Wednesday, November 09, 2011







Today was a day that began with stress and ended with a smile, a smile that reminded me of my mother.

Hilary was in hospital waiting for surgery in those places that the Spaniards call Flanders. In the morning they came with her breakfast. She knew that if she were to touch it her surgery would be postponed for at at least until the late evening. She refused to eat so that her little sacrifice (sometimes I think that for my Hilary that could never be deemed a little sacrifice!) was rewarded with rapid entry into the operating room.

We went to see her around 5. She was awake and almost happy. The surgeon arrived, examined her and told her, “You can go home now if you want.” This we did and my Hilary flashed that crooked smile, one that she inherited from my mother, via her father, since I also have that smile askew.



Today Thursday as I write this I am content that my family is well and the sun is out. I had to prune our old English Hawthorne and managed not to be thorned but a couple of times. Looking around I spotted English Rose, Rosa ‘Coverdale’ certainly some sort of a miracle at this stage of November. And I also spotted the fine fall colours of Berberis thumbergii ‘Fire Glow’. It normally has purple foliage but its new foliage (look at the second picture here) is nicely variegated with white/pink. This plant grows with no care and seems to have no pests. It is content in my garden and I am content, too.