The Last Note: Coincidence?

 

Tο τελευταίο σημείωμα (The last note)

On May 1, 2019 I was flying from Athens to Denver on an United Arab Emirate flight that was completely full. As usual, I flew economy and was a little distressed that my surprisingly petite "B" seat was located between an African American couple ("A" and "C")--distressed not by their race (I hasten to add) but by their size. Those who know me personally are aware I wear size double X shirts and am embarrassed to confess that I'm "morbidly obese" according to dietitians. My mirror assures me I'm not that fat--and I was considerably more svelte than the very polite--but truly enormous--couple between whom I was sandwiched.

There was no way I could take out my laptop (or even a tablet if I had had one) on this rather long flight (just to New York or Dulles--can't recall which). I think it was 10 hours duration. I don't always watch movies on a plane, but that was obviously going to be the best way to pass time (although we somehow managed to jostle meals en route). I don't want to brag, but I am an unusually good traveler. Not many things faze me when I'm traveling, and I do remember I even managed a pretty good snooze at one point during this flight...but it was a very long flight indeed!

I did squeeze in two movies. I am always amazed at how many movies they manage to make available on flights. I am a lover of movies--and what surprises me even more is despite scrolling through dozens and dozens of flick promos, surprisingly few have any interest for me (I hate movies with gratuitous blood, almost any "action picture" I find boring, let's skip the cartoons this flight, then there are those sincere, heartfelt dramas that turn my stomach and finally a few old classics I occasionally like to revisit). One of my recent flights had a Wes Anderson movie (I was thrilled outta my mind! "Moonrise Kingdom"--loved it btw). Emirates had the usual vast store of unacceptable titles--I scrolled through. Somehow I'd managed to miss "Ghostbusters" when it first came out in 1984. I watched it...watchable at the time, although I have no residue of memory about it (bad sign). Perhaps because I was too focused on finding the ghost "Slimer" who my good buddy Bill Adams told me decades ago looked like an albino Scrophularia macrantha flower [there! I did it: snuck in a botanical reference!--the inclusion of this little essay in my very chlorophilic Blog is now justified!]

It's a long flight...I scrolled the endless list of English-speaking mediocre films again and again. This WAS an Emirates flight after all--and sure enough there was a vast array of OTHER film offerings: dozens of films in Arabic (obviously), a whole section of Japanese movies, Chinese, Korean, French, German and by God! there was a section of GREEK movies. I'd just spent two weeks in Greece--and I speak Greek for Heaven's sake! I'll watch one of those...

I picked The Last Note

You can read a synopsis and even watch the trailer for this movie here. The storyline is an echo of Sophie's choice, only here the protagonist must choose another prisoner to replace him or join the 200 who were sent to the firing squad. He chooses to join the 200. Among whom was also my uncle.

Panagiotis Kornaros (painting in my home)

 Not long into watching the movie I realized, of course, that my uncle might well have been part of the plot--and as I saw the group shots of the prisoners in the concentration camp I imagined him among them--I kept wondering if he (or a actor portraying him) might even be granted a cameo.

The final scene where the doomed are being marched from Haidari to Kaisairiani to their death, I  looked intently, intensively at the marchers, as if I might have caught a glimpse of him among them.

In the credits, however, all 200 martyrs (the cream of the progressive Greek intelligentsia of the time) were listed by name. And I spied his there among them.

I don't think that outwardly I showed the shock and agony I experienced inside myself as the film drew to a close. I sat there stunned for some time. Somehow the date, May 1, 1944 was evident--perhaps in the description of the movie, or in the closing scenes. It didn't take long for me to recall that my flight was taking place on May 1, 2019.

There's something fatidic about anniversaries--the 75th being somehow more resonant than had it been the 72nd or 83rd, say.

I am not particularly superstitious, nor prone to conspiracy theories. Although in a vague pantheistic fashion, I can be accused of being spiritual. My life, however, is rife with uncanny coincidences--this being a particularly succulent example., Something I attribute more to a sort of Nabokovian temporal patterning rather than true Fate or the Master's hand.

Who knows, maybe I'm wrong?

Postscript.

I posted a link to this blog post on Facebook where it was subsequently barred--because it alleged I was trying to solicit "likes"! I did enter a protest and hope they change their minds.*

*Follow up to that postscript: Facebook recanted and posted my link to this blog (to give them credit): the protest worked!

 

Legacy Lost. And regained.

 My pretty constant stream of flower-focused blog posts is pausing for a timely (I think) change of pace. I have been accused of being monomaniacally focused on the Plant Kingdom in both my personal and professional lives. I'm not sure that this is something I should be ashamed of...

But if you truly KNOW me you know I have quite a few other interests that possess precious little chlorophyll: I listen to music a lot: the soundtrack of my life is a tad peculiar--I love baroque music above all, but all the classics to boot. I grew up listening to folk music (Greek and American) and just bought tickets for the Denver Symphony's Dvorak concert next month (and Jan and I are regulars at the Met Opera HD Cinema series)...I'm not above enjoying Country Music (a big part of my soundtrack during my first marriage of 23 years). Bluegrass in particular has been a lifelong love. Doc Watson is one of my heroes--I went to a LOT of his concerts over the years. Ditto Earl Scruggs and Hot Rize. I even went to Taylor Swift's "Eras Concert" movie... Point proven?*

Let's not even start talking about my obsessive curiosity about Medieval and Ancient history--as well as a handful of other non-horticultural pursuits...(Literature for instance). Don't ask. You'll regret it.

But one of the deepest and widest streams in my life has been a commitment to social justice and progressive politics in general. My first name (Panayoti) was given to me because my mother's eldest brother (Panagiotis Kornaros) was one of the 200 leading Greek labor leaders and intellectuals who were imprisoned in the Concentration Camp at Haidari and executed at Kaiseriana on May 1, 1945. I have never blogged about him. But then there are thousands of blog posts I've yet to write....let's see how many I get done! The legacy of my uncle's life was never lost on me.

S. Barbara Hilyer

I haven't had the privilege of meeting the author of the book I'm reviewing (the picture above is on the jacket of her book---but also in a fine interview and review of her book in the Ashland News). But she is friends with a dear friend of mine of over 40 years--Baldassare Mineo--who was hawking her book at his house when I visited. OK, Baldy happened to have been a great nurseryman and is still a fabulous gardener--(who I must still blog about)--but this isn't about plants I promise.

It's about the profound racism that permeates the United States of America. Although Greek American  my skin has enough melanin that I've been refused service twice at restaurants--albeit this was a long time ago. The sting of those experiences was a nasty surprise at the time--and of course like a thimbleful of pain compared to the oceans of prejudice faced by those perceived as "Black" or Mexican--or whatever ethnic or skin-color group is unpopular in whatever circles. I have had enough close friends of many shades of color, and I've read enough and possess sufficient intellect and heart that I believe I "get it".

And I also get that most "white" people don't. Since we are a few months away from an election which will be (admit it or not) a bit of a referendum on just how racist America really is**. Yeah, yeah, I know--there are all these OTHER issues--the border. The economy. Immigration. Don't scratch those too hard--you're apt to find a hint of racism lurking there too. 

I found Hilyer's book to not ONLY be a thoughtful description of her amazing life, but a veritable treatise on the complexity and ambiguity of race. It has a timely resonance, considering one of the candidates for the Presidency has had her race already challenged by her opponent. This book provides a fascinating context for that and other peculiarities with America's obsession with skin color.

The plot is simple: Hilyer grew up in Seattle as an integral member of a white family (although she recounts a few instances in her early life where her racial identity was questioned--to her annoyance and indignation). 

When her father dies, she discovers she in fact is (also!) African-American: the book then traces her systematic search for an extraordinary family tree she had no idea existed. The Black legacy she reclaims is remarkable, including a Nobel Prize winner and outstanding professionals, as well as some who were fatally bruised by America's searing racial double standard.

I am not sure that truly racist Americans will ever read this book. I suspect most of them don't read books (to reveal one of my own little nasty prejudices). Since the book's tone is expository rather than polemical, they might not get it even if they tried.

But they are the ones I wish would read it. I doubt many of them read Prairiebreak. But since I suspect that anyone who follows my blog is pretty enlightened, I know the book would further clarify your own concerns about race in America. It only costs about as much as a few cups of Starbucks or a two meals (or less) at McDonalds. If I were you I'd buy it!

It can be ordered from any independent bookstore or purchased on bookshop.org

P.S. Baldassare just told me about a wonderful VIMEO video talk Barbara Hilyer delivered in Sun Valley, Idaho recently:  “Legacy Lost” with Barbara Hilyer on Vimeo. Hillyer is a born story teller and teacher--and charismatic to boot--the 45 minutes listening to her talk are time well spent.

The cover of Ebony magazine featuring Hilyer's aunt Helene Hayes that she mentions in her talk can be accessed Here.

*I should have mentioned that I love Jazz, South American folk music...I could go on...

**Racism compounded by misogyny I might have added.

 

For plant nerds only. Muggles stay away!

Acanthopsis disperma

It's tiny. It's spiny. Annual to boot. But it's Acanthaceous (and blue!)--exactly my kind of plant. We saw this all over the hills around the West end of the Orange River--each time looking and growing differently. Sort of like a stunted Ajuga with an attitude.
 

What a disheveled little munchkin! Not for neatniks, I can assure you! Spell check doesn't think neatniks is a word--Oy Vey!

Presumably early in its growth cycle it still has basal leaves. I don't think they last long.

But the central cone-like flower stalk begins to rise...I know I should have cleared all that white dead stuff to try and make it prettier. HA!

There never seem to be many flowers poking out at one time...

How fun it would be to haver this poking out of my crevice garden (my granite is almost identical--loaded with pink feldspar!)

Aha! Two flowers at once on this floriferous imp!

In places they made huge colonies--most of these are probably last year's dead cones.

A plant I am never apt to find on a seed list--but I couldn't resist photographing it whenever we stumbled on a colony. I confess--I am a plant nerd!

The appearance is far more cactus like than Acanthoid, to my eyes--like some strange dark form of Echinocereus. But I can assure you this is what this plant does in its final stages...I confess that I did try and poke around to see if there were seed: it's prickly as a cactus I can assure you. Not that I would have smuggled any back if I'd found seed, of course. Of COURSE!

The capital of color: Springbok, Namaqualand

A view of Springbok--largest town in the nearly mythical realm of Nanaqualand. This picture was taken near the top of a spectacular hill chockablock full of botanical treasure--another story. Our two full weeks in Namaqualand were full of superbloom--it's a very good year there--and ironically some of the best bloom was right in the heart of Springbok! This blog will touch on that a bit!

This is about ground zero in the town: most of the building is in the higher ground at the base of the hill--also on the other side of the mountain. A huge swath--200 acres? hard to tell--smack dab in the center of the town is a mad conglomeration of color--mostly Osteospermum hyoseroides--but a half dozen other annual daisies as well. And much much more as you will see...

You can see one of my very favorite interlopers scattered in the foreground...

We found Lapeirousia silenoides growing abundantly all over Namaqualand: such a stunning flower never loses it's allure, no matter how common.

If there were only a hardy form of this gem!

We found amazing Arctotis and Gazania all over Namaqualand..worth a blog in their own right. I believe this is Arctotis canescens--which I think is perennial in this climate. 

There were two Babiana scattered EVERYWHERE on the flats and on the mountain. This one is Babiana curviscapa

And this is Babiana flabellifolia: I must have taken a dozen pictures of this--just love the true blue color!

Not far out of Springbok was ANOTHER superbloom--this time mostly succulents. I have had a love affair with Cheiridopsis namaquensis for a long time. I have even overwintered it (as C. cigarettifera a name I loved!). The Springbok form isn't likely to be hardy--but it extends a long way up the Roggeveld plateau where it gets very cold. I have seen this species many times--but never in such untold numbers!

The variation was amazing.

The rains had brought on prodigal bloom

Walking through acres of these was surrealistic!

You do not want to have to see all the pictures I took of these...but I have to share a few...

And then we found a white one!

Here we are looking on the OTHER side of the magical mountain (the contents of which would need a dozen blog posts to share properly)...but do linger on the next few frames as I zero in on a HERO!

This was my tenth trip to South Africa. The last four trips I took were led by this amazing gentleman...

Karel DuToit was born on a farm south of Springbok near Garies (we visited there--driving through perhaps a hundred miles of solid superbloom incidentally).  But Springbok is his home for many years. He actually is wearing a Springbok drawing on his shirt and he's a big fan of the Springbok rugby team (he played rugby professionally too many decades ago!).

It would take a long time to fully limn Karel's many merits: he's been a highly acclaimed police officer for nearly four decades--no one has arrested more poachers in South Africa than he has (the numbers are in the 500's). His commitment to conservation, to Nature is unparalleled.

We were privileged to have dinner at his home with his family twice during our visit--and after my fourth trip with Karel I can honestly say I have never traveled with a more knowledgeable, fun and dynamic leader. His knowledge of the backroads, the farms, the vegetation, the animals is astonishing.

To spend two weeks with Karel in Namaqualand in a year of super superbloom was truly off the charts!

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! A big chunk of which we left among those flowers in Springbok, Karel! 

Four fiery Pellies...

Pelargonium magenteum

Magenta and scarlet aren't for everyone, perhaps. But they are high on my list of favorite colors (OK, I admit it, I'm a chromoaholic). It was a bit of a coup (I thought) to see four bright red-spectrum flowered pelargoniums on a single trip--the first was photographed at Kirstenbosch. (That counts, doesn't it?)

 

Pelargonium sericifolium

 Finding this species scattered here and there in the veldt was one of many highlights of our time at Nigramoep--an amazing 10,000 acre preserve we'd visited and asked to visit again...Marius (our host at Nigramoep) told us the preserve has 24 distinct species in the genus identified so far, including a newly described endemic taxon! Click here to read the story.

Pelargonium fulgidum

We found this little waif several times in the vicinity of Port Nolloth near the coast of northern Namaqualand: I recall seeing it around Kleinzee last year--so it is likely pretty widespread.

Pelargonium incrassatum

This species was dotted here and there all over southern Namaqualand. We first saw it two years ago not far from Springbok: I recall my surprise when our amazing guide, Karel DuToit, pulled one up and started munching on the tuber. He shared with us: I am embarrassed to say it was pretty tasty! I generally don't make a practice of eating my flowers...this was photographed near the N-7 on the road south to Van Rhysdorp.

We saw a lot of other Pellies--but this is just to give you a bright red taste of this amazing genus--one of several compelling reasons that have brought me here ten times!

Superbloom redux!

Cleretum hestermalense (formerly Dorotheanus)

One of the many highlights of our amazing trip to Namaqualand was driving past endless miles of pink painted by this diminutive annual with comparatively huge flowers.
 

It grew over a wide swath of territory between Kleinzee and the mountains leading to Springbok.

Among the Cleretum were often masses of other plants as well, such as this rain daisy (Osteospermum pluvialis)

Babiana sp. unknown

We found babianas on almost every stop--a dozen or more species are recorded for the area--I couldn't determine which one this was...

Rain daisy (Osteospermum pluvialis)

Proof I was there!

Jordaniella cuprea

Not far from the Cleretum, this mesemb ade a spectacle--the flowers running the gamut of peach, apricot and soft yellow--gleaming in the late afternoon light.

Zaluzianskya villosa

I was astonished at the quantities of this amazing annual that came in a variety of forms and shades and carpeted the ground with white. I had never seen it before on my previous 9 visits--this time it was EVERYWHERE we went in Namaqualand.

Especially fetching combined with the mesemb...

The Crasseuryops behind was also in superbloom--miles of symmetrical mounds looking like chrysanthemums laid out in nursery rows, as our companion Mike Slater remarked.

And let's not forget that there were dozens of other taxa along the way--this glorious Lampranthus otzenianus....but if I showed them all the blogpost would never end!