Rosemary & Alexandra in Lillooet - 3 September 2020

Galanthus - February 6 2022

Today my daughter Ale called me. During the conversation she asked me about "Abi's snowdrops".  Abi is the name my two granddaughters gave her as an approximation to the Spanish for abuela or grandmother.

I was never all that keen on spring when we began to garden in our Kerrisdale garden on Athlone Street in 1986. I was excited about seeing my hostas emerge in May. It was Rosemary who in her life of precision was interested in the small things of the garden. Having been raised in New Dublin, Ontario snowdrops must have indeed been the harbingers of a coming spring and the end of the snow.

Rosemary's snowdrops are of two types.There are the usual big ones Galanthus nivalis but I am not sure what the smaller ones in my scan are called.

For the last three weeks the snowdrops have been up but today when Ale asked me about them I noticed that they had finally opened.

I can imagine how Rosemary would have smiled today upon seeing them. It was a sunny day. I was walking with Niño and a couple of older women stopped to admire him. They told me, "We love cats. We work at the SPCA." I told them that Niño had come from there and that his name had been Mac and his sister Cheese (Mac & Cheese!). They looked at me with amazement as they had been there when Rosemary and I had brought them home. She had insisted that she was not going to take Mac until she saw Cheese. Cheese was high up on top of an airconditioner and all you could see of her were her ears. Rosemary told the folks that we were going to go for coffee and that we would return later and if she did not have a look at Cheese we would not take the cats home!

The two women told me that one day Cheese disappeared and they had no idea how she could have escaped. Somebody from an outside window spotted Cheese on top of the airconditioner. 

When we returned from our coffee, they had lured Cheese with food, so we happily took both home.

Walking with Niño, particularly today, was heart wrenching after our encounter with the SPCA women. But then the day had that almost statistically impossible contact with them and they had know our Niño! I had to smile.

And those dainty snowdrops are Rosemary dainty.