Rosa foetida 'Austrian Copper' 13 June 2025

 

My cardiologist is Victor F.Huckell besides being an excellent doctor, happens to have an unusual sense of humour. He wears loud ties and shirts and his advice and opinions are mint perfect.

Four months before my Rosemary died he called me to tell me that he had found out I was going to have a right knee replacement surgery. He strongly suggested I cancel the procedure as, “Your wife is going to need someone to take care of her.” Of course he was right and in some way I may have been coincidentally rewarded as I had no operation and I walk just fine.

On another day I told the doctor that my two cats, Niño and Niña were becoming human company for me. He disagreed, “Alex you are becoming feline.”

I am now modifying the doctor’s opinion and I am developing an intimate relationship with my roses. It is my rose scanning season and I do several per day. Most of my friends have no opinions on my scans. I scan my roses following Gary Winogrand’s dictum that he photographed things to find out what things look like photographed. I scan my roses not knowing exactly what they will look like at the end. I have fun being in my office and the roses are my companions.

But they are not always my only companions. Niño likes to sit on a chair next to me while I am at my computer in my oficina. Today it was Niña.

Perhaps I have what is now called Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). I am not only human, but also feline and part rose.