When a flock of geese waddle through your riot, can it be a riot?
And do you know where Monet got his waterlilies?
[Stick with me… waterlilies for Monet below.]
Every Wednesday at 5:30 when the weather is pleasant, residents of my condo building gather in the courtyard for Wine Wednesday. Those who attend are mostly people who’ve lived here for several years, so the conversation is comfortable and rambling.
At one point I mentioned a video I’d seen on YouTube of a large flock of Canada geese waddling through the “No Kings” protest along the Portland waterfront June 14.
“Geese at the riots?” asked an older gentleman who lives down the hall from me.
“Riots? What riots?” asked a woman from the second floor. “You mean the protests on Saturday?”
She and I had both been among the tens of thousands of Portlanders who turned out to express our resistance to Trump’s attempts to become his addled version of our first American monarch, in this instance holding a military parade to honor his birthday (also Saturday).
The protest I attended was joyful, positive—people of all ages waving signs and banners—affirming that we still believe in the rule of law, free speech, and the rights of all people to due process. Geese may not be the wisest winged wizards, but no way would they wish to waddle through a wiot. (Sorry. Had to.)
“What made you think we were rioting?” I asked him.
“I saw it on Fox News,” he said. “They’re rioting everywhere!”
He saw what he saw on TV. I saw what I saw at the protest.
How do you argue with that?
For him a protest is not an expression of free speech; it’s automatically a riot. Once a person has made up his mind that immigrants are dangerous criminals (rapists, escapees from insane asylums, dog-eaters, etc) who are taking our jobs (Really? do you want to pick strawberries? tar roofs in the blazing sun? change your granny’s diaper?) and “poisoning the blood of our country,” there’s no space for discussion.
Too many Americans lack the curiosity to go beyond what they’ve been told is “fake news.” These are the same Americans who’ll be shocked when they no longer have access to medical care because Medicaid and Medicare are slashed in Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” when they get salmonella poisoning because food inspections are no longer regulated, when the national park they love is sold for mineral rights, when their taxes actually increase several hundred dollars unless they’re making over $51,000 a year—and this, just so folks a LOT richer than you’ll ever be get a big tax cut.
“But, he promised….” they’ll say.
Wakey-wakey.
Monet is having a moment at the Portland Art Museum.
One of his famous waterlily paintings has just gotten a facelift (removal of layers of old varnish) and is once again on display, more incandescent than ever. Notice the pink ones.
I visited Monet’s home at Giverny in June of 2013, but his famous waterlilies don’t start blooming until July, so I captured this Japanesque bridge over the lily pond instead. Looks a lot like the one at our Japanese Garden. (Monet loved Japanese art.)
Three weeks ago my friend Christine took me to the source of Monet’s waterlilies in Temple-sur-Lot, France. Here are some of the cassoulet pots in which each plant gets its start.
In 1875, Joseph Latour-Marliac was a botanical illustrator who lived next to a pond in southwestern France. He fell in love with waterlilies, and being a curious fellow, he wondered if he could create them in colors besides white. Using his paintbrush to cross-pollinate them, he created pinks, purples, doubles, singles—so beautiful that he took samples of them to the Paris Expo of 1889.
And guess who was there? Claude Monet. He too had a pond. He too loved waterlilies. He ordered dozens from Latour-Marliac. And ~250 waterlily paintings later, the rest is art history. The gardens are extensive and worth a visit.
Put Yourself in the Way of Beauty
Monet loved his waterlilies.
Me, I’m mad for magnolias. Four recent sightings, new to me:
And then THIS ONE!! Near my son’s house in Veyrier-du-lac. Never seen anything like it.
Do you have a plant species you’re mad about? I’d love to hear about it.
Or tell me about the No Kings protest near you… any geese? any riots?
We’re doing it again on July 17th in honor of John Lewis…stay tuned.
Meanwhile contact your Senators about the Bad Beastly Bill.
Stay strong. And hydrated. We’re in this together.
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Well, I guess we were a riot in Nashville. Best riot I've ever attended! I had the pleasure of viewing some of Monet's work at the Frist Art Museum several years during their "Impressionists" exhibit! I enjoyed your comments about him, his work and lily pads!!
Real rioters those Portland geese gaggles