i have a splendid, splendid new scarf! on it are eleven flowers, representing different operas. it makes me laugh right out with giddy pleasure - for it combines my passion for flowers and flower names, with the delight all of us take in finding textual references. also, my scarf was first issued during a year when hermes's theme was "year of asia," and that makes me secretly pleased.

the operas and flowers are:

1. La Traviata de Verdi - Camelias (Camellia)
2. La Boheme De Puccini - Lys (Lily)
3. Adriana Lecouvreur de Cilea - Violettes (Violets)
4. Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg de Wagner - Lilas (Lilac)
5. Cavalleria Rusticana de Mascagni- Fleurs d'Oranger (Orange blossoms)
6. Le Nozze de Figaro de Mozart - Bouquet de Noces (Wedding bouquet)
7. Carmen de Bizet - Oeillets Rouges (Red Carnation)
8. Aida de Verdi - Palmier (Palm leaves)
9. Faust de Gounod - Fleurs de Jardin (Garden flowers)
10. Madama Butterfly de Puccini - Fleurs de Cerisier (Cherry blossom)
11. Der Rosenkavalier de Richard Strauss - Rose d'Argent (Silver Rose)

i know about the camellia in la traviata (in fact, the chinese name of the opera is camellia lady.) and then there's the silver betrothal rose in the rosenkavalier. madama butterfly - cherry blossoms. the fragrance of orange blossoms in the cavalleria rusticana, and violets were a plot device in ariana lecouvreur. wedding bouquet for the marriage of figaro. what scent the lilac brings is in die meistersinger, but i don't know the connection of the other flowers to their opera. do you? i would love to know.

how i wish i could take a picture of my scarf - i keep taking it out of its box to look at - it seems too lovely not to share - beautiful things possess the imperative to be seen - for their beauty to be shared. elaine scarry would approve.

i feel warmly towards heath, who made me this fine present. as mr perks says (with more poetic feeling that the children thought of him): may the garlands of friendship hang ever green.