Bonica
So I got up* at the crack of dawn today (well, eight o’clock. Nearly the crack of dawn) to get everyone to the train station and it is a very very amazingly very glorious day here and by the time I got back to cottage and hellhounds after this total break with any of my normal morning schedules** I had already decided to play hooky from work*** in a shameless fashion. Although, shame, pfft. In a climate like this one I feel no† shame whatsoever about letting the garden wipe the lot on a day like today.††
So I went up to Third House and planted a rose.††† While hellhounds rioted and biffed me over the head occasionally with a dog toy.‡ And the rose I planted is Bonica.
I had Bonica at the old house. She was six feet square and solid pink at midsummer and again in late August, and in between and a bit on either side she was only about three-quarters pink. Her flowers are smallish and shallow-cup-shaped and perfectly pleasant but nothing special, but a big bush of her in full spate is thrilling. I want her again. And I’ve got her in a very eye-catching place at Third House: as you walk toward the gate into the back garden with the house wall on one side and the shed/coughcoughsummerhouse wall on the other an explosion of pink will be just tickling the edge of your frame of vision. . . .
I also have about a million photos of Bonica. And I had a kind of passing thought that if I’d struggled with the photo-loading widgetry already, whatever Cormac tells me might, you know, stick better. There’s very little worse than the guy in the shop saying, oh yes, it works like this, click click click click click, and it does, and then you go home and it doesn’t. Of course I couldn’t find the photo I wanted–I wanted one of the six-foot-square-and-solid-pink ones–but this one has an artistically arranged butterfly which counts for something. What counts for even more of course is that I got the sucker loaded.‡‡
So: meet Bonica. In full colour. Can hellhounds be far behind?‡‡‡
Biff.
*Yesterday Hannah set her Boysenberry to wake her so they could head off early to Bath, because Boysenberries have an alarm function like they have everything, and while I offered her an alarm clock, she had had experience of my chronometric devices last October, and declined. And the Boysenberry dutifully went off at 7:30 a.m. . . . Eastern Standard Time. Well, better than having your Boysenberry go off at 7:30 a.m. Greenwich Mean time while you’re in Manhattan. I have a very downmarket gizmo, it doesn’t even have a fubsy, I mean quaint and charming, name, but it works fine, except for the bits I don’t understand, which may work fine also, but don’t ask me. I have no idea if it has an Alarming Feature or not. I randomly set a few clock-like objects last night but helpfully woke up about ten minutes before any of them was due to go off, thus eluding having to find out if they were going to.
** Efficient, inefficient, muddled, distracted, walking hellhounds first, walking hellhounds after the caffeine has had a chance to kick in, checking emails for film option offers of $/£^1,000,000,000 for McKinley novels^^, checking the clouds for imminent kumquat-sized hail^^^, sweeping the floor for the first half-full dustpan of hellhound hair of the day, and variations on all these themes with the exception of the first which is only there for politeness’ sake.
^ I’m not fussy, if there are lots of zeroes following closely
^^ This is a very short item. Possibly even a sub item
^^^ A rather longer item, involving much muttering and hissing through teeth
*** Generally speaking I’m so extravagantly appreciative of being free lance that things like paid holidays^ and being able to leave the office and close the door^^ behind you at night barely register. But I had a cup of tea with a friend this afternoon who said she doesn’t have to do taxes at all, her job does it all automatically. She just has a piece of paper to sign at the end of the year or something. I was comatose from shock and blind brutal covetousness for a good half hour after she left. I’m still feeling a little mushy around the edges, but that may be the ME.
^ Why should I care? I haven’t taken a holiday in years
^^ I don’t even have the door. It took up too much space so The Man took it off its hinges and it’s out in the garage. I would never have closed it anyway; I’d be too worried about What Things Were Getting Up To Back There.
† Almost
†† It was a positive pleasure to pot on dahlia cuttings and nicotiana plugs back at the cottage. The problem is where I put my feet when I stand up again, now surrounded by little foot-tripper ankle-breaker pots–of course I don’t have a potting table, don’t be daft, I do it kneeling [sic] on the hellhound-free edge of the little gravelled courtyard^. Nor, once I’m standing (or not), do I have anywhere to line all the little obstructions to passage out.
^ Just outside the hellhound-retaining fence, usually with hellhounds straining their suddenly giraffe-length necks over said fence to inquire into my curious activity.
††† Slowly. Sigh. The ME is ebbing but it is in no hurry.
‡ Do that again and I’ll take it away from you. Biff. Of course they understand English.
‡‡ Um. I think. Waiting upon confirmation from you guys.
‡‡‡ I’m not sure all this success is a good thing. I’ll run out of excuses.
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There’s very little worse than the guy in the shop saying, oh yes, it works like this, click click click click click, and it does, and then you go home and it doesn’t.
Funny, that’s exactly what math class was like for me in high school. I swear to GOD it made sense when I was sitting there and the teacher was patiently explaining it for the umpteenth time… then go home, stare at the homework, and… what in the holy hell am I supposed to do with this? Gah.
I’m not sure all this success is a good thing. I’ll run out of excuses.
Oh, not to worry! You’ll find new ones! :) I always do…
LOL!! True on all counts! I could tell stories about my poor geometry teacher . . . :)
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Boysenberry. That single term made my day better.
Thank you! :)
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My Mom says, “Uncle Martin’s Fruit”
*** And I had a kind of passing thought that if I’d struggled with the photo-loading widgetry already, whatever Cormac tells me might, you know, stick better. There’s very little worse than the guy in the shop saying, oh yes, it works like this, click click click click click, and it does, and then you go home and it doesn’t. ***
This DOES work as a tactic. I have no patience with explanations, written or verbal (but more for the latter), along with a “it should just work anyway” kind of impatience. Many times it has been the cerebro-cortical connections made by just “doing it” which have then facilitated the ensuing “help meeee please!” explanation LOL
… and the rose is beautiful. Thank you. Any day that writing one of your glorious books has used up all your blog-ability, photos will be most welcome as an entry. Just keep writing the books!!!!! (For all us addicts out here :))
I’m starting to *stockpile photos.* :) I realise you all want current ones but I have a lot of old favourites I’ve LONGED to show people, I jsut haven’t had the excuse . . . :)
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Robin, you don’t need an excuse to show off photos. “Because you want to” is good enough! ;)
Noted. :)
*** with hellhounds straining their suddenly giraffe-length necks ***
This is so true! When I work with owners of dog/people aggressive dogs, many owners aren’t used to reading their dogs attitude/thought processes from their small body language signals.
One of the first signals I ask them to look for is a sudden neck extension, indicating total focus and often a preliminary to “some other #behaviour”… !
# Not usually anything good!!
Oh, that’s interesting–but I don’t know about SMALL body language!!!!!
I need to post some time about paw-waving–we are making (sort of) progress but in what you might call the wrong direction! LOL! Life with hellhounds!!!
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“small” to the owner, subtle might have described it better. To you and I who actually do watch our dogs, it is a “huge” announcement of interest, and , on occasion, of intent. Mwahahah – that’s the dog, by the way…
Yes, well, there’s a REASON they haven’t killed me yet. And why, when I walk with other people, and they ask if they can take a hellhound lead, I say NO.
It’s amazing how much disorder can be created by one* dog on an extending lead
… and how long it can take an unprepared lead-holder to become aware that “the end of the world as we know it” is imminent :)
* of course two dogs create 4 times as much disorder, look it up in any maths textbook (My kind of maths textbook lol)
A VERY long split second! LOL!
Bonica is a lovelyrose, thanks for the photo. And good for you for *really* spending the day in the garden. We had a beautiful day here too and that had been my plan, since we’re supposedly in for rain and cold and maybe snow showers for the next four or five days, but I was a Good Person and Responsible etc. and started in after breakfast on (Dane) rescue, which meant a long time on the phone, and then suddenly it was too late to do anything but take the Alpha Bitch for a walk and run errands. It can be very hard to stick to a plan.
Do your dahlias, nicotianas, etc. get out of pots and into the ground later in the season, or are they meant to be a permanent flowering obstacle course?
It can be very hard to stick to a plan.
******** YES. It was a grisly day here today so *I* had a plan . . . but I seem to have done something else. Oh, heavens, they ALL go in the ground–or at least larger pots–this was just potting on the little ‘uns. And they have to stay festooned around my ankles where I’ll (remember to) water them often enough. When they get bigger and more visible I’ll tuck them away more. Meanwhile more boxes of plugs today in the post . . .
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The Bonica photo is lovely, and the butterfly is so perfectly framed!
My MIL just gave us two roses – the kind that come in boxes from the hardware store. I have no idea what kind they are, but the photo shows red flowers. My husband and I looked at each other with dismay since neither of us have ever managed to keep a rose alive in our frigid northern IL weather. The best I’ve ever managed was a few mini-rose plants that survived despite any neglect or over-attention they might have gotten depending on the week. Any newbie tips (or dire warnings) would be very gratefully received!
By the way, I love the new blog look and feel. It’s so much nicer than LJ. It’s too bad replies to posted comments don’t get emailed, but that’s ok – it’s still a good deal better than LJ!
It’s too bad replies to posted comments don’t get emailed, but that’s ok
******* They’re about to. I’ve told other people who mentioned this to write to Blogmum and she wrote to me. The problem is that everything she does costs *me* money so I’m a bit reluctant about anything that is at all complicated. But she says this is easy. She should be psoting about it.
Find yourself a good basic LOCAL rose book and do what it tells you. Or find a good basic rose book that includes a chapter on roses in harsh climates. My big obsession is FEEDING them, which many people, especially the inexperienced, don’t do, but I can’t advise about winter. (And ask your garden centre for rose food.)
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Find yourself a good basic LOCAL rose book and do what it tells you. Or find a good basic rose book that includes a chapter on roses in harsh climates. My big obsession is FEEDING them, which many people, especially the inexperienced, don’t do, but I can’t advise about winter. (And ask your garden centre for rose food.)
****** Thank you! I’ll search online and via phone for a local rose book. I’m in my last 7 days of pregnancy (assuming due dates mean anything), so actually going to the bookstore is a bit out of my reach right now.
I’m almost afraid to feed roses. The only minis I killed were because I used the food the garden center provided and the roots and leaves burned. They tried to tell me that it was because I failed to dust (whatever that means), but it looked to me more like too much strong feed.
I’m much better with herbs – they’re basically weeds so it takes a lot to kill them! :-)
Yes, you CAN burn plants by putting fertilizer DIRECTLY on them. It’s easier to do (wrong) with proprietary type brands than compost/composted manure. (It’s easiest of all to do with UNcomposted manure–DO NOT USE!!) You can also blast their little socks off using too much. But you MUST feed them. Think about it!! :)
Bonica looks lovely, now you will have to show us how she looks in all her phases and all her bush glory. A short accompanying paragraph will surfice. Of course, so far I have yet to see evidence that you can write a short paragraph only…. We had gorgeous skies yesterday. I woke up early and there was a jet-stream of clouds overhead, which in one way or another stayed there all day. I took photos and again when sunset came, when it looked tremendous. If I can finally overcome my own reluctance to get engaged with flickr and start uploading pictures I will post some pictures, as well as of my own garden, but at the moment I am both busy and procrastinating (one does not cancel out the other)
both busy and procrastinating (one does not cancel out the other)
******** No it does not. Second the vote for photos–I particularly want to see your garden. And I think you have a trifle of difficulty with the concept of ‘short’ too!
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Serious problems. I think it comes of viewing these comments as a chat rather than something I “have” to write. I was awful at writing assignments in school, hated being faced with blank paper. I was a math and chemistry person. Also writing a lot through the translation has loosened my tongue, or should I say fingers. There… I will stop.
I think it comes of viewing these comments as a chat rather than something I “have” to write.
********** AS a professional writer I understand this too well.
Yes! It loaded! Congratulations! It’s lovely!
Anna
—-”checking emails for film option offers of $/£^1,000,000,000 for McKinley novels….”
Do you get these offers often? Have you ever considered doing it? I always have a mixed reaction of intrigue and horror when I hear a book I love is hitting the mangling machine of Hollywood…
Nope. It’s in my FAQ.
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Ah! So it is. My bad.
“But I had a cup of tea with a friend this afternoon who said she doesn’t have to do taxes at all, her job does it all automatically. She just has a piece of paper to sign at the end of the year or something. I was comatose from shock and blind brutal covetousness for a good half hour after she left.”
Yes, one of the advantages of being a wage slave in the UK. The last time I filled in a tax return was, oh, a long time ago. :) Mind you, even when I did my husband’s (self-employed) return for him, the online form makes it easier these days, thank goodness.
Pardon me, but I hate you. And I will never forgive you. NEVER.
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Well, I’ll just have to live with that, I suppose…:) Now, what shall I spend some of the time I don’t have to use up doing tax returns on today, I wonder…hmm, enjoying the garden, planting up some new lily bulbs, just relaxing… tra la la…:)