I was up early this morning and decided to take Megan out for a walk along the river. It’s still very cold, but it’s just the type of weather Megan seems to thrive in, she had a wonderful time running along the towpath and then walking through Grandpont Meadow.
It’s clear and bright, the sun is very strong, it’s the first day to tease with promises of approaching Spring.
I grew about sixty roses when I lived in California, I’ve lost exact count, but I’m sure I had at least that many. I knew that leaving the garden I spent several years creating would be one of the hardest things for me, just slightly less painful than leaving our many dear friends. I think of both very often, and now in the dead of winter, I’m dreaming of roses.
In the year and a half we’ve been in England, I’ve managed to pick up a few bushes, but we’re very limited as to what we can plant. Most of the back yard of our rented flat is paved with bricks, and in the middle of the garden is an enormous ash tree that from May onwards shades 80% of the garden; impossible for roses. There is a raised bed which you can see in the following picture, taken in June last year, that gets enough sun to grow roses and herbs as it is just out of reach of the shade for enough hours during the day.
You can get a real sense of the size of the ash tree by this image taken a few weeks ago during the big snow. I’m terrible with estimating height, but I think it must be at least 80 feet tall :
So we have very limited space to grow roses, and on top of that, we’re on a budget while I’m back at school, so there will be not great garden creation here like in California. I’m hoping that I might be able to buy a few bare root roses in the next few months, as the time to order and plant them is February and March.
So far, these are the roses that we do have in the garden, (I’ve not taken my own photos of most of these so I’ll use images from David Austin’s site for this group):
Alan Titchmarsh & Gentle Hermione
Scepter’d Isle & Sharifa Asma
Spirit of Freedom & Strawberry Hill
The Ingenious Mr Fairchild
I love all of them, especially The Ingenious Mr Fairchild and Scepter’d Isle which both bloom a lot and have intense fragrances. In fact, fragrance has become an utter necessity for me when choosing roses, I simply won’t buy another one that has a light or no scent. I want the added pleasure of not only looking at the rose but breathing in the heady scents, in all the varieties that roses produce. It’s like developing a taste for wine.
So I’ve been dreaming of roses, and dreaming of the garden that I would create if I had the resources. I’ve made this post as a sort of therapy that, hopefully, will allow me to indulge myself a bit and give some sense of satisfaction just by going through the process. So, here are some roses that I’d love to order this year, and hopefully, I might even be able to get a couple of them!
Jubilee Celebration
(This photo from Soho Rose Farm in Australia, all of the rest following are mine)
This one is a surprise to me. If you look at my collection so far, I’ve only ordered pinks, and I usually never like roses with strong colours or mixed colours, and here I am looking at one of the brightest and most mixed of all of David Austin’s roses. What changed it for me was visiting his gardens last year and seeing it in person. The scent is absolutely unbelievable. Strong, fruity, sweet, powerful. And there was something about the colour as well that gave it a faded and old-fashioned look.
I kept walking away thinking “No way, it is way off colour for your garden”, but I kept walking back, smelling it, and falling deeper in love.
Princess Alexandra of Kent
Another rose that I am surprised that I want so much. This one is clearly pink, but also a bit “brighter” than I would usually choose. However, seeing it in person made all of the difference:
Wow! Every bush that we saw of it at David Austin’s garden was covered with blooms. Huge, fragrant blooms that I could smell from feet away. The flowers are really incredible, majestic and impressive.
Lilac Rose
This rose has been around for a few decades, and I never hear much about it. I suspect that it’s probably unpopular for a good reason, and I have never given it a second thought. However, when I saw it in person, even with just a few blooms left on the only plant of it in the garden, I fell in love. I can’t think of any other word for this rose than “Victorian”. It has wonderfully ruffled edges and a powdery lilac colour with many shades fading at the edges, as shown in this close-up:
Lilac Rose also has a strong, old-fashioned rose scent to match. I find it charming and wistful.
The Wedgewood Rose
The Wedgewood Rose is one of the New Roses for 2009, and even if I wanted it I wouldn’t be able to order it until next season, it sold out immediately upon its release. But since this is my fantasy garden with my fantasy purchases, I’ll go ahead and add it in. This is another rose with rather tattered edges, but with a very soft shell pink colour and very large blooms which nod on the branches. It is gorgeous.
Of course, The Wedgewood Rose also has a very good scent. Utterly elegant and sophisticated, I think it will be a huge success for David Austin.
Jude the Obscure
This is the only rose on my list that I grew in California that I absolutely have to have again right away. There are other David Austin roses that I grew that I would love to grow again… William Shakespeare 2000, St Cecilia, Eglantyne, Sister Elizabeth, The Prince, Evelyn… all shown on this page of my California roses: http://www.robertmealing.com/2010/01/roses-from-my-old-garden/
But Jude is something special:
I love the huge, globular flowers on this rose, and the soft, faded golden yellow; but it is the scent that drives me wild. Jude the Obscure smells like sweet wine left in a jug infused with fruit on a summer’s day, and it is powerful and intoxicating.
It’s one of the few roses that I grew several bushes of in California, and it’s one that I just can’t live without for too much longer. It was heaven smelling that perfume once again when we visited David Austin’s garden.
Young Lycidas
Another surprise for me. I love the two-tone colour of this rose. Deep, rich, powerful. It reminds me of a fuschia. Of course, Young Lycidas also has a great scent.
Lady Emma Hamilton
I’m not sure what has happened to my tastes. Have they become more sophisticated and willing to accept complex combinations of colour? Have they become less refined and willing to allow gaudy combinations of colour? Detail:
Garrett loved this rose too, and I think that a big part of the attraction is the incredibly rich colour of the foliage. Deep reds and browns predominate, with shocking buds that look like flames, and then open up into beautiful, deeply scented blooms; fairly similar to Jude the Obscure in both shape and fragrance.
Well, that’s it. The top roses that I’d love to order this year, I think the one thing they all have in common is their very powerful scents. There are others that I’d add to the list as well… Pretty Jessica, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Brother Cadfael, Harlow Caarr, Claire Austin, Munstead Wood… but these are at the top of my list and the ones that I’d really love to try growing. Well, I can dream can’t I?
David Austin Roses: http://www.davidaustinroses.com/
Yesterday was the big day, and after literally years of anticipation, Apple finally launched it’s tablet computer called the iPad. Garrett and I have been talking about this for years, in fact, he’s been so anxious for a tablet computer from Apple that he’s put off buying a new laptop for several generations of releases now. I’ve been excited too, having used Apple computers for almost 20 years now, I’m a fanboy through and through. I followed the event on my computer as bloggers updated their sites with pictures and details, this was the very first image of the iPad that I saw:
In many ways, it’s just about what I expected it would be. I might have hoped that it would run OS X, but that would have been unlikely. I might have hoped for some incredible way of interacting with it that would blow us all away, such as I felt when the iPhone was announced a three years ago. And as Steve went through all of the features, I found myself certainly filled with desire for the iPad, but not salivating with excitement.
Apple released a video for the iPad that covers all of its features:
And within 24 hours, there was already a “Hitler” take on the iPad, pointing out many of the flaws and being just plain hysterical:
Right. No multitasking. No camera. No phone. Surely each of these will be addressed in the upcoming software and hardware versions, but none of them are deal-breakers for me.
I’ve read a lot of reviews and discussions on the iPad, and while it seems that there are not a lot of people out there that think they can understand where or why they would use this tablet, it makes perfect sense to me, I know exactly how I would use it… I would use it as very, very much like I use my iphone now… mostly as a portable computer for internet connectivity, email, music and video, and occasionally taking notes. Most of the time at home, I don’t sit behind a desktop to surf the web, I usually sit on the couch, curled up with my laptop, surfing. Or in bed. When I’m out, I use my iphone for the same purpose, when sitting at the coffeehouse, or in one of the Oxford libraries, I use my phone to look things up. For me, this is a perfect solution. The iphone is too small, and the lap top is too clumsy and awkward, the iPad is exactly the right size and shape for me.
I was delighted to see that they have a version of Pages as well for the iPad. I stopped using Word years ago, and I love Pages. It is clean, simple, fast, perfect for all my needs when writing essays. I doubt that I’ll do much typing using the onscreen keyboard, I can’t imagine taking the iPad to class instead of my laptop, but who knows, maybe I’ll find it works alright for that as well?
That I can watch my favourite shows and movies, listen to music, and play games will also be nice, and when I’m lucky enough to get one, I’ll surely use it for that as well.
As Steven Fry explains when discussing the iPad on his weblog, it’s important to remember that this is version 1.0, and that it the iPad will grow and improve over the next few years.
But even as it is right now, as I’ve reflected on it the past 24 hours, I’ve noticed an excess of saliva building in my mouth after all, and sure enough, the fanboy is drooling.
It’s the dead of winter, and I’m longing for, if not warm weather, at least the flowers that warm weather brings. For me, that especially means roses. Before moving to England, we lived in a house which had been my parents. They had planted some modern, technicolor roses in the front, and one of the first things I wanted to do was to find replacements. I had had some experience with roses over the years, but didn’t really know much about them, but I realised that they thrived in the spot, had a great scent, and bloomed most of the year (this was in San Clemente, California).
I remembered that I had a friend named Kathy who had been a neighbour and had the most wonderful taste in design. She also had a green thumb and created an award winning garden full of colour and magic, just the type of garden I dreamed of creating now. I remembered that she took great pride in her “old roses”, fussing them, and even buying a couple dozen huge pots to create a pot garden with them on the back patio. I remembered that they were incredibly beautiful, with huge flowers with lots of petals, and most importantly, had a delicious, strong scent. That’s the type of roses I wanted for the house.
I googled “old roses” and found a wonderful site that taught me the basics:
http://www.rdrop.com/~paul/main.html
And then I found an Old Rose Forum on GardenWeb where I learned more from the contributions of the members than I ever could from a book:
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/rosesant/
Soon I discovered the roses by a grower named David Austin, who specialises in creating modern roses with the charm and style of old, antique roses. These roses are sometimes called “English Roses”, and they have become my favourite group of roses. His main nursery is a few hours north of where we live now in England, and I was lucky enough to visit his gardens last summer:
http://www.robertmealing.com/2009/06/david-austin-roses-in-bloom/
Within a few years I went from replacing the few roses in front of the house to having over 60 bushes, all English or Old Roses. Here in England, in our rented flat, I’ve collected half a dozen in the past year and a half, but long to have a garden of my own again where I can plant to my heart’s content. And here, in winter, I’m longing for my beautiful garden with my roses. I thought I’d share some of my favourite photos to cheer myself, and hopefully whoever reads this, up a bit.
The Prince
Tamora
Evelyn
William Shakespeare 2000
Madame Pierre Oger
Jude the Obscure
Evelyn and Tamora
Comtes de Champagne
Sister Elizabeth
Eglantyne
Cottage Rose
Charles Darwin
Clotilde Soupert
Paul Neyron
Heritage
The most beautiful of all.. Megan among the roses..
Here is the entire gallery of roses from my old garden:
I love this weblog.
http://www.awalkaroundbritain.com/who-we-are/
Three guys (well it started as two and they picked up a third somewhere along the way), decided to travel around the country “singing for their supper”.
This whole thing appeals to the romantic in me. It speaks to the green and brown wearing wanna-be robin hood in me that longs to wear magic leather pouches and big woolly sweaters and eat with handmade wooden spoons. Their music also sings to my heart and captures that English quality that I love so very much. The site smells of heather and moss and lavender, fresh rain, wet leather, hot soup. I love it.
A few samples can be found of their music on these pages:
http://www.awalkaroundbritain.com/music/album/
http://www.awalkaroundbritain.com/music/songs-and-recordings/
There are two bands that I’m really enjoying listening to. The first is Stornoway, a local Oxford band that is on the verge of making it big. They have lovely voices and great harmonies. Here’s their song “Zorbing“:
The other band, Wild Beasts, has been rated in the top 10 of 2009 by many critics, including the Guardian.
The band has the same quality of background harmonies as Stornoway possesses, but are more adventurous with their vocals, and their lyrics are often very poetic and show an interesting mix of influences. I’ve heard them mention Kate Bush twice in interviews, so they’re obviously my sort. (And I love this video to boot), here’s “All the king’s men“:
Fantastic!
I should have known when it snowed at Christmas that it was going to be a “proper” winter. I’m delighted that it is, of course, I’m lucky enough not to have to drive in this weather (although even walking the streets can be hazardous, I was sliding all over the pavement today).
Here are a few photos from the past week, Oxford in the snow; beautiful.
This is our backyard after the heaviest snow a week ago. It’s a photo taken around dawn, but between the light from the snow and some exposure tweaking, it nearly looks like daytime, but there is a surreal light that is sort of magical.
The view out our front window the same day, neighbours having a snowball fight. We walked Megan over through the fields near the park and there were dozens of families playing in the snow as the roads were closed meaning no school or work for most people.
The view across Botley Road towards the allotments:
St Frideswide’s Church. This is our neighbourhood church which was built in the late 1880s for the people of Osney Town and the growing population of Botley Road.
I went to go feed the ducks, and the geese have come to the island as well, and they were hungry! The ducks and geese came running to me across the snow.
Osney Island, our home. More properly called Osney Town as that is what the area was called when it was built during the 1840s to house the workers of the new railway system when it came to Oxford. “Osney” or more properly “Oseney” was originally the area east of the island where there was once a magnificent abbey, the third largest in England at the time, and supposedly the most beautiful building in Oxford in its day. Gone, except for a piece of wall of a workshop on the grounds. Now a cemetery sits on top of it. Where we live was called “Oseney Mead” for hundreds of years, a little hump of land in the middle of the streams that The Thames (or more properly, The Isis, when in this area), breaks into when it passes through Oxford. Being in the floodplain, in the middle of a river, no one considered building on it until the commercial opportunity was imagined by a man who decided to purchase the area, fill it in to raise it above flood level, and sell out plots to enterprising builders taking advantage of the housing boom from the railway. Of course, anyone familiar with the area knows that Osney Town has flooded regularly since the time it was first built, the terrible flooding of 2007 just one more chapter in a long history. Flooding is so common here that the townspeople called everyone crazy enough to live on the island “frogs”.
In town, the tower of St Michael’s at the North Gate is the oldest building in Oxford, dating to Anglo-Saxon times. It’s about 1000 years old.
One of my favourite views in Oxford includes “the emperors” outside of the Sheldonian Theatre.
The History Faculty Building, my main library. I love to sit in the large bay windows while studying, it’s wonderful to look up and glance outside and watch the people on Broad Street.
One more of a hungry goose!
Magic!
I was finally able to make it back with a camera to the Steampunk exhibit at the Museum of the History of Science
There were several lights that were just wonderful:
And eyeglasses:
A keyboard:
I loved these strap-on wings:
Incredible clocks:
A creepy but wonderful device that seems to have a mechanical foetus in it:
And an assortment of other things:
The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England’s oldest museum, was closed most of 2009 for renovations, but has finally reopened.
It was entirely worth the wait, the museum is absolutely gorgeous. It’s modern, with entire wings newly designed with multi-level vantage points as one area looks onto to others on different floors or different areas. There are also several rooms that have maintained the feel of the old museum, but look like they’ve had their paint and paper cleaned up and are now glistening.
Everywhere, glass venues lead you to explore new areas that just never seemed to be there before this renovation. It is absolutely lovely what a perfect job they have done of balancing the museum of the past with bringing it up to date for the 21st century.
I’m in love, again.
A few photos from the visit today…
From a Florentine painting showing the life of Ceasar which I think might be of particular interest to my friend Ross:
The Triumph of Chastity:
One of my favourite images, St Nicholas flying to the rescue of sailors during a storm:
A few other images:
It’s been months since I’ve posted. That’s actually a good sign, I’ve been very busy with my class, writing essays. In October, we went to Naples for a few days, and I took some snapshots with my pocket camera. Here are some images from walking around the city, from inside some churches, and from the main museum which features some amazing wall paintings, many from Pompeii! We also went to Pompeii, I’ll post those photos soon. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy these, we had a great time.
To see the entire gallery of images, click here:
