After an absence of nearly a week, a mourning dove came by the balcony this evening. I just caught a glimpse, and to me, it looked young, as it moved its bright-eyed head. A flash of tail feathers, and it was gone. Did it really leave a small stick behind? 

Balcony 2020

That was a few days ago. The doves haven’t returned, but a snake has taken up residenice in the front yard. It seems happy, and I can be happy as long as I know where it and isn’t. The blog posts are out of sequence a bit, and I’m not sure why. Today I ventured out more than I ordinarily have, and found myself in traffic. I let many cars pass, as I did not need to be anywhere in a hurry. How strange not to rush for the bus, gambling on finding a parking lot at the nearest station, or skipping the exit for something over the bridge. How strange not to be rushing through South Station, grabbing a bite to eat on the way to class, and after class is over, rushing back to station to make it home by midnight. I would like those days to be in the past. I don’t mind teaching, but I do mind a commute that is longer than the time I actually spend on campus. Yet weren’t those the days, to be grateful for a seat alone in a compartment, falling asleep until the bus ground to a noisy halt?

Lately I have been studying rose pruning.  I have watched excellent videos here and here and bracing myself up for the task.

In much the same manner, I have decided to prune a third of my last manuscript, in order to obtain what I hope will be strong growth this summer.

It is easier to talk about roses than my work, so let me tell you about the roses.  I never thought I could grow a rose, living in rentals and year-by-year situations, until I took the plunge and planted a white rose I found at the remainder shelf (not far does the literary metaphor stray) at my local nursery.  It was a beraggled “iceberg” which patiently offers up half a dozen flowers each year.  Sometimes a flower has a delicate red stripe on one petal. I keep waiting for it to branch out, but so far, it has remained steady and very slow.

My next was a rescue red, whose name I don’t know.  It too does not offer nymerous flowers, but the growth has been steady.  I wish I took pictures when I first bought it, as it looked pretty sad indeed.

Indira Ganesan, Rescue Red, 2018

Third time for me was the charm as late one fall I got my first David Austin rose on discount.  This was James Galway, and a climber, to my surprise.  Now standing seven feet tall, it produces masses of fragrant pink blooms throught June, and again in late summer.  This is the rose I need to train to a proper structure, as it is in need of care.  Two late autumn sale roses met their maker after a furious winter, but now I have two springtime purchases: a Lady Emma Hamilton which probably needs to get out of her put and into the ground, and  struggling Getrude Jeckyll.  I had first planted the Getrude Jeckyll in a shady spot, then moved her to a sunny spot.  I think she did not take to the move, especially as an agressive spirea  was growing next to her. I am going to transplant the spirea and hope for the best.