The Portuguese word for sunflower is girasol. I don’t remember seeing them when I was growing up in Ponta Delgada but I do know that they grow on the island of São Miguel. My mother tells me stories of how she loved them when she was a child, so I don’t know why she didn’t have them in our small garden.
Rosetta McClain Gardens has sunflowers in July and August. It’s a pleasure to see them on my walks and for some reason, when I see them, I try to recall the past. Surely I must have seen them somewhere back home, so my mother assures me, surprised that I don’t remember. Yet, I rely on her memory to inform mine. Which begs the question, do we always remember accurately or is memory-saudade-nostalgia seeking something else?
Emanuel Melo torontonian azorean writer 
“I don’t know why she didn’t have them in our small garden” — maybe because they’re big?
Do birds flock to Rosetta McClain Gardens to feast on the sunflowers once they’ve gone to seed?
BTW, “girasol” means “turn toward the sun,” i.e., that the flowers are heliotropic.
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Sunflowers are a joy to behold!
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So vibrant! I love the light yellow sunflowers!
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Lina and I walked through yesterday and saw a woodpecker picking out the sunflower seeds. Priceless.
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É uma flor que gosto bastante, mas tenho pena de só ter visto fora da ilha.
Sei que existem umas plantações aqui na ilha, que só conheci recentemente (via internet), mas nem sei bem onde ficam.
E o nome em Português é interessante pois faz com que eles se “movimentem” conforme o sol, o que torna a língua portuguesa super interessante.
Gostei das fotos! 😀
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A minha mãe conta que quando era criança visitava os seus avós que trabalhavam num posto de Infecção que se encontrava em Santa Clara pelos anos 1940. Foi lá que ela via os girassóis. 0brigado pelo seu comentário, Nuno. Um bom fim de semana para si. Abraço, Emanuel
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Que giro! Não fazia ideia!
Bom resto de fim-de-semana!
Abraço!
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