May Days

It’s the last month of autumn, and we really have entered the season’s final glory days, for winter is coming!

This illustration of Havana, Cuba is so cheerful it is a suitable send-off – I only wish I was celebrating the last of autumn there. Some of those flowers look like hibiscus, a flowering tree that holds fond memories for me: there was one planted by the door of a house I once shared with a friend. The flowers were bright fuchsia pink.

Another friend of mine, who is Mexican, told me that in that country hibiscus water is the ubiquitous drink served at table – she had never seen the tree before! She had only seen hibiscus flowers in their powdered form, before they are added to a jug of water. Of course, once I showed her a picture, she realised she was quite familiar with the trees, and just how common they are here – in this part of Australia at least.

I wonder if they drink hibiscus water in Cuba?