The Maser, the Overdue Library Book & My NYTimes
Friday, November 08, 2024
My abuelita
(grandmother) often told me, “No hay mal que por bien no venga.” That
translates to something like, “Bad things happen for good reasons.”
Before Rosemary died on 9 November 2020, the orange man was
president of the US. At our breakfast in bed, she with her iPhone and me with
my Galaxy 5 would check on his latest stupidities. Every day at 6 we
would watch Rachel Maddow on MSNBC.
Our time was occupied with reading and viewing everything
related to happenings down south.
I would like to point out now, how positive my life has
suddenly become. I like to relate that to the overdue library book syndrome and
my Maserati Biturbo (the worst car I ever owned). I would escape the worry
about the book by putting it into a drawer. “Out of sight, out of mind”, people
say. For 9 years my Maserati, everything wrong that could happen to a car had happened, was inside our Kerrisdale garage. I could not see
it. The problem did not exist.
Now I realize that I don’t want to watch the news and there
is now little in my daily delivered NY Times that I want to read as it no mi piace (Italian for it does not please me).
Suddenly, after yesterday, I am enjoying reading for
pleasure. I am not reading heavy duty books. I am currently reading this Colin
Dexter book. I had read all his others years ago (no memory in my mind about
them). It is now a pleasant discovery what a lovely writer he is.
With time in my hands I will read books. What fun! And
Niño and Niña on the bed heartily approve.
Soft & White - A Purity of Heart
Thursday, November 07, 2024
| Cyclamen coum 7 November 2024
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My mother often told me how her father, Tirso de Irureta
Goyena had taken her to a toy shop a week before her birthday to choose her
present. He died a few days later. On the day of her birthday a package arrived
at the door with the doll house she had picked an it included a signed birthday
card. My mother who, was a little girl went to her mother, Dolores Reyes de
Irureta Goyena and told her that her father had not died and the gift was the
proof. My mother wrote a lovely poem called the posthumous gift. A Posthumous Gift - My Mother's Poem
Today in my mail box there was only one piece of mail it was
from the Vancouver SPCA addressed to Rosemary. Inside there was a lovely
brochure with photographs of dogs and cats who had received care thanks to
people like Rosemary who had contributed funds.
Looking at the photographs of the pets and Rosemary’s name
on the envelope with our Kits address I felt sad but at the same time wondering
if I was much younger it would all be proof that Rosemary was alive and well
and upstairs on the bed. “Alex did we get any mail?”
Rosemary had a few obsessions for things like expensive
Italian leather purses and scarfs. We would take our pick of the scarfs on any winter day. We
shared an expensive Pendelton we went to Seattle to buy.
One day she gave me this soft cashmere scarf which is the
only one I now wear. Its softness is all about Rosemary’s softness.
Today on my way to buy corn tortillas at Fresh is Best on
Broadway I passed a flower shop. Outside they had these very beautiful white
Cyclamen coum. I could not resist. Rosemary loved them and as a connoisseur she
especially liked their marbled leaves. I knew that the moment I got home I
would scan the plant. It was a tad tough as I had to balance from a bamboo
stick the flower pot upside down. I managed.
The scarf is Rosemary’s softness (she never shouted, always
soft-spoken). The cyclamen is Rosemary’s purity of heart.
First Man of the Land - Adlai Stevenson & the General from Addison Texas
Wednesday, November 06, 2024
I
remember very well what I was doing on Monday 3 November 1952. I was 10 years
old and I attended an American school in Buenos Aires called American Grammar
School. Because my mother taught at the nearby high school I was given a
scholarship as she could not have paid the high fees.
With my
friends at recess (it was a hot Buenos Aires summer) we were running around
screaming, “Eisenhower in the shower!” I have no idea who had told us about the
presidential elections on the next day but somehow our man was Adlai Stevenson
and not the general from Addison, Texas.
What did we
know about these two forthright men? We were innocent and oblivious.
I remember
very well what I was doing one 26 September, 1960. I was in our pool hall (Juniors & Seniors had that privilege) of my Roman Catholic boarding
school St. Edward’s High School in Austin, Texas. We were not playing pool. We
were watching the first TV debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon.
Because Nixon was not wearing any Max Factor makeup that UV light penetrating
TV lighting was making him look terrible.
There was
then a form of misinformation. People against Kennedy were saying that he would
have to obey his boss, the pope in Rome.
We were
happy when he won. In 1962 our school annual The Edwardian was dedicated to
Kennedy, who was then President of the United States. I must also add that on a
previous page there was a large colour photograph of Pope John XXIII. After writing this blog I read that dedication. It still stands particularly today 6 November 2024 In 1960, Austin was the most liberal city in Texas. In our school we had black students local Latinos and many more from Latin America. First Man of the Land
The morns are meeker than they were - Emily Dickinson
Tuesday, November 05, 2024
| Fall with Lauri Stallings - 5 November 2024
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Autumn – Emily Dickinson
The morns are meeker than they were,
The nuts are getting brown;
The berry's cheek is plumper,
The rose is out of town.
The maple wears a gayer scarf,
The field a scarlet gown.
Lest I should be old-fashioned,
I'll put a trinket on.
I am sure that I am not the only one today, 5 November,
2024 worried about elections in the United States of America.
A
Mexican journalist at the beginning of the 20th century said, “¡Pobre México, tan lejos de Dios y tan
cerca de Estados Unidos!”
That
translates to, “Poor Mexico, so far from
God and so close to the United States.”
Going to
get some eye drops at Shopper’s Drug Mart and buying fruits and vegetables for
dinner tonight with Hilary was a pleasant distraction on what is a sunny day.
And of
course scanning fall colours involving a portrait I took years ago of Ballet BC
dancer Lauri Stallings put me in the mood to get on my bed with Niño and Niña.
It will be impossible to not think of my Rosemary and what she would say about
the elections in the USA. She died on 9 December 2020 when Trump was still
president. In the morning over break fast in bed, during the man’s presidency
we would compare notes on what he had done the day before as seen in our phones
and our daily delivered (hard copy) NYTimes.
Tonight
Hilary and I will be visiting our Welsh neighbours, the Galsworthys to watch
the proceedings in the US on BBC. More Emily Dickinson blogs A Favourite Just Noticed All the Witchcraft that we need It only gives our wish for blue My heart is laden Of bronze and blaze The red and the white A Lady Red Hands I took my power in my hands That clarifies the sight Nature rarer uses yellow
Rosemary white and a bit of yellow Nature rarer uses yellow Luck is not chance T is iris sir The white heat
I tried to be a rose nature rarer uses yellow The Tulip Nor would I be a poet November left then clambered up
You cannot make remembrance grow
November
the maple wears a gayer scarf
A melancholy of a waning summer
Just as green and as white
It's full as opera
I cannot dance upon my Toes
a door just opened on the street
Amber slips away
Sleep
When August burning low
Pink Small and punctual
A slash of blue
I cannot dance upon my toes
Ah little rose
For hold them, blue to blue
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