Pride of the Barber

Happy New Year! Sorry for the long absence. Here is a fresh new post to start 2018 right.

No sun—no moon!
        No morn—no noon—
No dawn—
…
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds,
        November!
- Thomas Hood

We were in November last month, usually best season of the year in Japan. But extremely cold this year with snow reported in Hokkaido, Hokuriku, San-in Tottori, even in some areas of northern Kyushu. My wife pulled out a gas-heater to use at night.

One such blue November morning I put on a heavy coat and headed to my barber. Walking up a slope, pink flowers galore stunned me along his small front yard. A pod of the same pink flower decorated inside the shop greeted me. “Wow, what a treat”, I said to the barber.  “What’s the name of the flower?” I’ve known him for some years but it’s the first time I noticed the flower.  He said “Diamond Lily, I heard”.   I enjoyed viewing the flowers during my hair cut and felt genial warmth in the desolate month as written by Thomas Hood. 

I googled diamond lily upon my return home.  Flame Lily first came up, the national flower of African Zimbabwe, the country currently under extreme tension with aging President Mugabe being impeached and people rallying for his immediate resignation.  Flame lily represents the color of Zimbabwe flag.

Next up in the search results were nerine flowers in red as well as in white. Seemingly nerine comes in multiple colors.  Nerine belongs to the lily family, same as lycoris and spider lily, popularly known in Japan as “Manjushage” or as equinox flowers.  However, they are usually all gone well before November. 

Upon closely examining online photos, I concluded the flower I saw at the barber shop was "nerine angulalta".  Please visit this page for a glimpse.

“Til we meet again” is the floral language from one of my favorite Gospel songs.