Good morning. Today is quartidi, the 24th of Ventôse, Year CCXXXI. We celebrate la pâquerette, one of the world's most iconic flowers.
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Here's a daisy chain for you. The English word is a shortening of "day's eye" because of this flower's ability to open and close its petals with the sun, and the bright, sunny disposition of its yellow eye. The French word Fabre d'Eglantine assigned to this day on the calendar is pâquerette, which is a synonym for marguerite, the more commonly used word for this flower. Because the English heard marguerite so often as the French word for daisy, the name Daisy became a nickname for Margaret. But the French word marguerite, while also a woman's name, has deeper roots than the name, being an old word for pearl. Which is, of course, also a woman's name! But what does pâquerette mean? It means "little Easter," for the flower's propensity to bloom around Eastertime (i.e. now). And Easter shares its roots with the name Esther! So the next time you see a daisy, just know that between French and English alone, there are at least four women hiding in there.
The 20th century tradition of the great, flamboyant, thinly closeted gay icon is exemplified by such figures as Liberace in the United States, Freddy Mercury in the United Kingdom, and Colette in France. For Germany, there was no larger figure in this shaky space than Munich's resident fashion designer and bon vivant, Rudolph Moshammer.
Mosi was known for a handful of things – his throwback jet-black wig, which perched atop his head in the fashion of old Viennese court composers and complemented his matching waxed moustache; his devotion to the cause of ending the suffering of the unhoused; and his well-kept terrier, Daisy.
