Top - Arisaema tortuosum var. helleborifolium - Astrantia major subs. involucrata 'Shaggy' & Hosta 'First Frost' 26 November 2024

On this cold and almost rainy day I smiled (a tad) when I saw Rosemary’s Astrantia major subsp. Involucratá ‘Shaggy with one solitary bloom. And then I noticed the Arisaema (called a Jack in the Pulpit) with its lovely fruit that is usually not seen as it is hidden by the leaves. To complete my scan I picked a leaf of Hosta ‘First Frost’ whose name is appropriate for the season that is about to prevail.

The stubbornness off Rosemary’s Astrantia solidified this memory that I have of Rosemary who always seemed to know what we wanted before I did.

As the cold increases my bed is almost warm with the company of Niño and Niña. I talk to them about Rosemary with no response from them. I believe that they are being diplomatic.

Rosemary 1968

In Buenos Aires in 1952, when I was 10 years old, I fell in love for the first time. It was in my 5^th grade class and our teacher was Mrs. Zimmerman. We read excerpts of Great Expectations. I soon came to understand that I felt something I had never felt before. I was in love with the remote Estella. I, indeed, to this day, can state that she was my first love.

While I rejected Miss Havisham for being unresponsive to her ward’s coldness to Pipp I was attracted to her cold non-involvement. This might have been because I was a nerd before the term existed, and I was afraid to converse with the women in my class. I was their Pip.

It was in 1967 that I met Rosemary, who was not in the least like Estella. She was warm but at the same time she reflected a cool  withdrawn remoteness that reminded me of Miss Havisham.

In my 52 years of marriage I saw in her a combination of Estella and Miss Havisham. Unlike Estella at the end of Great Expectations, it took Rosemary not more than a couple of days to fall under the spell of this Argentine nerd.

Rosemary never did mind as she understood what Miss Havisham, Estella and she represented in my life.