A couple of ex-pats from the United Kingdom sent a lovely card from the Singapore Botanic Gardens. The card shows an orchid called Papilionanthe Miss Joaquim, or the Singapore orchid, or the Princess Aloha orchid, or the Vanda Miss Joaquim. . This orchid just happens to be the national flower of Singapore.  The Miss Joaquim was chosen for its resilience and year-round blooming  quality, to represent Singapore's uniqueness and hybrid culture.  Miss Joaquim is Agnes Joaquim. She was a Singaporean Armenian born in Singapore. She was an avid gardener. She won many prizes at annual flower shows. In 1899 she won the prize for the rarest orchid and the flower show. First prize was getting the honour of a hybrid orchid named after her. Unfortunately, Joaquim was suffering from cancer at the time and died three months after winning the flower show. 

Eileen sent me a nice card of a book character in 1907. The book was part of a series of books. This book was entitled, The Sly Old Cat .  Singapore is a city-state located on the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. The territory has one main island, and 63 satellite islands and islets. There are almost 5.5 million people in Singapore. Chinese make up 76% of the population; 15% are Malay; 7.5% Indian; and 1.5 others.  Singapore's economy is regarded as free, innovative, dynamic, and business-friendly. Because of this, Singapore received a great deal of foreign investment. Location, a skilled workforce, low tax rates, advanced infrastructure, and zero-tolerance against corruption also make Singapore a darling with foreign investors. There are 7000 multinational corporations from the United States, Japan, and Europe in Singapore. And 44% of Singapore's workforce are non-Singaporean.  Urbanization in Singapore has lost 95% of its historical forests and half of the naturally occur