Sunday, May 29, 2022

 

The roses featured in today's blog - 29 May 2022

My grandmother often told me, “Cuando el diablo no tiene nada que hacer con el rabo espanta moscas.” This translates to, “When the devil is bored he swats flies with his tail.”

Right now, 29 May 2022 I have nothing to do that I have to do. I have no jobs, prospect of work (I do not need to, as thanks to Rosemary, I am financially independent and secure) or any pressing obligations except feeding my cats Niño and Niña, walking with Niño around the block and tending to the garden.

My daughter Hilary visits once a week so I have to prepare (because I want to and like to) a good meal for her. And that’s it.

Then there is that garden with which I have an ambivalent relationship. It is lovely and so many of the plants remind me of Rosemary. She planted many of them; we bought many of them together; so many are her favourites but in the end I grieve that I and her plants are alive and she is not.

Writing this blog is my version of swatting flies.

Today I saw a problem that reminded me of going to the dog pound with Rosemary in Mexico around 1973 when our Antonio, our boxer died. There was a cage with all these dogs barking at us for attention. There was a gray, very quiet little dog with some Airedale in her that stared at us with melancholic eyes. So we took her home and named her Mouche as she was the colour of a fly.

Today’s problem was that there were many “barking” roses and one that was not.

What was I going to do? I can only write one blog per day and I don’t have my friend Tim Bray’s  intelligence to have a blog like his Ongoing in which he writes, without dates when he wants to.

To solve this problem and seeing that I can only swat flies one at a time I am writing this blog in sections on today’s date.

 

Rosa 'Leander' 29 May 2022

 

The first rose is Rosa ‘Leander’ which was an English Rose we had in our Kerrisdale garden that Rosemary adored, particularly as it did well in a shady spot. It was a rare rose that was shade tolerant. It died when we brought it to our Kits garden. Rosemary became upset. A friend of hers offered to give her a rose she thought was Leander. It was and Rosemary beamed. I have written about this rose many times.

Leander to Rosemary's Hero

The second rose is an interloper. Growing in the pot with Leander was this single rose. It is probably a cane coming out from the original root stock on to which Leander was grafted. Should I cut this cane? I have decided to keep it as I deem it a survivor.

Mystery rose - 29 may 2022

 

The third rose is a pleasant discovery. For a couple of years I identified it as the English Rose Rosa Benjamin Britten’. Check this recent blog. I was wrong! I have another pot with Rosa ‘Charles de Mills’. It is in bloom right now but the blooms look disfigured and I suspected it had to do with the terrible spring. I was wrong. Benjamin Britten is Charles de Mills and I should have known. Besides its intense colour a singular feature is that it has a thin edge if seen from the side. It is as if someone with a sharp razor sliced part of the top.

Rosa 'Charles de Mills' 29 May 2022

 

The mystery now is where is Benjamin Britten and what is that rose with the Charles de Mills metal ID?

Lastly I have a second interloper that is very lovely. I have two roses,both Gallicas, Rosa ‘James Mason’ and Rosa ‘La Belle Sultane’. Both are intensely red and have very yellow and prominent stamens.

Rosa 'Dr. Huey' 29 May 2022

 

So does Rosa ‘Dr. Huey’named after a 19^th century Philadelphia dentist with multi talents. This rose blooms only once (non-remontant in rose parlance like the Gallica James Mason and La Belle Sultane. It is fragrant and quite healthy in my garden. How did it get to our garden?

The fascinating story of Dr Huey - the Man

Before Rosemary died she often went to the old house (I could never find the heart to go with her). In one of the last times she noticed a rose bush still in the back lane. With a spade she was able to dig it out and brought it home. When it bloomed it was this red rose with yellow stamens. We only had two in the old garden. What could this one be?

The answer is simple. For many years the roses sold in Vancouver came from California and Dr. Huey was used as a vigorous root stock to graft rose on to. Our rose must have died in that back lane and from it emerged a victoriously surviving and lovely Dr. Huey!  

And  that is special as it came to Kits via Rosemary and her spade.

And for anybody curious about the rose stem with large and sharp prickles in the first photo read here.

Saturday, May 28, 2022

Niño & Niña - 29 May 2022

 

Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology.

Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to abstract concepts such as nations, emotions, and natural forces, such as seasons and weather.

Both have ancient roots as storytelling and artistic devices, and most cultures have traditional fables with anthropomorphized animals as characters. People have also routinely attributed human emotions and behavioral traits to wild as well as domesticated animals. Wikipedia

 

How could I have possibly known that when Rosemary and I returned from a trip to Buenos Aires in September 2019, that to replace our Casi-Casi cat that had died before we left, that we would find a pair of cats that would make us happy? And how would I have known then, that someday (now with Rosemary gone on December 9 2020) this pair, Niño and Niña, make my daily life an almost cheerful one?

My neighbours are constantly asking me how I am. Because I am a tad paranoid I think that they may ask me this because they hear me talking a lot, and since they know I live alone, they must think I am loony. My conversations with Niño and Niña are elaborate, affectionate and in Spanish.

I have written here and more on how one of the most important pleasures and duties of my every day is to walk Niño around the block. I cannot stress enough how wonderful it is to have a pair of cats that are siblings, that they look much alike (Niña is smaller than Niño) and how the get along well except when Niño runs playfully after her like most cats are known to do. It is almost as if I were living with twins.

If I had one cat I would share my little house with the cat. By having two cats, it seems like the sharing is communal. 

Any Roman Catholic who is up on Catholic Doctrine knows that Catholics do not worship the Virgin Mary. She is simply and important person (Jesus's mother) who has pull. When these Catholics pray to her they want her to intercede for them. I see in my cats a form of a direct link to my Rosemary. That communal feeling of living with Niño and Niña is one of seeing them as a link to Rosemary.

A couple of days ago, Niña was inside our closet. A little bit later she was trying to pull something out of it. I only saw a bit of it and did not pursue the matter. But some moments later I could see it was one of Rosemary's garden hats. And of course I wondered.

One of  my feline pleasures is that when one lives alone there are few patterns, obligations to the daily routine that matter and my cats provide me with them. These two cats have a routine. They tell me when they want to be let out, when they want attention when I am sitting at my oficina chair, when they want to be fed and Niño has now learned the expression “walk-walk” and both know what to expect when at around 8 in the evening I loudly say, “treats”.

The photograph illustrating this blog is not a very good one. Taking it was limited to the length of my arm. But you can see how both cats get on top of me and for me to read a book it can be a bit difficult (I manage).

 

Friday, May 27, 2022

 

Rosa 'Sir Thomas Lipton' & Rosa 'Benjamin Britten' 27 May 2022

Sir Thomas Johnstone Lipton, 1st Baronet KCVO (10 May 1848 – 2 October 1931) was a Scotsman of Irish Protestant parentage who was a self-made man, as company founder of Lipton Tea, merchant, philanthropist and yachtsman who lost 5 straight America's Cup matches.

He engaged in extensive advertising for his chain of grocery stores and his brand of Lipton teas. He boasted that his secret for success was selling the best goods at the cheapest prices, harnessing the power of advertising, and always being optimistic. He was the most persistent challenger in the history of the America's Cup yacht race.

Wikipedia

Sir Thomas Lipton & Benjamin Britten

In 1962 I met a friend at the University of the Americas in Mexico City. Andrew Taylor was Yorkshire-born and sometime later in the year he played a 45RPM record and asked me if I liked the singers. This was my first awareness of the Beatles.

In 1970 Rosemary and I moved to Arboledas, Estado de México. We lived near a posh closed development called Club de Golf Hacienda. Taylor lived there with his parents. His father, Colin Taylor was the first to expose me to English composers like Benjamin Britten and Michael Tippet. Not long after I was listening and enjoying the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams

 

Andrew Taylor, Esquire

 

In those days it was virtually impossible to buy good black tea. Sometimes we got lucky and some friend would return from the US with a box of Lipton’s tea bags. Rosemary and I would re-use these bags. I swore that if I ever left Mexico I would have the best tea and not drive a VW.

That is exactly what happened. Presently I drive a Chevrolet Cruze and I have at least 10 varieties of very good loose tea.

In this city that people say has no culture I was able to listen live, not too long ago Benjamin Britten’s string quartets. With my graphic designer friend Graham Walker we went to a performance at the Orpheum of Britten’s Peter Grimes with Ben Heppner in the title role.

Now in 2022 I would not be caught dead drinking Lipton Tea bags. But I long to visit Andrew Taylor in Guadalajara and take some tins of the best loose tea that is available here in Vancouver and not in Guadalajara.

Today my English Rose Rosa ‘Benjamin Britten’ was in bloom as well as a circa 1900 white rose Rosa ‘Sir Thomas Lipton’.

This will be a no nonsense blog about two Englishmen. And one more.

Thursday, May 26, 2022

 

Rosa 'Princess Alexandra of Kent' 26 May 2022

The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus), sometimes referred to as the duck-billed platypus, is a semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal endemic to eastern Australia .

Wikipedia

If cats could name themselves would they? From Genesis we know that one of the primary obligations of Adam and Eve was to name the plants and animals in paradise. Luckily for us, until recent times, Adam and Eve had nothing to do with naming the Australian flora and fauna.

Perhaps one of my most scanned rose is the English Rose Rosa ‘Princess Alexandra of Kent’. As soon as this rose was introduced Rosemary immediately bought it. It is dark pink flower with all kinds of overtones, But it does not have a strong scent.

It was one of Rosemary’s favourites because roses and their names can beguile us. Our oldest daughter is called Alexandra. We have another English Rose, one with only five petals called Rosa ‘The Alexandra Rose’. I have not seen it yet in the garden so it may not have made the cold winter and wet spring.

Rosa 'Princess Alexandra of Kent' & Rosa 'The Alexandra Rose' 20 May 2021

 

My name is Jorge Alejandro. There were rules in place when I was born I Buenos Aires in 1942 that prohibited names in foreign languages. I could not be George like my father or Alexander like my Argentine godfather Alejandro Ariosa from Mendoza. If my name would be correct it would have to be George Alejandro. That sounds awfully strange.

We name our second daughter Hilary. Rosemary was a proto-feminist who told me to hem my own jeans and sew my own buttons. She thought that a person should be able to become the sex of their choice and impose it on their name. She said that Hilary was an epicene name that could be used to name a man or a woman.

The name is lovely in English but sounds terrible in Spanish. Hilary would be Hilaria.

For me to see and scan Princess Alexandra of Kent is to bring back my memory of Rosemary and how she pushed me then dragged me into liking roses. Any rose in my garden has Rosemary’s face. Even my daughter’s both namesake roses have my Rosemary’s countenance.

There is some relief in my present sadness. This is that my clogged kitchen sink might not be unclogged by morning. Will I have to call a plumber? It is a distracting worry. If Rosemary were here now somehow I would not worry in the least. A shared worry is always a lessened one.