Bread and Roses

“The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too.”—Rose Schneiderman

Remembering May Day.  May 1st is today. It was my father who was a staunch supporter of labor but it was my mother who would always have a shrine for May Day. It was more a religious rather than a political observance. She would surround a statue of Mary, the mother of Jesus, with flowers. I recall these shrines made for a beautiful room in which to drink coffee and eat toasted scali bread.

Thinking back on my mother’s May Day shrines prompted me to consider the flowers I have admired around the world and led me to recall the Tropical Botanical Gardens on the island of Hawaii. Here is a sampling of some of the flowers growing there when I visited.

Cats’ Whiskers

Frills

Bread and roses; Bread and roses!  Let’s raise our glasses to organized labor, the people who brought us “the weekend.”

TATTOO—Journeys on My Mind by Tina Marie L. Lamb is available at Amazon and BarnesandNoble and iBooks.

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