09-17-2017 Sunday
Last week, frequent earthquakes in Silicon Valley made me nervous. A report which said “On 15 September 2017, at around 08:20 BST, an explosion occurred on a District line train at Parsons Green Underground station, in London, England.” further scared me. Also my niece who was diagnosed with cancer was seeking help in the USA. I was also worried about my parents and my tired aunt… the little things all piled up, so I felt that life was hard and I needed to treasure it more.
On Happy Friday (“Happy Friday” was a greeting we used often on Fridays at work, because it makes the end of the work week. After getting out of the workplace, I still like to refer to Friday as “Happy Friday.”), I visited the familiar San Jose Municipal Rose Garden to show off my pretty toenails. Today, I continued enjoying Friday’s trip to the garden.
On Friday in the garden, my heart was somewhat heavy with last week’s events. While walking on the soft, moist, and cool grass on bare feet, my red toe nails on green lawn were made prettier under the afternoon sunlight, which somewhat lightened me, as I felt the familiar working class spirits of “Happy Friday”.
While walking on bare feet, I tilted my head down to observe the colors of the roses that were near the ground. I was also looking for roses with colors that matched my toenails. This exercise softened my heart further.
While focusing on the ground, I frequently caught various trophy years on the tags at the front of certain roses. The year indicated when the rose received a medal in the past. I started to read and photograph the tags of the roses, and I also started to find events in my memory which happened on the tagged years.
Mikado 1988
The rose which got the 1988 medal was the Mikado, I remembered my brother got married in Zigong during Chinese New Year in 1988, Before their wedding, my future sister-in-law and I went shopping and bought lots of red silk roses in DengGanPa. The two of us arranged the roses in a basket and hung the basket at the corner of the ceiling in their new room. The red roses brightened the very simple new room and surprisedly filled the room with a festival atmosphere.
The red Mikado rose was like an old friend from a faraway place which brought me happy memories.
I searched online for the Mikado rose: “Bred by Seizo Suzuki (Japan, 1976). Introduced in Japan by Keisei Rose Nurseries Inc. in 1987 as the ‘Mikado’. Introduced in the United States by The Conard-Pyle Co. in 1987 as the ‘Mikado’. It has a mild fragrance. its bloom is full (26-40 petals). The name may refer to the Emperor of Japan.”