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?