When the tide is right, I will hold you tight in the way

[sovay]

On May 6, 1923, my grandmother was born in Brooklyn. I have seen the naturalization papers of her parents and the census records of her childhood, but never her birth certificate, so I have no idea at which hospital or under which name, but her eyes as deep-set as a cat's looked out of the photos of her toddler self that papered the walls of the guest bedroom in my grandparents' house in Maine with the rest of the family collage. For her memory this afternoon, we baked the traditional strawberry shortcake for her birthday and tuned in to the Kentucky Derby, which my mother watched with her for years. She liked violets, so I brought some inside with the lilac, in a glass jar that used to hold horseradish.

Comments

[pameladean]

What a lovely memorial.

And the violets are wonderful. I keep thinking I should recognize the plants that are not blooming yet -- bouncing bet?

P.

[sovay]

What a lovely memorial.

Thank you.

And the violets are wonderful. I keep thinking I should recognize the plants that are not blooming yet -- bouncing bet?

I have no idea! I can try to take closer pictures if you would like. The yard looked absolutely dead when we moved in and now seems to be emerging as a neglected mix of ground cover, actual weeds, and junk. There's a second tree that's always out of shot and a couple of saplings growing accidentally through some kind of defunct garden frame.

[edit] According to the herbal on a_reasonable_man's phone, the intermingled green plant is indeed bouncing bet, although his phone called it soapwort.

[pameladean]

Oh, thank you, and thanks to Spatch too. Soapwort is indeed an alternate name. We have a lot of it back by the garage; it does not seem to need much encouragement to flourish, and apparently escaped from an alley garden across the way that has since gone over to grass.

The flowers aren't an amazing color -- kind of pinkish-white -- but they make a pleasant display for no more work than failing to mow them.

P.