Catherine Cather’s calendula
Catherine Cather was one of those women who liked words. Take calendula for instance. She just liked to say words like caLENdyula. And radulate that sounds a little bit like caLENdyula. She knew the meanings too. Whenever she saw a slug eating a lettuce leaf in her garden, she would tell people it was radulating.
She knew the names for things. Like where critters lived. Instead of calling them all nests, she would would always point out to people that squirrel’s mew or that spider’s nidus. She knew the words for where animals and birds live: aeyrie, den and lair. What you were really to call different kinds of baby birds: squabs and cygnets and keets.
She planted flowers in her garden that had interesting names and she knew where those names came from. Foxgloves like the ones she got from Mrs. Nannan, called that because they look like smart little mittens for the one sly enough to use them. Nekkid ladies. Everybody knows why they’re called that. Periwinkle. If you don’t live near no ocean, she says, you can’t imagine the shells. Black eyed Susan. Lily of the Valleys, Rose.
But calendula was her favorite. Called calendula, she told people, because it always starts blooming on the same calendar day every year. April first.
Catherine Cather was one of those women who liked words. Take calendula for instance. She just liked to say words like caLENdyula. And radulate that sounds a little bit like caLENdyula. She knew the meanings too. Whenever she saw a slug eating a lettuce leaf in her garden, she would tell people it was radulating.
She knew the names for things. Like where critters lived. Instead of calling them all nests, she would would always point out to people that squirrel’s mew or that spider’s nidus. She knew the words for where animals and birds live: aeyrie, den and lair. What you were really to call different kinds of baby birds: squabs and cygnets and keets.
She planted flowers in her garden that had interesting names and she knew where those names came from. Foxgloves like the ones she got from Mrs. Nannan, called that because they look like smart little mittens for the one sly enough to use them. Nekkid ladies. Everybody knows why they’re called that. Periwinkle. If you don’t live near no ocean, she says, you can’t imagine the shells. Black eyed Susan. Lily of the Valleys, Rose.
But calendula was her favorite. Called calendula, she told people, because it always starts blooming on the same calendar day every year. April first.
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