Friday, July 07, 2017

A Photo for Sabine





Sabine, I wanted to put this photo in the comments for your most recent post but, having very spartan technological skills, I have to put it here instead. I took this while prowling around in the graveyard at St. Mary's cathedral in my hometown one afternoon in the summer of 2012. It's one of my favourite quotes and I thought it was very fitting for the lady in question.



While I'm at it, I thought I'd include a few more photos from that afternoon. I'm missing home particularly this summer as Florida is hellaciously hot and humid, more so than other summers, and I can't imagine, at the moment, a pleasure greater than having to wear long trousers  and several thin layers of clothing in July rather than wondering (in Florida) if anyone would be offended if I just went shopping in the all-together.






We had come to the cathedral that afternoon to hear a recital by a choir from Cambridge University.....











I had to include the bridge as I love how those plants found a few footholds and went to town!

Those words carved in stone made for a better comment than anything I could say. I hope you continue to enjoy your garden for the rest of the summer - in civilised summer weather.

13 comments:

Elephant's Child said...

What a wonderful tribute and glorious quote.
Much more poetic than Cicero's 'if you have a garden and a library you have everything you need'.
My heart goes out to you in the heat. I loathe and despise the sweaty season and do my best to turn into a troll and only come out at night.
I hope you get some cooling relief. Soon.

Marigold Jam said...

What a lady she was! I like to think I might be capable of tending a garden at that age. Glad you had a good visit to your home town and cannot imagine how awful it must be to be so hot not just for an occasional day but all summer! We complain here in the UK about the weather often enough but at least we are not usually too hot! Love that bridge and the valerian which so tenaciously grows on stone work like that.

gz said...

(O)

Sabine said...

Oh, how wonderful! Thank you, dear Molly.
I cycled across that bridge 41 years ago, totally ignorant about Ireland. That year, 1976, the summer in Ireland was very hot and dry and I thought every summer would be like it.

molly said...


EC - Maybe not as poetic but he hit the nail on the head too! What better place to read than in a gardent? When I was a girl, my favourite place to read (weather permitting)was in a "nest" up a tree at the end of our garden.

Marigold - I could do it, maybe, in a moderate climate, but I might need new knees by my nineties!

gz - thanks for stopping in...

Sabine - Whenever we went to town we crossed that bridge over the Shannon - Sarsfield bridge. I'm amazed that you could recognise it as one you'd been on!

Sabine said...

My Irish in-laws include a historian and two architects and Sunday lunch often meant a lesson in both for me. I remember a long debate about the stone arches of the two Limerick bridges and my guess was right. But I have only been there twice.

Dee said...

Dear Molly, thank you for sharing Katie Symth's tombstone. What a lovely remembrance of her. The oldest cemetery I've been in here in the United States was in Vermont where I walked through tombstones that went back to the early 1700s. That's old here! But I did go to the church cemetery where Harold was buried after his body was dug up from the fields of Hastings. I had read the book "The Golden Warrior" and feel in love with Harold! I wanted to see Yorkshire and Hastings and the church cemetery because I wanted to retrace the last months of his life.

Yes. It is horribly here too in Missouri. When politicians deny climate change I wonder whether they still have their wits about them. Power and greed make for strange decisions. Hurtful too. Peace.

Colette said...

I am also struggling with the hot and steamy Florida weather these days. It makes me yearn for the north, for a place where summers could be spent outside with flowers instead of holed up in an air conditioned house. We just have to get through July and August, and maybe most of September, ha! From October through June I am always happy to be down here.

Secret Agent Woman said...

Oh, that's a beautiful tribute to a gardener. I love it.

Thimbleanna said...

Beautiful pictures Molly! I'd be very homesick if I were you too, as I much prefer the cooler weather. I hope you're not as hot and miserable as they are out west this summer!

Pam said...

I sympathise - hot and sticky is my unfavourite weather. Go and see your Little Blister?

molly said...


Colette - Well at least lush and green is better than dry and brown! Less fire hazard too, so - thankful for small mercies.

SAW - gardeners deserve tributes for making the world more beautiful for the rest of us.

Anna-Banana - We're managing but we'll enjoy Fall when it comes!

Pam - not an option this year, but next year is a big b'day with a zero so I'm holding out for that!

Susan Kane said...

What a legacy left by a 97 yr. old woman (name) who loved and cared for living beauty.

Grew up in Illinois and knew Florida's cursed weather from that. Mosquitoes, don't forget them.