I was delivering flowers to a house in Lloyd Harbor.  I saw a family of geese sunbathing in the front lawn.

I passed them, careful not to step on their poop all over the place, heading to the front porch.

All the sudden, a big goose started charging at me!  I run for life.  This is a big bird with strong beak, and I wasn’t ready to serve my toes or fingers to him.

I thought of calling 9-11.  However, the last thing I wanted was to end up in a local news as a guy who called the cop because of an attack goose.  That’s not going to help my manhood self-esteem.  Besides, that would give my wife a perfect punchline to humiliate me in front of our mutual friends.

So I decided not to call.  I just run to the side door and rang the bell.  No one came to the door, so I left the flowers there.  It’s quite possible that people in that house was too afraid to come out.

If you have any doubt on how vicious a Canadian goose can be, take a look at the video below.

watch?v=6OStX_wrWGg

I came across a beautiful story of Easter flowers tradition that I would like to share:

“Hello Mioux Florist.”
“Joe, this is Ed.”
“Hi Ed, do you need a Easter bouquet?”
“Yes, I can’t come up to the shop and drop off of my Easter container this year. Could you fix something up and deliver it to my house?”
“Sure, we will take good care of it for you, bye.”

Ten minutes later, I call Ed back and say “Hey Ed, can I come up and get that container from you and we will fix it up.” He says ‘yes.’

Twenty minutes later I deliver the little Easter bouquet back to Ed and his wife Margie.

This little ceramic Easter Bunny container has been brought to our shop at Easter every year for 60 years. Ed is in his 90′s and he doesn’t drive anymore.

You read that correctly. We have been making flower arrangements in this little container for over 60 years.

I couldn’t let the tradition cease.

There is nothing particularly unique about the flowers or the design. The special thing is the history of this customer and my family.

This florist, Joe Mioux of Mioux Florist and Greenhouses in Carlysle IL, is a fourth generation florist whose business has been in operation since 1876.

We no longer have this alarm clock, because Bibi passed away three days ago. The morning is quiet now.

We bought Bibi in 1987 at a small pet shop in Maryland. He was probably a wild-caught bird (which was still legal in the US 20+ years ago), because he had a leg ring on him, indicating quarantine assurance (see picture, circa 1987, with two budgies). Even though it’s called “parakeet”, Canary-winged parakeet is actually a tiny parrot.

Like any other parrot, he chose one person to be attached to. That chosen person was me. He never really liked my wife, which is intersting because another parrot of ours likes her more than me.

One night before the seizure that eventually took his life away, I actually took him out of his cage because he was screeching so loud. I scratched his head for about 15 min to calm him down. I remember him closing his eyes and making a cooing noise. At that time, I didn’t know that would be the last time I see him healthy. But I think he “knew” his time was coming to end and just wanted to have one last good time.

Now he is gone, and I am overwhelmed with a feeling of guilt – about many things that I could have done for him but didn’t. Time to rectify my guilt was taken away from me forever. We always realize the time is precious only after we lose it.

Previously, I sometimes thought that I was the one who was “taking care of” him. Now I realize that it was actually him who has given me much more than I’ve given him.

I made a small casket for him with full of flowers. Yesterday, I buried him in our backyard with a few of his favorite toys, a plastic bath-tub he loved, and some food (sunflower seed, corns, and apples). I am hoping that he won’t get too bored in the heaven and will have something to eat over there.

I am deeply grateful that Bibi has brightened up my life. He never gave up on me, even though I’ve given him so little in return. He always wanted me to be with him, even though the reverse was not always the case. His love was unconditional.

May Bibi rest in peace. We will miss you, Bibi…

The number of retail florist establishments continued to contract in 2006 according to just-released data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s County Business Patterns.

The number of retail florist establishments declined 4.3 percent in 2006 to 20,227, down from 21,135 in 2005. As shown in the figure, the survey has documented a decline in the number of florists each year since 1996. From 1996 to 2006, the number of florists fell 24.3 percent.

It’s a sad news. The pie is shrinking and some of the weaker florists are being pushed out. It’s a difficult time for all of us.

It’s not that flower industry as a whole is in decline. In fact it has been more or less flat in the last several years. It is that people are no longer buying flowers from retail florists.

Increasing number of consumers now buy flowers at supermarkets, discounters (Costco, etc), and on the Internet. This is part of a general trend in which mass marketers are killing small mom&pop shops. Independent bookstores, for example, are having a very difficult time.

To not only survive but also grow, we believe that we need to achieve two goals.

The first is to be distinctive. Our products and services should not be like anyone else’s. Our customers should receive an experience that they cannot get in mass marketers.

The second is to be price-competitive. We know it goes against a conventional wisdom that small retailers can’t compete with big guys on price. We actually disagree. While it is not easy to do, but there are many ways for us to be price competitive.

We are located in Long Island, the Island of Lindsay Lohan and spoiled brats.

I was talking to the owner of a nursery the other day.  He was complaining how difficult it is to find “decent young people” to work in his establishment.  I often hear the same story from many small retail-business owners here; young people in Long Island do not want to work in their stores. 

Come to think of it, in the last three years, we have hired about two dozen young local people (all of them are female); only two lasted more than three months.  One lasted only 3 hours, which is the current record of the shortest tenure of our past employees.

Take a look at any fast-food restaurants in Long Island.  Do we see any young Long Islanders working there?  I don’t think so.  Flipping burgers is not a kind of job that princes and princesses in Long Island would take.  Too much of a work for too little pay, just like a job in a flower shop or nursery for that matter.

I often go to a local supermarket (STOP & SHOP) to buy fresh fruits used for fruit baskets.  There are a couple of young people “working” there.  By “working”, I mean a) chatting with friends and b) text-messaging, while paying absolutely no attention to customers.

The other day, I was in the self-service checkout.  One of my items didn’t go through.  I dared to press “Help” button, which I shouldn’t have.  After several minutes, a young lady reluctantly showed up.  I explained the situation to her.  Annoyed by this unexpected extra work, she sighed to my face.  If one of our sales associates ever sighed to our customer asking for help, I guarantee you that she would be fired on the spot. I’m usually pretty quiet, not complaing about anything.  But I wasn’t having a good day on that particular day, so I told her, “But you are paid, right?”  To which she replied “You’re mean!”  The Princess spoke and I humbly accepted my defeat.

I sighed… I wonder if the manager of STOP & SHOP knows this.  Whoever the manager is, my guess is that s/he probably knows about it, but can’t do anything about it.  That’s because, if s/he complains, these kids would simply quit, creating a vacancy that s/he would have to fill again with, what, the same kind of kids.  There’s no realistic chance that the next one would be better.  Worse yet, their parents might sue the shop or manager for whatever reasons they come up with.  Not worth the fight. 

We are sorry, but we don’t do that here.  We didn’t know who the other florist was, but we know that they must have spent time and money to provide that proposal.  Even though we are technically competitors, it is against our business ethics to steal someone else’s idea and make money out of it.

There is nothing wrong for a prospective bride to do price shopping.  In fact she should interview multiple florists, as each florist has a different design style and philosophy.  She should pick one whom she feels most comfortable with.

It’s just that a floral proposal is the real work done by a floral designer, even though it might be free.  As a fellow florist, we just can’t profit from the work done by someone else.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Md8qQa_cCOM[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iAmNwGQudA[/youtube]

“Flower arrangements can be a total rip-off,” Johansson says. Instead, buy one kind of flower, in one color, in bulk. “Make your own multiple arrangements,” she says.

First of all, we must appreciate Ms Johansson for her strategically placing the word “can” in front of “rip off”, as it makes her statement impossible to prove wrong. Any merchandise or service “can” be a rip-off for sure.

Yet coming from a (supposed) party expert, we believe that her statement is nonetheless libelous and merits our formal response.

The essence of her accusation is that professional flower arrangements for a party are overpriced relative to the value you get from the arrangements. She goes on to imply that you can create arrangements of the same value, just by going to Costco, buying flowers in bulk, and arranging them by yourself.

She failed to mention, however, that most likely you can’t create professional arrangements, unless you are a pro. Our lead designer (Lori) has over 30 years of experience in this field. She was chosen as one of the best designers in Long Island. By trusting us as a florist for your party, what you are paying for is not just a bunch of flowers, but actually years of professional experience and skills that should make your party a great success.

Apparently, Ms Johansson sees absolutely no value in our professional experience. OK, then, shouldn’t we also skip the service of a professional chef like Ms Johansson, because it “can” be a total “rip-off”? Of course not. Most of us can’t cook like a professional chef.

We believe that Ms Johansson could have made her point across without insulting other profession she apparently knows nothing about.

Also check out “Real Holiday Flower Tips for Linnea Johansson” written by Cathy at Avante Gardens (Anaheim, CA)

It happened at the intersection of Rt25 & Round Swamp Rd.  It was raining and dark.  Worst of all, the traffic light was completely out.  Every car was stopping at the intersection because the light was out.

This Honda probably didn’t see that the light was out.  It smashed right into my car when I was making a left turn.  I saw it coming; it made no attempt to slow down.  If I had not made a quick left turn, we would have had a head-on collision!  Jesus!