. Two years ago, I went to Ecuador out of the blue. I just love speaking Spanish and enjoy the Latin American culture.

I went to an assisted living in Blue Bell and I just happened to know the receptionist. I showed her the bags of flowers and asked if I could pass them out.

The dining room was filled with lots of ladies. I did not see any men.

20 tables with three ladies at each table. In and out in about five minutes – and as I turned around, I saw 60 ladies just staring in a kind of disbelief at the gorgeous flowers sitting next to their place setting.

One lady gave a loud whoop and placed them happily on her walker.

I had 25 bouquets left.

I saw a homeless lady in Norristown sitting near the curb. One for her too. She told me a heartbreaking story about two of her adult children. I am not sure if the story was fact or fiction.

Didn’t you give me flowers before down by the bus stop?

That’s right, I did. That was last summer.

She looked cold so I took off my blue coat and offered it to her. She did not want it. Another man came by and gave her two hooded sweatshirts. I asked him how he knew she needed the sweatshirts.
He said, “She used to come into the bar I used to hang out in.”

Then, the lady asked me to help her put on both sweatshirts.

Then she said, Can you do me a favor? Can you give me money for a motel tonight?

I said that I was sorry that I could not help her with that.

Then, can you at least take me to McDonalds to get a hamburger?

I told her my car had too much junk in it and I could not fit anything or anyone else in it.

I offered to go and buy her a hamburger but she did not want that – she wanted to go in my car.

She wasn’t too happy with me.

On to the next destination – wherever that might be!

I planned to go to the Mother Teresa House and give the flowers to the nun who usually answers the door. I like to see the joy on the face when someone receives a bouquet. At the Mother Teresa Shelter, the nun just takes the donation, thanks you and closes the door. It just didn’t seem like the right place for today’s bouquets.

I glanced up the street and saw a lot of Mexican people leaving the Saint Patrick’s Spanish language Mass. I walked a half block and in my best attempt at Spanish, explained what I was doing and passed out 20 bouquets.

I saw one lady wipe a tear as I said in Spanish, “Welcome to the United States.” I asked them where they were from in Mexico. I told them that I had lived in Cholula and Puebla, Mexico when I was 21. For six months.

Guess what city they were from? You got it. They were from Puebla too.

A man walking alone took one and thanked me profusely. He was really smiling. I was so glad that I gave one to him.

He started walking down the street. In a different direction.

I entered the church and saw the priest holding the Trader Joe’s bouquet and the man was next to him. I guess the man went into the church by a side door.

He said in Spanish and luckily I could understand him –

I wanted Father to put the flowers in front of the statue for Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Thank you, Trader Joe’s for the chance to be The Flower Lady.

Thank you, Right Brain, for giving me these ideas on a cold December Sunday afternoon!

What I heard ……at a nursing home.

True little stories of hope and inspiration from the people I met today at a nursing home:

Hey, Gal, I cannot hear you in that ear. That is my bad ear. I fell while carrying a machine gun when I was in the army – fighting in Guam. World War II. I never regained that hearing. That is why I am in this wheelchair. I broke my back during that fall and I have had pain ever since. I am 90-years-old. Thank you so much for these flowers.

Patricia, when they cut off my leg, I was really mad at God. Why would He do that to me – I am a good person. I would raise my fist up and scream at Him. I didn’t have diabetes. I had circulation problems and then they had to take my other leg too. I finally had to stop fussing with God and just let go and let God because He has a plan for my life that I cannot see.

Oh, I don’t know the last time I got flowers. Maybe I have never gotten them. That is why I can’t remember.

I am glad that you nudged me and woke me up. I would have been wondering why everybody had flowers instead of me.

Can I have some for my wife? Oh wait, she might think that I did something bad and that I am trying to make it up to her.

Do you have any more flowers. They make me feel merry and bright. You made my day. I want to drop them off to a friend’s mother on my way home.

My daughter will love these flowers. She stops in after work each day to check on me.

Hey Lady, you have the perfect job. Bringing fresh flowers to everybody. Next time, can you bring some cakes?

Thank you so much. Thank you so much. I love flowers. And I love you all for bringing them here for us. You really made my day. I used to do nice things for people all my life. That is the way my mother and father brought me up. It is better to give than to receive, they used to tell me. Now it is like someone is returning the favor to me. You are giving and you do not even know me. Oh my , just imagine that! All these flowers…..all these flowers.

I feel like doing a Happy Dance! Can you see this smile on my face? Nobody ever gave me flowers!

I wish I could bring my mother back to life. I wish she was still here with me.

I wish I could see again. I have “sugar problems – diabetes” – wish I could have a tray of warm cookies sitting on my lap and a big bowl of ice cream too. And I would like to drink lots of soda too.

Everyday, I make my own special concoction of animal food and I take it down the road to the woods back there. Since, I am in independent living, I have the freedom to do whatever I want. I saved my money when I worked so I could live here in my older years. I mix dog food, popcorn and some other things and I bring it down for the deer. I haven’t seen any today. I do this just like the mailman……in rain, and sleet and snow.

Patricia, what are you going to do when it snows. I bet you will come in saying “Let it snow flowers, instead of Happy Flower Day.”

And I just got this email from an old friend. I think I know the perfect prescription for her – going flowering with me some morning. Oh, what a pity that she lives so far away.

Trisha,
I don’t know about you but I am feeling so unsettled. I really HATE holidays.
It just stirs up memories and sadness. All that was and all that could have
been. Thoughts are all jumbled. One down and one more rotten one to go.

Lucy

Bill and Maureen came to the rescue…with their SUV and helping hands.

Yesterday, when I arrived to pick up my flowers, I wondered how will I ever be able to deliver so many flowers. They had bags and bags of flowers in the store for me, and boxes and boxes in shopping carts back on the loading dock. .

I did not want to waste….or let any go to waste. I put a post on my Facebook page:

Local Friends,
If anyone wants to help me deliver flowers today, please give me a call, 267 939 0365 and you can join me and my friend Terri. My two out of state mother and daughter team had a change of plans so they will not be going with us. We are meeting at Trader Joe’s on Route 309 at 11:45 am across from The Olive Garden in the McDonald’s shopping center. We have so so many flowers.

Maureen sent me a text and said she had an SUV if that would help. And a helping husband who would like to assist her.

They reported for flower duty……and with their happy and loving personalities, they brought so much joy to the hundreds of people that we met. In just one hour, they passed out a couple of hundred bouquets.

“I would like to take a picture and put it in a frame,” he said.

Something for everyone! That is what I usually say when I go into a room. Sometimes, I have flowers, or stuffed animals or my Team of Angels pins. My mission: simply to use what I have to make people smile. And guess what? I smile all day too. No more ho-hum days for me!

The little bears that the residents are holding? They were made by the Good Bear Ladies at Wesley Enhanced Living in Doylestown. Three mornings a week, they gather to cut out the fabric, sew on the eyes, stuff the bears and then add a ribbon and a little greeting card that is attached. They made 8 bears and asked me to take them to another senior living community and share their
bear-y good get-well wishes. I found new adoptive parents for the bears in Montgomery County.

My mornings are so colorful!

I will tell you what is an instant perk-up for me and the people who receive flowers. This morning, my mother and I had to go to Boyertown for a meeting. On the way back, I had 27 bouquets in my car. I walked into the reception area of an assisted living and asked how many people lived there. She said that there were 58 residents eating lunch in the dining room. I walked into a pretty quiet room. I just went from table of four to table of four saying Happy Flower Day to each person as I handed them a bouquet. In about two minutes, I was out of flowers. Everybody looked up at me like “What is going on?”

I asked everyone to join me in singing Happy Flower Day to the lyrics of Happy Birthday. Then, I looked at the other 31 people and said that I would be back on Thursday or Friday with flowers for the people who still needed a little surprise of flowers. I must say that the flowers were a nice accessory to the dining area décor which was beautiful as it was. Just a bunch of extra colors to some extra nice ladies!

The photos below are from my visits last week. Because of the confidentiality and HIPPA regulations, I often take pictures of the nursing home and hospital staff rather than the patients or residents.

This brightened my day!

John and Patricia,
First thank you for being so loving and caring enough to share your message with your book No More Secrets. I
received two of the Team of Angel pins via mail from you. Not sure how you got
our name and address but somehow it was divine. I am a volunteer at the
mental health clinic on the west coast. I have a son 27 years old
with Schizophrenia and I have depression/PTSD. We are both here as volunteers
because we too want to share our experience, help others, and commiserate with
other families to let them know they are not alone. Most of all there is no
shame. I needed the Team of Angels at this very moment in time to be reminded that if I ask God
for help, it will come. And it did. Thank you so very much for the pin. I
will wear this proudly and share your wonderful message with others. My biggest
prayer was answered; that people like yourself would reach out and love. I am
so blessed. Thank you.

Our site:
http://www.patriciausa.com
http://www.speakingaboutdepression.com
http://www.teamofangels.com

From a lady who has bee

From a lady who has been very kind to seniors!

On my way back from a Flower Caper in Delaware County, I passed the office of lady who brought me 50 gifts last Christmas for me to take to seniors in nursing homes. I recognized her office as I was passing by with my last bag of flowers – 10 bouquets of beautiful blooms.

Tricia,

Everyone was wowed by your generosity and beautiful flowers. There were enough, not only for all the ladies, but for the men to take home to their ladies too. Thank you again. You are amazing!!

Hugs, Carol

Hi Carol,

So glad that they were enjoyed. I had just made a delivery to bring smiles to the residents of Harlee  Manor in Springfield and I was passing Home Depot, I saw Reed Road and turned in and kept driving. I recognized the driveway for Bradley and thought that you and Rose deserved a random act of flowering for all of the kindness that you have shown me over the years with the projects for seniors!

“Not pretty anymore,” she said. But she was, inside and out.

It was raining cats, dogs and flowers today. I visited the first nursing home and gave them to 30 plus  people. I wondered today if this was going to be my last day of doing this. Every day I have the tolls  from Fort Washington to Willow Grove and all of the flower-pickups and deliveries. Beyond my budget. Genesis – Silver Stream, Chelsea House and Sunrise of Abington.

One hundred and twenty flowers passed out today to sprinkle joy into the  hearts of seniors as it poured outside.

Ginny was on a walker. “Can I please have one?” She held the bouquet of red roses close to her heart. I said, “You look like Miss America.”  She cried on my shoulder probably for thirty seconds. “Not any more, that young girl over behind the desk looks like Miss America. Not me. Not pretty anymore.” 

I leaned toward her and told her that I was planning to stop the Happy Flower Day Project today but because of her, I will continue it a little longer.

“Thank you for telling me that secret, Patricia. Please, please, please don’t stop making people like me smile. I never get flowers and I love them.”

From a lady who has been married 55 years.

Dear Patricia,

Your Halloween visit meant more than you could ever know. My husband’s  change in personality has us all baffled. My daughter took him to the dentist and was anxious to tell me all about it when I saw you walking in with so many bags. Alzheimer’s has erased almost all of his memories. None of us knows where to go from here. The flowers mean so much. Did Trader Joe’s  have all of  those bags for you to pass out? Tell them we love them !

Warmly, Mary Ann

When you want to make a day bloom, try giving someone a random act of flowers!

Glad they liked the Halloween bouquets!

Hi Tricia,

I am happy you came to Legacy Gardens last week. The residents remember your show and especially your flowers that you brought.  It was the HIGHLIGHT of their week!

This is the audio/video taped by Intelligencer photographer – oops they took it down after only one day.

Oh no, they had the video/audio clip on-line at the Intelligencer newspaper’s website but it looks like after one day, they changed it so that you have to pay a subscriber fee to view the content. That is such a disappointment because the video told the story so well with pictures. So, I am very sorry that the link below does not work. Boo hoo!

http://www.theintell.com/news/communities/new-hope/flower-lady-brings-joy-to-ill-elderly/article_ab284cda-1aa4-529d-9de9-027fca9b9832.html

Please ignore the annoying ads that somehow get placed on these blogs which you cannot remove! They are not posted by me. I  guess they are part of WordPress  advertisements. 

Interview with Ruth Anne Wood yesterday – Happy Flower Day Project.

Yesterday, Ruth Anne Wood interviewed me about The Flower Project, Stuffed Animal Project, and our book No More Secrets.  We planned to talk about the Happy Flower Day Project but we covered lots of other projects too. Why I collected 11,423 new and gently-used stuffed animals for people in nursing homes, why our family wrote the book No More Secrets and how the Team of Angels project began.

Please click on the blue link below to hear interview. Under my picture, you will see three yellow buttons. Click the first yellow button with the arrow to play the interview.

In 2009, she interviewed me about the Team of Angels.

Ruth Anne’s website is www.scriptingforsuccess.com

Article in the Intelligencer newspaper today about Happy Flower Day Project

Please click on the article to make the words  larger and easier to read.