This June day the high bush cranberry has gone to seed. Through the still, warm, early morning air, Alanagh, Molly, Joshuah, (my cat that would be a dog if he could) walked to the waveless lake to listen to loons, to see the morning glories on the bank, and to enjoy the cinquefoil on the roadside.
Home again, I was with my roses. John Davis is such a strong performer and I mused, “Did those who named this rose think deeply of the man who was killed by Japanese Pirates off the East Coast of Malaysia just two days after Christmas in 1605? Did they think of his of peaceful pursuits, outstanding competence, skillful map making, and his teaching of mariners? Did they appreciate his light cast on Greenland, forgotten by most Europeans since contact with the Norse in the thirteenth Century?
Was his sympathetic, accurate account of the people he met on Canada’s shores, of the land they inhabited, their terrain, the iceflows, the rock formations, the inspiration for the naming of this rose?"
I wondered then, when I looked at the tender beauty if I ever will go to Davis Inlet and sail the Straight. I wonder now, but now, I have a rose that takes me there.
My attention was then pulled close to Cinco de Mayo. Following the American-Mexican and Reform wars, Mexico was unable to repay France. Napoleon III had his “premiere army” invade Mexico in order to establish a Latin Empire to better serve France.The Mexican leader Zaragoza was victorious over the French at the battle of Puebla, May 5, 1862. That victory inspired Mexicans who eventually entirely defeated the French. They celebrate still.
Cinco de Mayo’s 9 cm blooms have risen on 25.5 cm stems, and they are now opening from long, pointed buds. The flowers are totally unpredictable in their range of colours from dusty rose to “orangy” red. The flowers are perhaps, as unpredictable as the outcome on that May day so long ago.
Journeys through a rose garden can take a long time. Time for coffee.
Joshuah
Alanagh
Molly
Morning Glories on the bank by the dock
Common Cinquefoil on the road to the lock
John Davis steals my heart
and Cinco de Mayo causes celebration
