Blessed 62 8-18-23

Sixty-two years ago today I married the love of my life - Jan Elizabeth Feldwisch.

We had met one year previously on a blind date. We were set up by Martha Ause the wife of a med school friend. I was a sophomore at Washington University Medical School and she was a recent graduate of Washington University’s School of Fine Arts. I picked her up at her apartment in Audubon Park (called Birdland). As we met for the first time she gave me bubble gum. We went with another couple to a dive on Vandaventer Avenue called Horlachers. To set the stage for decades of adventure a guy at the next table who was dead drunk fell off his seat onto the floor. From then on Jan knew what to expect. Here is our family some years later.

Here is the bride at our 25th wedding anniversary party.

Today we two octogenarians still live in our house in Kirkwood. We are proving that the human body was not built to last forever. Our kids are all paired up and we have three wonderful grandchildren. I am forever blessed by meeting this ‘girl’ from Webster Groves.

Blessed Sixty-two 8-18-23

Sixty-two years ago today I married the love of my life - Jan Elizabeth Feldwisch.

We had met one year previously on a blind date. We were set up by Martha Ause the wife of a med school friend. 

I was a sophomore at Washington University Medical School and she was a recent graduate of Washington University's

School of Fine Arts. I picked her up at her apartment in Audubon Park (called Birdland). As we met for the first time she

gave me bubble gum. We went with another couple to a dive on Vandaventer Avenue called Horlachers. To set the stage for decades of adventure a guy at the next table who was dead drunk fell off his seat onto the floor. From then on Jan knew what to expect.

Here is our family some years later.

Here is the bride at our 25th wedding anniversary party.

 

Today we two octogenarians still live in our house in Kirkwood. We are proving that the human body was not built to last forever. Our kids are all paired up and we have three wonderful grandchildren.

I am forever blessed by meeting this 'girl' from Webster Groves.

Surprise Lilies 8-16-23

Surprise lilies (Lycoris squamigera) come up out of nowhere in August.

They are in the amaryllis family and grow well in the garden and the woods edge.

Their other name, Naked Ladies, comes from their lack of accompanying leaves. Their lush leaves come up in early spring and disappear in late May. They are great for flower arrangements.

You had Naked Lady flowers On your porch Bare torsos with a burst Of color dancing in your garden. With just a spray of water, They came alive And danced To their own song. Mary Bone

Stargazer Lily 8-14-23

This is my last blooming oriental lily (Lillium orientalis Stargazer). I love this lily and all the others had proceeded this slow bloomer.

As you can see in order to take a photo the camera has to be sky facing.

The day after I took this image this is what I found.

es, my four legged white-tailed friends have made a banquet of my beauty. They let enough so that the bulb can bloom again next year. How would you react to this?

Gladiolus 8-11-23

After several years interval I put in some gladiolus (Gladiolus gandavensis) bulbs. 

Only one survived. Such is the way of the garden. That is 'what happened'. I have a

story about this but I would rather just enjoy the gorgeous flower. 

There is always next year, until there isn't.

When the pond plays with the wind and the sun,

a ruddy heart seems to dwell in the depths of the water,

and to beat ardent and young, with the ripples; 

and the tall straight gladioli and the glowing roses

that move in their splendour hold out

Emily Verhaeren

Italian Arum Lily 8-9-23

This Italian arum (Arum italicum) showed up unannounced in a field circle garden recently.. I have never seen it before. It is beautiful but toxic. It is also called Italian lords and ladies, Large cuckoo pot, and Lord’s ladies. it is a species of Arum lily.

We escaped from the world and from ourselves, sparing ourselves all grief and gnawing cares, and watching the rebirth of our soul, as the purity of glass and gold of a window-pane is reborn after the rain, when the sun warms it and gently dries it Emily Verhaeren

Flower for the Day Italian Arum 8-9-23

This Italian arum (Arum italicum) showed up unannounced in a field circle garden recently. I have never seen it before.

It is beautiful but toxic. It is also called Italian lords and ladies, Large cuckoo pot, and Lord's ladies. 

it is a species of Arum lily.

We escaped from the world and from

ourselves,

sparing ourselves all grief and gnawing

cares,

and watching the rebirth of our soul,

as the purity of glass and gold of a

window-pane is reborn after the rain,

when the sun warms it and gently dries it

Emily Verhaeren

Amaryllis 8-7-23

I brought my elderly amaryllis out of the darkness of the basement in February. It grew some nice leaves but never bloomed. I took it outside and replanted it in the earth in April. It bloomed outside in the garden in June. Although it was ‘temporally' confused it is still beautiful.

Amaryllis Once, when I wandered in the woods alone, An old man tottered up to me and said, “Come, friend, and see the grave that I have made For Amaryllis.” There was in the tone Of his complaint such quaver and such moan That I took pity on him and obeyed, And long stood looking where his hands had laid An ancient woman, shrunk to skin and bone. Far out beyond the forest I could hear The calling of loud progress, and the bold Incessant scream of commerce ringing clear; But though the trumpets of the world were glad, It made me lonely and it made me sad To think that Amaryllis had grown old. Edwin Arlington Robinson

Flower for the Day Amaryllis 8-7-23

I brought my elderly amaryllis out of the darkness of the basement in February.

It grew some nice leaves but never bloomed. I took it outside and replanted it in the earth in April.

It bloomed outside in the garden in June. Although it was 'temporally' confused it is still 

beautiful.

           Amaryllis

 Once, when I wandered in the woods alone,
An old man tottered up to me and said,
"Come, friend, and see the grave that I have made
For Amaryllis." There was in the tone
Of his complaint such quaver and such moan
That I took pity on him and obeyed,
And long stood looking where his hands had laid
An ancient woman, shrunk to skin and bone.

Far out beyond the forest I could hear
The calling of loud progress, and the bold
Incessant scream of commerce ringing clear;
But though the trumpets of the world were glad,
It made me lonely and it made me sad
To think that Amaryllis had grown old.

Edwin Arlington Robinson

Ironweed 8-2-23

Ironweed (Vernonia gigantea) is a native perennial in the aster family (Asteraceae). My ironweed patch has been slowly enlarging.

This years plants are well over 5 feet tall.

Ironweed There is a shade of purple in this flower near summer’s end that makes you proud to be alive in such a world, and thrilled to know the gift of sight. It seems a color sent from memory or dream. In fields, along old trails, at pasture edge, the ironweed bares its vivid tint, profoundest violet, a note from farthest star and deepest time, the glow of sacred royalty and timbre of eternity right here beside a dried-up stream. Robert Morgan (Atlantic Monthly June 2010)