t. R. 'Bathsheba', R.'Buttercup' b. R.'In Your Eyes' & R. 'Emily Louise' 23 Sept 2021

Today is the second day of fall and as I look at my garden beginning to bid me goodbye until next spring, I can only think of my Rosemary. No matter what I do on any day everything is associated with her. 

When we started gardening she was not partial to yellows but as soon as we brought Rosa ‘Mrs Oakley Fisher’ into the garden she appreciated the optimistic approach to life that yellow brings. I did not have the heart to ever tell her that yellow was the last colour that Jorge Luís Borges was able to discern before he went blind.

Today a sunny day (with me in a flannel shirt) I noticed these three roses. One of them, the English Rose Rosa ‘Bathsheba I bought this year so it is a rose that Rosemary never saw. The Rosa 'In Your Eyes' is a Rose that Rosemary made me buy a couple of years ago when we saw it a local nursery. It is unique, as far as I know, as when it opens in the morning it is yellow and by the evening it is pink.

One of my pleasures that comes with combining my plant scans or photographs with writing is to find poetry that somehow blends in. I thought that this poem by the good doctor (William Carlos Williams was a doctor) fits, particularly that second to last line – you far off there. 

Niña

Love Song

By William Carlos Williams

I lie here thinking of you:—

the stain of love

is upon the world!

Yellow, yellow, yellow

it eats into the leaves,

smears with saffron

the horned branches that lean

heavily

against a smooth purple sky!

There is no light

only a honey-thick stain

that drips from leaf to leaf

and limb to limb

spoiling the colors

of the whole world—

you far off there under

the wine-red selvage of the west!

 

Top left, Rosa 'Betsy Sinclair', right R. 'Margaret Merril' 7 below R. 'Jaqueline du Pré' - 15 September 2021

A very obvious (to me) advantage of the 20th century over this 21st century is that you rarely then saw bad photographs of babies, dogs and cats. With social media rampant, people like that, “Why does a dog lick his …?” do so, because they, too, can. They post (now a word diminished in meaning) as is the word visit (visit the Vancouver Garbage website) mostly banal stuff with little content.

We have ambulance chasers who already have written their magnum opus in preparation for Keith Richard’s death. But I really take offence with those who “post” “My great grandmother would have been 120 years old today. I miss her, lots,” and worse still, “She would have loved my iPhone 12.”  And even worse to that, is, “Today would have been Leslie Howard’s one hundred and twenty eighth birthday. Happy birthday Leslie!”    

It is easy (but difficult these days) for me to experience the feeling, “I wonder what my Rosemary would have thought of this?” or, “What would she have thought of this rose she never saw?”                

I find it sufficient, and in some way helping me survive my grief for her death on December 9^th of last year, to scan these three roses that were in bloom today. The yellow rose is Rosa ‘Betsy Sinclair’ found in Robin Dening’s garden and named after his wife. Rosemary learned to like yellow roses. I am sure that when I see this rose and I remember her, she would have loved it. The larger but single white rose is one that Rosemary and I adored. It is Rosa ‘Jacqueline du Pré’. The other white rose, Rosa ‘Margaret Merill’, was recommended to us us by former Vancouver Rose Society President Janet Wood. It was one of our first roses.

Will I on April 19, 2022 post, “ Today would have been my Rosemary’s 78^th birthday?” Time will tell.

As a little boy in Buenos Aires my grandmother would tell me the story on how they left Manila in the early 20s on their way to NY City. She told me about being on a Japanese ship (I can only remember the last part of the name which was Maru) and that they landed at a place with mountains and trees called Vancouver. She told me of a cavernous train station and that she and her three children (my mother, uncle and aunt) boarded a train to Montreal and from there to New York City. They settled in the Bronx.

That was all I knew of Canada except that by 1966 when I returned to Buenos Aires (from Mexico City) to do my two-year military service in the Argentine Navy I spotted a curious structure near the Retiro train station. Canada had given a totem pole to Argentina in 1961.

In 1967 I returned to Mexico in an Argentine merchant marine ship called the Río Aguapey. It was a Victory Ship and I was not to know until about 10 years ago that the ship had been built in the Burrard Shipyards here in my Vancouver.

In 1967 I met my Rosemary in Mexico City and we were married in 1968. She told me about Canada and about man she liked lots, called Pierre Trudeau. She saw her first totem in Chapultepec Park in the early 70s.

In 1975 she told me that we were moving to Canada. I obtained a visa and with the family (daughters Alexandra and Hilary) we drove our Arctic gray bochito (VW Beatle) to Vancouver.

We have been in Canada since and every day I give thanks to whatever higher existence may watch over us (and me now that I am alone) that Rosemary was inspired to bring us to this land.

Today I had the visit of daughter Hilary and granddaughters Rebecca and Lauren. I served them Argentine medias lunas (croissants) made in the brand new bakery and café Livni (2213 West Broadway – 604-730-5494) run by an Argentine baker and her assistant a Chilean woman. The secret of Argentine medias lunas is that they are coated with a mixture of egg white and sugar so they are ever so slightly sweet and perfect if dunked in café con leche.

And because we Argentines (well, former Argentine as I am a Canadian) have a sweet tooth we like to eat our medias lunas with butter and dulce de leche. One of the best is the San Ignacio brand. I buy it in my neighbourhood Fresh is Best (2908 West Broadway - 778-737-2442 – closed on Mondays) that stocks all kinds of Latin American products (although they specialize in Mexico and sell corn tortillas made in Coquitlam and Burnaby).

After they left I walked three blocks to the St. James Community Centre to do my pre-voting. I was in and out in less than 15 minutes. The staff was courteous and completely un-bureaucratic. Anywhere else in my Latin America there would have been soldiers with machine guns outside. I wonder what Canadians or Americans might think that voting in my Argentina is compulsory and that you are subject to a fine if you do not vote.

Rags, flags & citizenship  

St. James Community Centre when I voted in 2019 

Another federal election I remember well

I walked home, missing my Rosemary and thanking her for her intelligence and foresight, that a day like today could be lazy, boring and wonderful.

Rosa 'Olivier Roellinger' 11 September 2021

Busqué en el internet información sobre el nombre de mi mujer. La conocí con su nombre en inglés, Rosemary. Nunca use el nombre en castellano Rosa María. Por otro lado mis amigos latinos la llamaban Rose Marie quizá por la antigua película musical Rose Marie del 1936 con su tema canadiense.

Esto me resultó gracioso y conmovedor: Instituto de Historia Familiar

Rosa María es encantadora y pasional. Coqueta que echiza y huye para preservar su independencia, lo que la hace dueña de sí misma, pero en general, poco feliz. Si llega al matrimonio será esposa diligente y entregada. Posee un gran instinto maternal.

Todos los días ahora que se nos viene el otoño en Vancouver aún florecen mis rosas. Una de ellas, Rosa ‘Olivier Roellinger’ es una rosa que Rosemary compró en octubre, dos meses y pico, ántes de morir el  9 de diciembre. El rosal y otros dos me llegaron a la puerta en febrero. El rosal, y esta linda flor para mí es un recuerdo directo de Rosemary. Es un recuerdo y regalo póstumo y veo en la flor la presencia de mi Rosa María.

18 August 2021