Down Memory Lane

On one of our recent trips to north Portland MeMa noticed the marquee sign in front of Lombard Animal Hospital announcing an open house. In 1972, I had applied for the position of kennel cleaner. As I was being introduced to the staff the surgery door was quickly opened and out popped this little pixie of a girl with long hair and straining under the dead weight of an unconscious dog. When she got to the door leading to the recovery kennels the Doctor doing the introductions said “and this is Marjie,” she turned and smiled just as the dog lost it’s bladder soaking her light blue surgical smock. I jumped toward her asking if I could help, but she kicked the door open and said “nope, you’ll get plenty of your own.” It was love at first sight and still is after 43 years. Our late employer’s plaque hangs next to Marjie’s head in the photo and the second photo is note she received with her first paycheck, $1.80 per hour. The new doctors and staff were thrilled that we took time to come today and gave us a tour of the recently remodeled facility, they also took a couple of photos of the letter.

Looking forward to a peaceful 4th of July.

Madame Caroline Testout or The Rose That Made Portland Famous

Prior to the 1905 exposition Portland city leaders asked all residents to plant roses in their front gardens in hopes of being branded the “Rose City.”

The exposition committee decided on a hardy hybrid tea, “Madame Caroline Testout.” 

Famed French hybridizer Joseph Pernet-Ducher sold his beautiful rose to a dressmaker who named it after herself. The Madame Caroline Testout (pronounced “testoo”) a hardy hybrid tea rose has large pink petals with clear silvery pink edges. 

The Madame Caroline Testout rose was introduced to the U.S. in 1892 and the city of Portland imported thousands that were delivered door to door by the Portland Rose Society members in 1902.

The plan worked and Portland became the Rose City. Historians claim that almost a quarter of the city streets were outfitted with rose hedges. A few still exist in the older neighborhoods. Recently the garden section of our newspaper listed locations to see the roses, one of those was in a nearby historical graveyard.

It is amazingly quiet in the graveyard during a late morning on a weekday, only retired folks are out and about.

Madame Caroline Testout looking very well under glass

Swearing Off Trees

Kitchen window box

We have been doing a bit of traveling, mostly one or two days at a time. But I have also been spending all my free time in the gardens.

Pruning season is in full swing here.  I start up with the trees and work down. At this time I am still up. Two done, twelve to go. I have sworn off planting any more trees!

Spring Break

Sometimes getting grandchildren together from two households is like herding kittens. So when all else fails chase them up a tree and grab ‘em quick. It’s spring break for this lot and we managed to grab three out of five to spend two days with Poppi and MeMa. 

The noise level alone is amazing, when it’s just the two of us the ticking of our thirty some clocks is almost deafening. But when the grandkids are here we don’t hear a one. Supper was late so that made the big bowls of ice cream even later and bed time........well what happens at MeMa and Poppi’s house, stays at MeMa and Poppi’s house. The next morning for breakfast it was fresh baked cinnamon rolls while we watched the movie  Jumanji Back To The Jungle. After the movie and a whole bunch of giggling and goofing around we loaded everyone into the car and headed to a local pet shop that specializes in reptiles. Our two box turtles Ruby and Elmo were in  need of a nail trim

I used to do this task myself but shy away from it now because of Ruby’s great age (100+) , Elmo is very bad tempered and will bite the hand that feeds him. The manager was very impressed in their overall health, strength and alertness for such seniors. Just as he finished with Ruby, granddaughter Taeya came up to us and frantically told us that one of the shops resident tortoises  was upside down in its enclosure. The manager asked her if he unlocked the door would she mind rescuing it as the ceiling is only four feet high. My granddaughter since birth has spent a lot of that time at Menagerie Manor so she has been introduced to every sort of creature imaginable. I think she handled the rescue like a pro and the manager was very impressed. As she uprighted the poor flailing tortoise he let out a very human sounding sigh of relief that made Taeya giggle.

 

The now recovered tortoise took an immediate likening to his rescuer, it was as though he wanted to thank her.

After dropping Ruby and Elmo off at the house we headed to gymnastics lessons.

Then back home where Lucy immediately let us know how the rest of the day was going for all of us.