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| Lauren Stewart - Athlone - August 30 2015 |
We moved into our present house in 1986 and the time has
come to say goodbye to our large corner lot garden and its old 1931 built
house. We found mold and asbestos shrouds on the plumbing. I have had a chronic
cough for five years even though a recent lung X-ray said I was just fine.
Our garden was one of the important bonds between my Rosemary and me. We
planted trees and shrubs, perennials and my fave hostas and old roses. We
designed new flower beds and watched as our garden matured. The garden even
made a spread in Better Homes and Gardens. Our garden has been a growing experience for both of our granddaughters, Lauren, 13 and Rebecca, 18. Six of our cats are buried in it.
Trees that were one or two feet tall that I purchased at
VanDusen or UBC Botanical Garden sales are now in some cases 40 ft in height.
When one buys a little conifer one does not think of time. It’s nice right now
but many years later these trees cannot be moved or transplanted.
While our garden is unusually beautiful both of us know that
after running to the bank and becoming millionaires the developer who will eagerly
buy our corner lot will plow it all in, trees included.
Unlike Orpheus I don’t plan to look back when I finally lock the door.
Today my daughter Ale and her niece Lauren, 13 (my
granddaughter) came to help us deal with a storeroom full of family heirlooms,
family junk, toys of Lauren’s mother and aunt, and a very good old scanner that
has no driver or software (it will be history).
I am especially sad because today, August 30 is one day
before my birthday.
I remember my youth and all the members of my family who
are not around anymore. In solidarity to the yearly “tormenta de Santa Rosa” (a
storm that hits Buenos Aires on the last days of August) hit our Vancouver hard
on the 29th. The 30th is the day of Santa Rosa of Lima
who was the first New World saint of the Roman Catholic church. That storm made
my mother change the date of many of my garden birthday parties we had in our
home on Melián.
But the saddest is having to get rid of stuff that had value
when I first was given it or I bought it.
Books, book and more books. Framed pictures of Buenos Aires scenes taken
out of cheap Argentine calendars that looked perfect on the wall before I
decided to become what some people call an art photographer.
Seen here are two books that will not make the transfer to
wherever Rosemary and I end up in a few months. I asked my eldest daughter Ale
who teaches in Lillooet if she could use my Canadian Oxford Dictionary. Her sad
nod was in the negative. I have a very nice edition of Don Quixote in Spanish.
The translated into English one here was my Rosemary’s who majored in Spanish
at McGill University. She nodded in the negative when I showed it to her.
One of the advantages of living in a slow version of Dresden
is that within one or two blocks there are countless bins where I can dispose
of our stuff (as soon as it gets dark and especially on weekends). Some of the
bins are the low ones so I don’t have to exert myself too much.
But it breaks my heart to throw a book. I tried to explain
to Ale that nobody wants books, including our public library. It is stressful
to attempt to find homes for books. It is less so to throw them away. Early in
my life in Buenos Aires our president, General don Juan Domingo Perón taught us
that books were sacred and the should take care of them, not damage them and to
treasure them.
But I must report that amongst the death of so many books
and the soon to be death of our big trees there was a bright moment today.
Lauren pulled out a little white dress and asked me about
it. Rosemary was the one who responded, “I was married in that dress in 1968.
It is very short because Alex said my legs were very beautiful (they are) and
he wanted me to show them off.”
O
It is amazing that Lauren was able to put the dress on and
I photographed her in the garden with my brand-new Fuji Instax Wide 300 camera.
In late afternoon we all went for pizza at Bufala on West
Boulevard where I took a snap with it. These are the women of my life (my female
Plata, a cat refused to come with us).
While I am not extremely
religious I was saddened by the fact that while Lauren posed with the
driftwood cross I found on a Veracruz beach in the late 60s (and which I attached
to a silver chain and gave to Rosemary) she refused to wear it to the
restaurant. But had I brought a little Lord of the Rings sword necklace (I don’t
have such an item) she would have proudly worn it.
I despair at the idea that there is no mystery,
superstition or basic epistemology in the youth of today. What they do have is
a waning disbelief and boredom with special effects.
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| Bufala - August 30 2015 - Alexandra, Rebecca. Rosemary, Hilary and Lauren |