Camellia x williamsii 'Donation' - 15 March 2026 - shot with a Fuji X-E1 and a LensBaby

 George Bowering - Barefoot He Was

Rosemary's Flowers Galore 

Often in these blogs I have written how I met Rosemary in Mexico City on December 15th 1967 and that by the 20th I had taken her to meet my mother in Veracruz. I then add that we were married in the lovely neighbourhood of Coyoacán in Mexico City on 8 February 1968.

In some bit of tremendous luck I can bring many elements of that event here with pictures. 

20 December 1967 - Mocambo, Veracruz - Pentacon-F Camera

In 1959 while going to Catholic boarding school in Austin, Texas I met (did not know that then) my mentor, Brother Edwin Reggio, C.S.C.. The latter initials stand for Congregation of Holy Cross the same congregation of brothers, nuns and priests that to this day run The University of Notre Dame.

The short man forced me to learn to play the alto saxophone for the school band and gave me a salary for cleaning the band room and catching mice. A few months after I started that job I bought a Pentacon-F SLR for $100 in Adorama (still in existence).

It was because that camera had a self-timer and I had a tripod that I can put here the photograph (the first of us together) taken on Mocambo Beach in Veracruz sometime in the later part of December.

And just a couple of days ago I photographed Rosemary’s favourite Camellia x williamsii ‘Donation’ in full bloom. We brought it from our Kerrisdale garden 7 years ago and it is sight to behold. I melancholically smile when I look at it missing my Rosemary as she knew her plants well before I ever did.

So today Monday, March 16, 2026 I am able to join all those elements into this blog.

As for my blog, which I started in January 2006, I was not aware that Blogger was Google so that since then 6845 blogs later my Google presence is very large. Just last week I was unable to find any interest in the media (Vancouver Sun, CBC, Georgia Straight) that I was going to photograph the first Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate (2002-2004) George Bowering who is 90 and is publishing two books (one on poetry and the other a memoir of his living in Mexico). I told them that I would give them my portrait for free.

So my blog on Bowering (see link above) is sort of a secondary form of journalism.

Somebody has to do it. I do.

PS - because I can. Dresden (where my camera was made) was bombed by the allies in WWII even though it had no military value. The Ameicans bombed it in the morning with blockbusters and in the evening the British used fire bombs. A US serviceman was in captivity. His name was Kurt Vonnegut. In his novel Slaughterhouse Five he describes how lions escaped from the zoo to avoid the flames. In the mid 70s (1971) Vonnegut spoke at the Mexican American Institute of Cultural Relations. I went with Rosemary. I will never forget that in pointing out the famous photograph of  Margaret Trudeau taken in a back alley where she show.... Vonnegut told us he coined the expression - "Open Beaver".

Isis

Kathleen Deas

 In that other century, particularly when we were living in Kerrisdale I would tell my Rosemary, “I am going into my darkroom for a while.” What I did there was to fiddle, although a loftier term would be to experiment. One experiment was a complete accident that I have never repeated. I put an exposed 8x10 photographic paper of an ecdysiast friend called Isis into the developer tray. The phone rang so I turned the light to answer when I realized my mistake. I quickly turned it off and I was rewarded by a perfectly solarized  print.(Man Ray pioneered this technique).

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

Because living alone with two cats produces a lot of idle time I experiment further in this 21^st century in my well lit oficina. Why do I do this? I like that American expression, “Why does a dog lick its di..? Because it can.”

The other photograph here is a sandwich of the now gone Polaroid Instant Negatives. In that past century, without a scanner, all I could do was to print them. Now here I put the two sort of sided by side and scanned them.

I hope that these images do not bark as I am not yet a dog. But I can…

George Bowering - 12 March 2026

My Valencia,Spain educated grandmother often told me, “Más sabe el diablo por viejo que por diablo.” That translates to, “The devil knows more not because he is the devil but because he is an old man.”

George Bowering, the First Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate (2002-2004) who was 90 this past December, is ample proof on my grandmother’s wisdom. Consider that at his age he is about to publish a book of his memories of having lived in Mexico – Barefoot Gringo (UBC Press - May 12) and a book of poetry – Pearl (Talon – Mar 31).

Because we have been friends for many years I know that his Mexican Spanish is good. Speaking Spanish at his home yesterday in the company of his wife, Jean Baird, for me was a pleasure.

On December 1^st I went to Mexico City to photograph a 91-year-old blind photographer, Pedro Meyer who is actively publishing books and taking photographs as he can discern light and movement. I took my Asahi Pentax S-3 film camera that I bought used in Mexico City in 1962. The idea was to take the camera to it source. I photographed him with a softbox flash. The experience of finding inspiration in a man older than I am, pushed me to pursue the idea of taking portraits of Bowering with the same camera. 

Because I was keen on taking his portrait and assembling my equipment I did not listen well when he told me that he had found a different way of writing poetry. But I did hear that the cover for Barefoot Gringo is his photograph. And because his Mexican Spanish is good he pronounces correctly the knife’s name “machete” and not “mashete.”

To be published May 12 - UBC Press

While there, Jean Baird clued me in on something I had no knowledge of. She talked about the Al Purdy A-frame Association project. The house on the water where Purdy lived at one time was going to be torn down. It has been saved and when it was raised from the ground for repairs, Baird told me that they then built a new basement. Now the house is used for writers-in-residence. I gather that Baird was a tad shy about telling me how active she was and is with the project.

The Al Purdy A-Frame Association

I asked Baird and Bowering to provide me with either a first paragraph or a last one from the the Barefoot Gringo. Before I purchase a book I always look at those two paragraphs. With mystery novels I avoid that last one!

Here is the last paragraph of Barefoot Gringo

and eating no chocolates. I had apparently got myself in danger with dehydration, being an old guy and all. I recovered slowly from that, and went back to my usual collection of illnesses and imperfections. I also, for a while, continued the habit I’d acquired down south – once every so often I would sit idle instead of writing or reading, which coincidentally was the title of my new book.

Oh, little waves

coming to the beach

at La Manzanilla,

I will miss you.

Oh, big round planet,

I will miss you.

Because my nickname for Bowering is “The Great Contrarian” I was not surprised at his reaction when I placed his hand over his heart for my portrait. He said, “Alex that is not my heart, that’s my pacemaker, my heart is further down.”

 George Bowering - The Great Contrarian

Joe Wai

Zemblanity, coined by novelist William Boyd in his 1998 book Armadillo, is the opposite of serendipity. It is defined as "the faculty of making unhappy, unlucky, and expected discoveries by design". It refers to the inevitable discovery of unpleasant truths or, more broadly, the inevitable onset of misfortune, often brought about by one's own actions or system designs.

George Bowering

Because of the blog I just wrote about George Bowering I have been thinking of that expression I was told in my youth (forgotten who it was) that,, “Coincidence happens more often than not.”

George Bowering -  Barefoot He Was

The reason for my thought on this is that two architects, Joe Wai and Abraham Rogatnick lived on the same street (9^th Avenue) at the corner and their homes were just separated by a wall. Across the street and on the corner is where George Bowering lived. I wonder if they became friends because they were neighbours or somehow they met somewhere else.

Abraham Rogatnick