Through the Eyes of a Woman

  My mother was a singer. For me, as a child, singing was done by women. It was only when the male choir of the Stockholm YMCA came to Helsinki in 1957 to give a concert that I realized that men could sing at all! One of the choir members sang a solo in our church on the Sabbath morning and my eyes and ears were opened. Men could sing! The women’s voices in the congregational singing were dominant, so I had not realized that men could also sing. For the last seventy years, children in the United Kingdom have been singing “God Save the Queen.” If they were anything like me, they probably grew up with the idea that only a woman could reign. At least, a Queen is what they saw. How could a man be a king when a queen was all they had experienced? Changing the text of the national anthem to “God Save the King” is easier than for the nation to get used to having a king after the long reign of the late Queen Elizabeth. Despite a few ups and downs, she did a marvelous job and served her people

  Tulips are supposed to be bright and colorful. After the long, dark winter months we look forward to the yellow daffodils and red tulips. A splash of color to cheer us up. A few weeks ago I took a photo of the tulips and daffodils in our garden. They were beautiful flowers, radiant in red and white. But the other day, I saw some black tulips. Well, almost black. Black tulips are supposed to be something special. The myth of the existence of a black tulip inspired the 1850 novel by Alexander Dumas, a story that influenced generations. It includes the story of a magnificent prize, offered to the first man or woman to produce a pure, black tulip. Dutch growers worked for years to create a black tulip in real life. A few tulip  breeders came close. In 1891, a well-known grower declared victory in creating the fictional flower, going so far as to name his new breed ‘La Tulipe Noire’ after the book. However, the color was not black but dark purple. Others followed with ‘Queen of Night’ in