A Couple of Complicated Botanical Names
Tuesday, November 26, 2024
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Top - Arisaema tortuosum var. helleborifolium - Astrantia major subs. involucrata 'Shaggy' & Hosta 'First Frost' 26 November 2024
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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.
In Love in 1952
Sunday, November 24, 2024
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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 5th 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 She was warm but at the same time she reflected a cool withdrawn remoteness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.