Mme Isaac, ll
I don’t see how anyone could resist this rose. Jack Harness to the contrary notwithstanding.*
* For those of you who didn’t memorise it last time: ’This has shaggy double flowers in which strident pink fights a losing battle against the inroads of magenta. . . . The flowers, revolting in colour, frequently ameliorate that sin by failing to open at all.^ Few shrubs can rival [her] ungainly habit, to avoid which the experts propose [she] should be grown as a climber; and for a wall facing a neighbour one wishes to annoy, [she is an] ideal subject.’ She grows very nearly dead centre in my little garden, and I tack her down over the daphne odora. You get more flowers out of a horizontal branch than a vertical one. I want as many flowers as I can get.
^ Not my experience at all, just by the way. She opens really well. Maybe her feelings were hurt by his attitude and she didn’t see why she should come out to be ill-treated.
comments
Please join the discussion at Robin McKinley's Web Forum.
Glorious pictures! This one is a bouquet by itself.
Maybe her feelings were hurt by his attitude and she didn’t see why she should come out to be ill-treated.
Gosh, I’m *sure*. I wouldn’t come out after that, either. *sniff*
Indeed. **Thorns out.** :)
(Comments won't nest below this level)
OH WOW.
Wow! He didn’t mince his words did he? Does this count as rose “hate mail”?
i think she’s beautiful, and well worth horizontal space in a small garden – even less horizontal than vertical available i presume?
some silly links to cheer you up –
http://www.democraticstuff.com/Supporter-Buttons-s/7529.htm
http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=3819282
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-387680/Lethal-Star-Trek-blade-seized-knives-amnesty.html
and wishes for a quiet diarrhoea-free night :)
No Evil Cows for Obama, however. :)
I don’t know whether to laugh, cry, or punch a hole in a wall about that last one though.
(Comments won't nest below this level)
W.O.W!!
You go, girl!
“Revolting in colour”?! REVOLTING?!! The man’s insane! She’s absolutely gorgeous! As to annoying the neighbours (which I must in fairness sadly confess I thought funny) any neighbour of mine is welcome to annoy me in that way any time they like! (If I didn’t live in a flat – but it’s the sentiment that counts…)
And of course she didn’t come out for him – why should she? To be insulted? (Revolting, indeed!)
One of my favourite-most-hated-iidiot-scientist-remarks is – that cats don’t know their own names! they respond only to the tone of voice! Rubbish! It makes me so cross to think about that I’ve completely forgotten where I heard it – but I do know I heard it firsthand (not somebody’d heard that a scientist had said sort-of-thing) and it was some sort of (idiot) expert. I take great pleasure in imagining the (idiot) scientist going “hey, kitty, kitty, kitty!” while the cat stares at him with the “You must be joking” contemptuous look; “Come kitty, kitty, kitty!” – “I don’t think so” – “Here’s a treat!” – “I’m not hungry!”
(By the way, my mother’s got two cats, and she says that not only do they know their own names but also each other’s; when Putte’s name is called my cat’s brother looks about him apprehensively “Where is he?”, Putte being master of all he surveys and of uncertain temper – he’s even got into fights with badgers! And they’ve both been “done” – it might have ruined Putte’s love life, but certainly not made him less of a fighter! Other cats, foxes, dogs – when it’s on his turf…)
Yes. It’s like me disembowelling idiot scientists who say that horses are stupid because they’re bad at mazes to find food. OF COURSE THEY’RE BAD AT MAZES TO FIND FOOD. THEY EVOLVED TO EAT WHAT THEY’RE WALKING ON, ALL AROUND THEM, EVERYWHERE.
(Comments won't nest below this level)
Sooo, scientists are stupid because they don’t understand the complex nature of intelligence and thus cannot design tests for prey species which measure their intelligence in any meaningful way… ? Hmmm!
SNORK. And the species of scientists would be–?
***Yes. It’s like me disembowelling idiot scientists who say that horses are stupid because they’re bad at mazes to find food. OF COURSE THEY’RE BAD AT MAZES TO FIND FOOD. THEY EVOLVED TO EAT WHAT THEY’RE WALKING ON, ALL AROUND THEM, EVERYWHERE.***
I’d never heard that one – good grief! Why would it occur to a horse that there was food to be found in a maze in the first place? or what a maze was? What _did_ the horses do anyway? Was it an indoor maze – did they think it was a stable and that somebody would be bringing food soon? (like any reasonable horse could think) or an outdoor one in which case there would be plenty to snack on and it wouldn’t occur to them that somebody had stashed away apples somewhere? Anyway, wild horses seem to be quite good at finding food – under snow or anywhere else that a REASONABLE horse would expect to find food! otherwise they’d all be dead! And horses can find their way home, surely everybody knows THAT? not to mention that wild horses seem to be able to find their way around a vas area! How utterly astonishing that a horse would THINK LIKE A HORSE! They’re stupid because the idiot notion that someone would stick them in a maze to see what they’d do didn’t occur to them?
If those scientist would try to see things FROM THE ANIMAL’S POINT OF VIEW maybe they’d be able to see the difference between a horse and a rat…
And a little story from my riding days – just for fun. These are the bare facts – nothing exaggerated or changed, as I always tell it; people are welcome to think whatever they like (I know what_I_ think!) When I rode I always talked to the horses, a kind of thinking aloud adressed to the horse (or pony, actually), the ears turned toward me, listening. This was indoors and we were often told to cross from a letter on the wall to another on the opposite one. The riding instructor said to do that and something about left – now I always had/have difficulty remembering which is left and right (sad, I know); so Í said “Which is left now again?” and one of Ballerina’s ears suddenly turned sideways (from having been completely upright and turned toward me to completely sideways). At first I was taken aback and then I thought/said: “Why, yes – that IS left! Thank you!”
LOL! I don’t think Connie knows her letters exactly, but she *knows the markers in a dressage ring.* :)
****** SNORK. And the species of scientists would be–?
Blinkered cerebrus stupidus idiotum, the lesser spotted variety :)
I saw a TV programme on measuring dog intelligence, and one of the tests was to cover a dog in a piece of fabric and measure how quickly they escaped – quicker equating to brighter. One standard poodle had obviously had a life time of being told what to do, (and being told off for doing anything else) – poor lamb sat moyionless under the sheet, with everyone laughing at him, while his owner hopped up and down turning an apoplectic purple.
Intelligence tests now are seen by psychologists as very specific, often culture sensitive and dependent on prior learning and experience – and that’s just for humans, so make that a bigger effect across species in my book…
Blinkered cerebrus stupidus idiotum, the lesser spotted variety :)
ROTFL!!!!! Oh, I’d FORGOTTEN about the SPOTS!!!!
Yes, I can absolutely imagine the poor poodle trying to do what it thought was wanted. Not that my hellhounds are poster children for canine genius, but if you draped fabric over them they’d open one eye and think, hmm? And close the eye again. In their wired way, they’re *very* laid back. If the fabric’s not bothering them, why *should* they escape? Humans do bizarre things all the time.
We tested that theory on our cat, Finder, by periodically looking his way and calling “Chocolate!” in our most enticing voices. His look clearly said “Ok, what are you humans trying to pull?”
Then we’d try calling “Binder!” or “Minder!” He’d startle briefly, then look bewildered. He eventually stalked off in disgust.
(Comments won't nest below this level)
It almost reminds me of our peonies. What a gorgeous color!
Gah! What sort of sour-milk-blooded cretin could bellyache and sneer at such a RAVISHING creature? Perhaps his bride dumped him on his wedding day after beating him senseless with a gargantuan bouquet of them? Negative associations would explain a lot…
LOL!
(Comments won't nest below this level)
The flowers, revolting in colour
::sniffs condescendingly::
He was obviously colour-blind. :p
In his defense, she CAN get pretty . . . fierce. :) But I like neon magenta. :)
(Comments won't nest below this level)
But I like neon magenta. :)
One of my favourite colours. :)
They say similar things about ‘Duet’ which is one of my all time favourites.
Stirling Macoboy said “… rather unsubtle colours flattered by artificial light…” Pfft. Well they *do* look good indoors and they look great in that thunderstorm lighting. At least he admitted they were dead easy to grow and had *heaps* of blooms (it would flower 11-12 mths of the year if I let it)…..
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21742944@N05/2477897062/