The Frangi-Pani flowers (called Plumeria) that can be found on the side streets that run off road 15 in Maadi are the most fragrant flower ever made in a tree. My favorite flower was the white and yellow, but at the Korean ambassadors house also had the white and pink Kind.
I would wander down the road looking for the tree that had the most blossoms, just to make necklaces of flowers. The flowers fell off the trees and literally carpeted the area with blossoms. With my mothers thick needle she used for needlepoint and crewel embroidery, I would sit at the side of the road and string them. If there was a shortage of flowers I would climb the knotty bumpy tree and give the higher branches a good shake. Sometimes I would just sit there in the arm of the tree and thread flowers on a string.
The gardener that was assigned to the house attached to Korean ambassador's house would chase me as I climbed over the wall to collect them. Kirk and I would pretend to be spies, slinking along the irrigation ditches and peering thru the hedges...waiting for the gardener to disappear so we would make a dash for the trees. Kirk would be look out while I got the flowers. If the Boab was there and not the gardener he would let us gather the flowers on the ground
When I got home with the flowers Kirk would disapear. He only was helping me for the adventure, but I would alternate them with the Jasmine flowers to make and extremely fragrant necklace. Sometimes my friends and I would wear crowns of flowers and pretend we were brides in the garden.
A fragrant flower that was found right out side our door we called "tree orchids." The tall slender trees had large orchid shaped flowers. The flowers spicy scent would send me sneezing and my eyes would water giving my face a red swollen appearance. My father always thought I had a cold instead of an allergy and barked commands at me like “keep away I will get your cold” and invariably within a 2 day period he would have cold like symptoms. My mother, who never ran from me, never got sick. Later when we were able to get really good allergy tablets, my problem would disappear within a few hours….my father would still get a “cold”…We tried to tell him that he may have an allergy but he would insist that he had my nonexistent cold.
There was one tree that we were all allergic to but it was one of the brightest trees to be found. The flame tree …my mother calls them flamboyant trees real name was Royal Poinciana. They had fernlike leafy fronts that gave a dappled shade and the whole tree was blanketed with a firey kalaidescope of red flowers. Salem showed me that the buds of these flowers were edible, so Kirk and I would eat the buds of the flame trees and enjoy their peppery flavor.
I would wander down the road looking for the tree that had the most blossoms, just to make necklaces of flowers. The flowers fell off the trees and literally carpeted the area with blossoms. With my mothers thick needle she used for needlepoint and crewel embroidery, I would sit at the side of the road and string them. If there was a shortage of flowers I would climb the knotty bumpy tree and give the higher branches a good shake. Sometimes I would just sit there in the arm of the tree and thread flowers on a string.
The gardener that was assigned to the house attached to Korean ambassador's house would chase me as I climbed over the wall to collect them. Kirk and I would pretend to be spies, slinking along the irrigation ditches and peering thru the hedges...waiting for the gardener to disappear so we would make a dash for the trees. Kirk would be look out while I got the flowers. If the Boab was there and not the gardener he would let us gather the flowers on the ground
When I got home with the flowers Kirk would disapear. He only was helping me for the adventure, but I would alternate them with the Jasmine flowers to make and extremely fragrant necklace. Sometimes my friends and I would wear crowns of flowers and pretend we were brides in the garden.
A fragrant flower that was found right out side our door we called "tree orchids." The tall slender trees had large orchid shaped flowers. The flowers spicy scent would send me sneezing and my eyes would water giving my face a red swollen appearance. My father always thought I had a cold instead of an allergy and barked commands at me like “keep away I will get your cold” and invariably within a 2 day period he would have cold like symptoms. My mother, who never ran from me, never got sick. Later when we were able to get really good allergy tablets, my problem would disappear within a few hours….my father would still get a “cold”…We tried to tell him that he may have an allergy but he would insist that he had my nonexistent cold.
There was one tree that we were all allergic to but it was one of the brightest trees to be found. The flame tree …my mother calls them flamboyant trees real name was Royal Poinciana. They had fernlike leafy fronts that gave a dappled shade and the whole tree was blanketed with a firey kalaidescope of red flowers. Salem showed me that the buds of these flowers were edible, so Kirk and I would eat the buds of the flame trees and enjoy their peppery flavor.
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