July 1, 2011

At the Late Rose Café...

P1010078

... you can talk all night.

49 comments:

n said...

Beautiful. Can you give me the scientific name/common name?

edutcher said...

What nancy said. Captivating.

Are those colors true, is there really that yellow in the center?

Ann Althouse said...

Everything in this pic is distorted.

Palladian said...

"Everything in this pic is distorted."

What are you, the New York Times? No, if you were, you'd never make such an admission.

Scott said...

How appropriate for an open thread.

Palladian said...

O Rose thou art sick.
The invisible worm,
That flies in the night
In the howling storm:

Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.


William Blake

Michael K said...

Pretty. I am so sick of politics. My enthusiasms are now limited to fiction with a social purpose.

traditionalguy said...

I just realized that today is the mid point for 2011...6 months have gone by in a hurry. Yesterday I was covering a house closing for my son's office , and I met a very nice lady whose husband had died of a heart attack 10 months ago. Since the holiday weekend had the Interstates tied up with Florida bound traffic, the buyer ran an hour late. We talked about her career as an early education teacher in grades 1-3 at a Jewish School, and how much she missed it now that she had retired. She began to cry about leaving the house she and her husband had lived in so long and moving the rest of her stuff out for a place in the mountains just north of Athens. Then she mentioned that she had been going to a local Baptist Church trying to learn what Christians believed about Jesus being the Messiah. You could that tell she hurt because she had lost a lot, and she also had 8 other family members to die in the last 18 months. That was a special encounter. I was able to share with her some good contacts and sources of Christian teaching and I could see the hope she has to go on with life. Anyway that was a good way to end the half year.

Palladian said...

Rose, oh reiner Widerspruch,
Lust,
Niemandes Sclaf zu sein
unter soviel
Lidern.

Titus said...

I read Lost Dogs about the Michael Vick dogs.


Amazing, 49 of the 50 dogs are doing great and living wonderful lives. No aggression at all.

And the people that adopted them are really cool.


I cried a little.

Irene said...

No one names a child "Rose" any longer.

"Irene" is not that popular either. It hasn't been popular during my lifetime. My parents chose the name because they thought it would translate into any language. In case I had to be a refuge in a foreign country, like they were.

The Crack Emcee said...

Bullseye.

Fucking outstanding.

Irene said...

The FDA this week revoked approval of Avastin as a treatment for breast cancer.

The way Media Matters went after the story, you'd think Avastin was Fox News.

gail said...

tradionalguy,

How sweet of you to be open to a conversation started around the sale of a house. My heart breaks for the grief that woman must be experiencing, an unimaginable personal journey.

I'm glad you shared this story; lately I've been needing to see the love and compassion of God in this world.

JAL said...

Shoot, TradGuy, I am moving some stuff out of my office (much of which needs to go inot the recycle bin without even a thought) to make room for someone I will be sharing it with -- and I am a little sad.

Turning a page in life is one thing.

Having to have a chapter end, as your lady did, without her permission, is most often so very hard.

Perhaps there are some interesting and very good things in the next one for her.

You are a kind person.

And the Professor takes lovely pictures which are good for our souls even as they tintillate our retinas and brain cells.

Ralph L said...

The Peace rose (which was introduced at the end of WWII) is yellow with deep pink outer petal edges.

Chip Ahoy said...

Say Kids, would you care to see the pop-up card I'm working on? I have two pages done and no idea at all where I'm going with this. It's grasshoppers!


Have you ever caught grasshoppers? They barf on you. My mum told me they're spitting tobacco, but that's nonsense. Come to think of it, that does give me an idea.

Titus said...

What happened to Kristy Mcnicol?

Almost Ali said...

Chip Ahoy said...
Have you ever caught grasshoppers?

No, but I "caught" this one: DSC_4747, hopped right into my hand!

Palladian said...

The ghosts of late roses in little bottles...

virgil xenophon said...

Although I consider myself an agnostic, not an atheist, and believe, as John Adams did, that our Constitution is fit only for a Christian nation, and no other and so believe in the power of Christ in other people's lives, I'm afraid I'm a devotee of this quatrain in The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam;

"And that inverted Bowl they call the Sky

Whereunder crawling coop'd we live and die

Lift not your hands for it for help--for it

As impotently moves as you or I"

reader_iam said...

Everything in this pic is distorted.

Yep.

(Once kindness in understanding is abandoned as a value, that's all that's left for the picking.)

The Dude said...

My neighbors named their young daughter Rose. Another named her daughter Hazel. Agnes can stay gone, as far as I am concerned. Hortense, too. Horrelaxed - there you go.

edutcher said...

Ann Althouse said...

Everything in this pic is distorted.

A metaphor for things generally?

Irene said...

No one names a child "Rose" any longer.

"Irene" is not that popular either. It hasn't been popular during my lifetime. My parents chose the name because they thought it would translate into any language. In case I had to be a refuge in a foreign country, like they were.


Interesting idea.

If it makes you feel any better, a former colleague named her daughter Irene. She's Belarussian; the girl would be about 22 today, so there's hope.

A lot of the older names are coming back, largely because they actually mean something, rather than some of the stuff we've heard in years past.

So cheer up. You may yet meet a 6 year old Irene.

Or Rosie.

Shouting Thomas said...

I'm about to go on an all day ride on the Harley.

Before I leave, the latest on our Damsel in Distress from The New York Post:

Maid Cleaning Up as 'Hooker.'

Subtitled: Big tips for extra "turndown services."

Won't get to read it until late tonight, but I'm eagerly awaiting Carol's full length novel proving that it's all an international conspiracy.

Shouting Thomas said...

And, just for Carol:

Tips for Not Appearing Crazy on the Internet.

Advice we can all use.

Chase said...

3 aunts:

Velma
Leonora
Vera

Carl Vero said...

“Everything in this pic is distorted.”
Distortion as truth – should one learn from it, enjoy it, or both?
Soul-searching may resemble soliciting shadows in the dark, but here are the list of lessons learned from lies (short version):
Profound punditry: seven-second soundbites.
Preferred profanity: WTF (Winning The Future).
Principled politicians: talking tumbleweeds.

AllenS said...

Here's a really interesting story from Milwaukee. It has nothing to do with the teachers union. At least I don't think it does.

Toad Trend said...

@Fred4Pres

Heard Fred and Jeri Thompson sitting in for Hannity on his radio show last nite.

Really enjoyed Fred's take and his wife is fantastic too.

It would have been great to see Fred run for president...I think he would have made a good one. Good head on his shoulders for sure. But I suspect he is too smart for the position.

MadisonMan said...

My great-grandmother (she died in 1927) was named Rose. There's a street in Waukesha named after her, sort of -- it's named after her and her mother-in-law (!)

She scared my Dad -- who was 4 when she died.

This is my Mom's last weekend, I think. That is an interesting sentence to type.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

I keep telling you:

Your photos would make killer jigsaw puzzles. Challenging and beautiful to look at. Full of texture and subtle colours.

Just think, another career!

KCFleming said...

Sorry to hear that, MadisonMan. She must be proud of the son she's raised, her legacy.

Anonymous said...

It turns out that I am being asked to give advice to a state GOP pol. They think I know the Dems well and so I can give advice. Yes, this is my first GOP consulting and so I will make sure she wins.

Now, the trouble is that nationally, it will not help the GOP, as the White House wannabes have not shown a vision, deliverables, diversity framework, etc. The O-B 2 is getting closer and closer to victory in all states, according to my K-street pals. We now have dinner on most nights at the Oval. We are just laughing it up as to how the GOP is totally blind-sided like QB on a foot-ball field.

Unknown said...

AP, I'm sure the local pol will do just as well as she deserves to for relying on your expertise.

MadisonMan said...

Thanks Pogo. She's going out on her terms, at home, and is comfortable.

My brother tried to give her a sleeping pill last night. Met with clenched teeth. Mom is still in charge!

Marilee said...

Read this once: "Be kind, for everyone you meet is enduring a mighty struggle".
So sorry MadMan. Must remember that everyone that comments here has a story, a separate life behind their anonymous identity here.

Unknown said...

MM, you and your mom and your family are in our prayers.

AllenS said...

Our thoughts are with you, MadMan.

Ann Althouse said...

Be strong, Mad Man.

traditionalguy said...

Madison Man...Losing your mother is the hardest adjustment men/boys ever go through. Be kind to yourself and let mourning have its place. Postponing grief from such a great loss just does more harm. We love you.

edutcher said...

Been there with The Blonde's Mom, MadMan.

If you see it coming, it can be easier to deal with; sounds odd, but it's true sometimes.

Ralph L said...

My cousin Flora died a month ago at 84, the same age my mother would be. They had a falling out years ago when we kids weren't invited to her son's wedding.

Mad Man, your mother reminds me of the old woman in To Kill a Mockingbird who wouldn't go beholden to morphine, or anyone.

Trooper York said...

I will say a prayer for your Mom MadisonMan and light a candle to St Jude for her at Mass this Sunday.

Anonymous said...

"This is my Mom's last weekend, I think. That is an interesting sentence to type."

Those sentences reveal the time-scape of life that is so often seen only in the moment, missing the blessings that come from planning for a certain, though painful, future. MadisonMan's understanding that there's a schedule to her demise in which he can and has actively participated has freed him to enjoy her presence, celebrate her life and fold her into an in-extractably exquisite part of his being - all while she's here to revel in his love and pride for her.

I pray my sons will see, someday far in the future, the value in admitting the obvious, eschewing the blindfolds and participating in my last days here on earth. MadisonMan's example of fidelity to her and her legacy have been an inspiration to me. My prayers continue for him, for Mom and for the rest of the family as they walk with her to her own Independence Day.

MadisonMan said...

Thanks for all your kind thoughts. I took a bike ride this morning and found myself biking past her old sorority house on Langdon. I pictured her at the Union.

In August, my daughter starts at the UW. Life is a circle.

deborah said...

That's a touching thought, MM. You sound like a wonderful son.

Mel said...

I think it's Double Delight, I have one, it's covered with thrips.

JAL said...

MadMan - Sorry to see your news.

Hope your weekend with your mom will go well for you all.

You are in my thoughts. May you experience the comfort of God.