Rosa 'A Shropshire Lad' 8 October 2024

 

“A.E.Housman’

by W. H. Auden (1907 – 1973)

No one, not even Cambridge was to blame

(Blame if you like the human situation):

Heart-injured in North London, he became

The Latin Scholar of his generation.

Deliberately he chose the dry-as-dust,

Kept tears like dirty postcards in a drawer;

Food was his public love, his private lust

Something to do with violence and the poor.

In savage foot-notes on unjust editions

He timidly attacked the life he led,

And put the money of his feelings on

The uncritical relations of the dead,

Where only geographical divisions

Parted the coarse hanged soldier from the don.”

At this late date in October (October 8) it is amazing how my very large English Rose, Rosa ‘A Shropshire Lad’ keeps blooming while showing off its deep red leaves on new growth.

Today is a cold rainy day. I have no idea why in the beginning of any of our four seasons I especially remember my Rosemary and what we would talk about and how the weather was going to affect our plants.

She got me into growing roses at the end of the 80s in the last century. A rose to me, is gazing on the fine face of my Rosamaría.  

Because of that rain and cold I know that I would have gotten into bed with her and we would have had a gentle siesta.                           

Rosa 'In Your Eyes' 8 October 2024

Rosemary 1968

Yesterday I noticed the fine Little rose, Rosa ‘In Your Eyes’. By the evening, like most single roses (5 petals), it had closed. I cut it and put it in a vase with warm water in the kitchen. This usually makes the rose open. This morning I decided I was going to scan it. When I placed it over my scanner the petals fell off. Now in retrospect this was a good thing as my scan is quite different from my usual “perfect” ones.

Rosemary spotted this rose months before she died in 2020 at the Lougheed Highway Garden Works. Because she had this unusual taste for plants that were unusual, we bought it. We quickly found out that this rose changed colour within a day from light white/yellow to magenta by the evening.

I am adding another scan to this blog. It is a red English Rose, Rosa ‘Thomas à Becket’. Why? I want to show that multiple petal roses don’t close. Rosemary did not ever see this rose as I purchased it last year. She would have loved it.

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Rosa 'Thomas à Becket' 8 October 2024

Rosa 'Mary Magdalene & Hosta 'Forbidden Fruit' 6 October 2024

 

In this 21st century with people forgetting to be kind I refrain from discussing or writing about politics or religion.

That does not mean that I cannot be fascinated by the doctrines of the world’s religions. I was raised as a Roman Catholic and my mother put me in a Catholic boarding high school in Austin, Texas that was run by the Congregation of Holy Cross. This is the same congregation in charge of Indiana’s University of Notre Dame.

I received a marvellous education at St. Edward’s High School. Without having to believe in any of what I was taught in relation to theology I can run circles around people criticizing my erstwhile religion.

My grandmother often quoted her favourite evangelist St. Luke. I like his writing as he was a doctor and he makes a lot of sense. My fave quote of his is from the King James Bible. St. Luke writes, “Do this in remembrance of me.”

Every day no matter what I do I dedicate my actions to my wife, friends and dead relatives.

Brother Edwin Reggio, C.S.C. taught me religion. It did not take me long that he was actually teaching our class theology. As an example of his teaching he told us that when we went bowling, the ball  would be returned and it would go up the ramp and move all the balls that were already there except for the last one. It didn’t move. This is how Brother Edwin taught us Aristotle’s concept of God, the unmoved mover.

In the gospel there is the story of the woman who is about to be stoned. Christ kneels and writes (scribbles?) on the ground something. The men leave and Christ tells the woman (Mary Magdalene to go and sin no more.

True or not is beside the point. Brother Edwin was telling us that this is the sole incident where Christ perhaps knew how to write.

All the above is but an excuse to place here the lovely myrrh scented English Rose, Rosa ‘Mary Magdalene’. I believe that David Austin, who hybridized it, may have done it on purpose as the rose emerges pink (loose woman?) and as it ages it becomes a virginal white.

I like the ins and outs of all that. It keeps me distracted from thinking about my Rosemary who left her life and mine on 9 December 2020. Both she and I liked the myrrh scent which many in the Vancouver Rose Society do not like. It is a combination of pepper, Magnolia grandiflora, Pernod with a little of a medicinal touch.

Rosa 'St.Swithun' left - top & bottom Rosa 'Sweet Juliet' - right Rosa 'Sombreul' 4 October 2024

Rosa 'Thomas a Becket' left - right  Rosa 'Mrs. Oakley Fisher' - top  Rosa 'Queen of Sweden' - 5 October 2024

Los muertos, a falta de un lugar más confortable, se quedan en la cabeza de los seres queridos" javier Marías

The quote above by the now gone Spanish writer translates as: The dead with a lack of a more comfortable place, remain in the head of their loved ones.

Today  October 5, 2024 I had 3 roses in bloom. In a few days that will be the end of my roses until next year. Because it was my Rosemary who dragged me to a meeting of the Vancouver Rose Society in the late 80s I will always associate roses with her.

When we lived in Mexico I was more aware that in Spanish she was Rosamaría. It seemed that her connection with roses was more direct.

As fall turns into winter my daily regimen of feed my cats breakfast, writing a blog and scanning the plants from my Kits garden will be, sadly, reduced to the first two.

In Spanish there is a word that is equivalent to listless. The word is desganado. It literally means “without the will to do anything”. This is my situation these days. Going down the stairs in the morning to feed Niño and Niña I am confronted with my framed portraits of Rosemary, our two daughters and granddaughters. I cannot escape the presence of Rosemary.

Some of my friends suggest I move to another little house. I believe that my little Kits house will serve someone in my family well once I am gone.

“Once I am gone” is a constant thought with me. As my days become days when nobody calls or visits I have this nagging suspicion that I am waiting – waiting for what?  It is obvious that oblivion beckons as there are few distractions to prevent me from thinking that thought.

Yesterday and today I scanned the roses in my garden.  For some years I keep thinking of St. Luke’s (King James Bible version) “Do this in remembrance of me”. Scanning the roses, invariably somehow means that Rosemary is close.

Come winter, with the roses gone, her presence will be in the portraits on the wall. I sometimes say, “Rosemary!” in the presence of my two cats. They stare at me. Do they Remember?

For many years I thought that a sentient being was a human who walked on two feet. I have now realized that it is the ability to think and feel that is in the definition. I am convinced that my two cats are sentient beings.

There is some level of comfort that I share my grief with Niño and Niña.

Aconitum carmichaelli 'Arendsii' & Rosa 'Sombreul' 5 October 2024

 

My mother often told me, “Hay pocas gentes finas y con educación como nosotros.”  That translates to, “There are few people with education and good taste like us,”

Educación in Spanish not only includes education but also good taste and manners.

My mother and my Rosemary got along splendidly as my mother understood that Rosemary had exquisite good taste. This good taste of hers translated into a lovely snobbishness when she selected plants for our garden. Her favourite colours were white and blue. It was only later at my urging that she began to appreciate yellow, orange and red

Today October 5 I noticed that Rosa ‘Sombreul’ and Aconitum carmichaelii ‘Arendsii’ were in bloom. I knew I had to scan both. I am filling gaping holes in my blog so this one I will put in to yesterday.

It seems that my grief for my Rosemary is somewhat ameliorated a tad when I scan her plants in her memory. When the scanning season ends in a few weeks I will have to find other distractions to keep me going.