Lifestyle

Nakama is the Japanese word for a very good or best friend. Calling someone your nakama is like telling someone you love them in a non-romantic way.

Friendship is the key to Nakamas™, our newest line of beautifully designed plush toys and our newest virtual world for girls. Each of the Nakamas plush toys wears a unique ‘handmade’ friendship bracelet and includes a collectible child size version of the matching friendship bracelet!

The Nakamas brand includes plush toys as well as a soft, colorful virtual world. The world of Nakamas is a place filled with crafting, collecting and sharing activities, all revolving around friendship! As girls progress through this special world, they create their own virtual friendship bracelets—first by growing plants to create vibrant colors and then by designing bracelets and gifting them to their friends.

They’ll have lots of challenging mini games and fascinating storylines as well as a central Club House where kids can post messages for their friends. Nakamas is a free-to-play game, but by registering a Nakamas plush toy, girls will bring their Nakamas friend to life in the virtual world and will receive the “recipe” for creating the virtual version of their special friendship bracelet.

Mini landscapes for indoors

Everything that is old is new, and the resurgence in the popularity of terrariums is proof. The rage in the the 1970's, time-stretched indoor plant lovers have begun to bring the terrarium back into home decor. Glass enclosed containers feature miniature plants and accents. Easy to take care of and perfect for the absent-minded homeowner, terrariums are a cinch to create and maintain. Here are some handy hints.

What is A Terrarium?

A terrarium is a tightly closed, clear glass or plastic container filled with small plants. It also has come to mean an open, transparent container for growing and displaying plants. Terrariums are most useful for small plants that do not adapt well to normal home atmospheres. When properly planted and located, they provide a novel way to grow many plants with minimal care.

A simple and elegant terrarium is a great way for you to start out. You can keep it simple, choose a nice container and a few plants ... and end up with something beautiful.

Flexing your green thumb may help fend off an afternoon slump. Texas A&M researchers found that volunteers who kept a vase of vibrant flowers on their desks, along with green plants elsewhere in the office, generated more creative ideas than those in a vegetation-free setting. This seems to confirm the information in the previous article.

In a separate study, Kansas State University researchers used brain scans to analyze 90 male and female typists; some tapped keys next to plants, while others worked at bare desks. The result: Women exposed to flowers were less stressed. (Oddly, men didn't experience the same benefits.) Look for hybrid varieties of azaleas, cyclamen, and kalanchoe, which flourish in small pots. While you're at it, add a few dracaenas, an easy-to-care-for floor plant, to accent empty corners.

This is our biggest event of the year! Join us on Saturday Sept. 17 for a day to celebrate the beginning of Fall. We'll have food and fun, cars,animals and crafters. Of course we'll have our beautiful trademark garden mums.

Binley's Fall Festival

Join WCKM's morning crew, Pete & Dan at our 6th annual fun event. We will have everything you will need to decorate for fall: pumpkins, straw bales (large and small), corn stalks, Halloween decorations and of course, our giant garden mums. Nobody does mums like Binleys!

DATE: Saturday, Sept. 17
TIME: 9:30 AM to 4 PM
LOCATION: Corner of Quaker Rd and Dix Ave.

The Good Life

There will be free chair massages courtesy of the Massage Works. Ledge Rock Hill Winery will be with wine tasting and sales. Highland Maple Farm of Argyle will have maple products for sale. Returning this year are the vintage cars from the '20s through the '70s, so your favorite care will probably be here. We also have lots of crafters coming.

Animals, Animals, Animals

See about birds of prey brought by North Country Wild Care, the SPCA of Upstate NY will be here with pets to adopt and the NYS Police will have a canine demo at 10 AM & 1 PM. We'll also have alpacas from The Parkland Alpaca Farm.

Bring the kids, bring the camera! There will be plenty to see and plenty to do, plus sale prices on almost everything. I hope you can come.

Wally Hirsch
Binley Florist & Garden Center

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phone: 793-9603 / 1-800-698-8228
web: http://www.binleyflorist.com