14 January, 2017
“When a Rose is more than a Rose!”
Good Evening JoJo. I’m really pleased with myself right now because I’m actually trying to make good on my declaration to be more prolific in the production of installments of “The Crystal Chronicles” this year. (ha,ha,ha,ha)
About a week ago, I decided that because I cannot remember exactly how a number of my pieces came to be in the collection, I would look at the photos I’ve already accumulated, and just write my thoughts on their meanings and such. I’ll be calling those little anecdotes “Miscellaneous Musings”.
I’ll associate photos with them, and you’ll see the various captions or titles that I will have given them, but there won’t really be a full story behind them per se. However…. there will be times (like this particular evening) when I will be able to look at a couple of photos, and still put together a nice meaningful story piece.
This afternoon, I had occasion to have one of the many “commute conversations” with my friend Tanuja that we have not only every morning as she drives to work, but also on the occasions when she is traveling to a social function on a weekend!! As a result of that activity, I found myself perusing my photos, and I stopped at the “A Rose is A Rose” series. I thought this would be a pretty nice story to write about this evening, and so my “Miscellaneous Musings” will be postponed until another time.
(smile)
Here’s the tale of the Rose….for a number of years my lovely friend Tanuja has been a volunteer with the Tournament of Roses in Pasadena. Each year she is given different assignments that can range from writing articles for the official website blog, to live tweeting (from under a set of bleachers no less) commentary on the parade as it works its way down Colorado Blvd., to spending New Year’s Eve night / early morning actually out on Colorado Blvd. engaging in conversations with parade spectators who’ve camped out there!!
Two years ago for the parade for Jan. 1st, 2015 she was given the task of interviewing the oldest living Rose Queen. It was a nice assignment, and her interview / article would be posted on the official Tournament of Roses website for all to see!! I was intrigued with her having that kind of assignment, and I offered to help with research on the former Queen, a wonderfully gracious lady named Margaret Huntley Main who was 93. Just for the record, as of October last year, she still holds that title, so she’s 95 as I write this tonight!!
Anyway….Tanuja was gracious enough to let me help her with the research, and was willing to even let me contribute to the article (she said I was a good enough writer. [smile]) after she had conducted her interview with Ms. Main.
I enjoyed sharing that exercise with Tanuja so much, and I learned so very much about Ms Main, that in conversations with her (Tanuja), I would refer to this very nice former Rose Queen simply as Margaret.(as if I had any right to such familiarity!! [ha,ha,ha,ha]) I was very proud when the article appeared on the website. We were however, quite bummed though because it took the tournament people forever to post the article after it had been written!! (sigh)
I was given this lovely Crystal Rose by Tanuja, as a “Thank You” memento of our successful collaborative work!! (smile)
It is just another of the really beautiful gifts I have received from her over the years. She has given me a piece I call, “Blue Sail SailBoat”, a gorgeous Blue Crystal Christmas Ornament (which as of this date I have not photographed), a piece called “India Peacock Plate” (it’s photographed, but you’ve not seen it yet), there’s also an interesting little Duck (or it might actually be a Penguin, we’re not sure [ha,ha,ha,ha]), and a cute tiny set of crystal animals I’ll call “Under African Skies”. (smile)
You’ll (obviously) eventually see them all, but I think I’ll concentrate on trying to get into the writing groove these days. I’m certain that I’ve perhaps forgotten something else she’s given me right now, but those are the pieces that come to mind at this point.
We were feeling pretty good with ourselves and thought that her written exploits would be considered done….BUT….to her surprise, we learned that her assignment for the Jan. 1st, 2016 parade was to write an article on the care of Roses!! Are you kidding me?? (ha,ha,ha,ha) We couldn’t believe it. Neither of us knew jack about how to care for Roses, yet here we go again!!
Believe it or not, we did some more research, and actually came up with an article that they could post that gave a number of “green thumbed” hopefuls, an overview on how to plant and care for their rose gardens. We knocked that out, and met their assigned deadline for submission….and those folks never even posted it!! Perhaps it would be more correct to say that as of this writing, we’ve not been able to see that article on the website, and it’s now been a whole year later!!
So-o-o-o, there is much truth in the declaration that this Crystal Rose is much more than a rose to me!! It is the representation of one of the nicest memories I’ll always have of a very fun couple of written exercises that I got to participate in….and the very wonderful friend with whom I was able to share that activity!!
To read the final published article (edited down by their social media editor) on the official Tournament of Roses Blog: Read Article
The Crystal Chronicles 