THE GARDENER by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)

 ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON (1850-1894)
  Wrote "A CHILD'S GARDEN of VERSES" in 1885
He was also noted for "Treasure Island" "The Body Snatcher's","Kidnapped",  "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.....

 When I was little, my parents gave me an old  copy of  "A Child's garden of Verses". My mother signed my name in the book. My father read out of it. Afer he was gone, my mother read the pages. Years later, in the wee hours of the mornings, my mother fast asleep, I read it on my own, accompanied by peanut butter and jam sandwiches. You can see the evidence of peanut butter on almost every page..............

 THE GARDENER..............
The gardener does not love to talk, he makes me keep the gravel walk....

 And when he puts his tools away;

 He locks the door and takes the key.

 Away behind the currant row, where no one else but cook may go,

 Far in the plots, I see him dig,

 Old and serious, brown and big.

 He digs the flowers, green, red, and blue,

 Nor wishes to be spoken to. He digs the flowers and cuts the hay,

 And never seems to want to play.

 Silly gardener! summer goes,

 And winter comes with pinching toes, When in the garden bare and brown

 You must lay your barrow down.

 Well now, and while the summer stays

 To profit by these garden days

 Oh how much wiser you would be

 To play with me.....

 Photographs 2019
"A Child's Garden of Verses" by Robert Louis Stevenson 1885....

FOR the LOVE of BIB....

       "The smallest feline is a masterpiece...."-Leonardo DaVinci

 She's young. Maybe a year and a half. And she has decided to play in my garden. She isn't a stranger. Used to see her last fall.  Now she's back.Toddling after Spencer.....

 She lives near Spencer. He sits at one door. She sits at another. 

 They've taken to hanging out together during the day. Spencer and Bib.

 Two cats from the Hill. Plus Cordelia. 

 I called her Bib, cause I don't know her real name. But her white front looks like a bib. So Bib it is. For now. Till I find out who she is.

 She's fascinated by the deer. She stares at them. Spencer yawns at them. He's an old hand at watching deer.

 I don't think Bib has ever seen deer before.

 I sprayed the roses with Bobbexx ( non toxic, tastes awful to deer), so now they eat the cherry trees.

 Bib just stares. Cordelia stares. Spencer sleeps on the bench.

   "Cats are a mysterious kind of folk..." -Sir Walter Scott

 Bib finds  birds fascinating. She's hilarious. Awkwardly leaping and tossing herself at them.Falling off the birdbath. 

 Spencer lingers on warm pavement. While Bib teeters on the edge of the birdbath. Ever hopeful she will get closer to the birds.

 Usually she keels off into the flowers below.  Spencer, the pro,  saunters over to his cup to have a drink. 

 "Amateur......" he probably thinks as he slurps away.

 Bib.  Cordelia. Spencer. All from the hill. 

 I saw Spencer and Bib touch noses one day. Then lay down and roll. I wonder if Spencer remembers Smokey. And how they used to play and chase butterflies and flop. I see a lot of flopping in their future........

"Cats tell me all that there is to know..." -― Charles Bukowski, On Cats

 Photographs 2019

WALK in the GARDEN...............

"One Rose is enough for the dawn..."-Edmund Jabes

        Tons of new things blooming: Anis Perfumella ("Monica Bellucci")

                                    Peace Roses."Rosa Madame Meilland" Hybrid tea.

I don't know their name. But  my favourite ones, I think. Pale things like antique paper.......like from some  forgotten Victorian notebook.....

 And then there's Cordelia.Never forgotten.  She's resembles Cottonwood fluff....

             GRAPES! BABY GRAPES. "I heard it thru the grapevine!" 
                                                -Marvin Gaye

                      BEES. COSMOS. BEES.And more Cosmos.

 "It is the time you wasted for your rose, that makes your rose so important."-― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

 FOXGLOVES.20 different species.They thrive in partial light, and acidic soils. And the bees love them.

 Bacarra rose. Smells like chocolate. I thought it was dead and gone. But it is blooming like crazy. I did nothing . Just looked at it and said " Please grow".....

 Campanula Takesimana: "Japanese bellflower". I thought it was gone as well. Brought the original from White Rock 12 years ago. But it's popped up in different pockets. I never did anything. Just asked it to "Grow. Please. I miss you."

                                   "Seek Peace, and Pursue it...."-Proverbs 34:14

  Cordelia has found the grapevine once more. .......

                     Early Anis Perfumella before it opened up............

 SWEET PEAS......on the way. Nestled with Cosmos that the bees love. SWEET PEAS....not summer without them.

 PASQUE Flower. Gone to seed. To make more little pasques. Also known as "Wind Flower". So named Pasque  from the Hebrew word for Passover, "pasakh", the common name pasque flower, refers to the Easter flowering time. 

  “The sun shall always rise upon a new day and there shall always be a rose garden within me. Yes, there is a part of me that is broken, but my broken soil gives way to my wild roses.” 

                                                      ― C. JoyBell C.

 New Clematis. Thought it was dead. thought it had been squashed by the brambles way up on the hill. But it lives. "Please grow. I said." And for some reason. it has......

" Beauty surrounds us, but usually we need to be walking in a garden to know it. " -Rumi

 And of course. Last but not least. There is Spencer-from-the-hill. Ever faithful. Ever true.

Photographs 2019