My Beloved Sidney, New York

This is a personal note occasioned by seeing an aerial view of the flooding in New York state: Sidney, New York in particular.
Sidney is a lovely small town on the Susquehanna River, in the Catskills. I attended first and second grade there - and memories of those early school days are clear and treasured still, years later. When my parents and I moved to Chicago, I cried for the hills and the town we left behind, and hated the flat land of Illinois until time and new experiences dulled the pain.

June's Other Flower

marguerite both a flower and a pearl

We think of the rose as the flower of June. Lovely as roses are, there is another flower which belongs to June and which appears in simple and spontaneous sparkling beauty on the fields of Europe. It is the marguerite. It is slightly smaller than the Shasta Daisy, and we know it as a daisy.

The marguerite has a dual nature as befits its appearance in the month of June, which in its first 21 days celebrates Gemini. Its name denotes a pearl as well as a flower. And it plays a role in love affairs by being able to answer the question "Does he love me?" How is it done? By plucking the petals one by one, each petal standing, in turn, for "He loves me" or "He loves me not". The last petal will give the answer. And, by the way, if the answer is not acceptable, try another marguerite and repeat the process until the answer is satisfactory!

In 20th Century Zurich, Switzerland, a daughter was born to parents who discussed what to name the baby. The mother looked out of the window at marguerites glowing on the hospital lawn and named the child "Marguerite".