The Mary Month of May

Okay! It's Hyperdulia month! We are already behind the eight ball! Our Mary garden is in shambles.

I started the Mary garden years ago, but Sister St. Aloysius has a special love of sitting out there to contemplate. She has rather taken it over, which is fine with me. You'd think she would have clued me into what an overgrown mess it's become. I mentioned this to her but she just said that she was enjoying watching everything grow so vigorously. I made a mental note to give thanks once again that her proclivities preclude her from being in front of a classroom.

I guess I should have learned my lesson about our relative tolerance for messes during the stove debacle.

I started the Mary garden with a "Mary" rose. You wouldn't believe the fragrance. I wasn't planning on going berserk out in our little patch of green, but then I stumbled across "Our Lady of Guadalupe". When you purchase an "Our Lady of Guadalupe" rose, part of the proceeds go to some charity. I don't know which one. I was too excited just finding it. It smells heavenly, too...but not as heavenly as the "Mary" rose.

Then one day while I was looking for rose food, I found the "Nun". It's a pure white rose. Not much fragrance. (At least it doesn't have a bad smell!) Eventually I added "The Garden of Eden" (Mary is the "new Eve") which is a climber and we found a discarded trellis in an alley to wind it around. I'm still kicking myself that I didn't grab the "Rose of St. Ann" (Mary's mom) when I had the chance. Now I can't find it anywhere.

I begrudgingly added the "Audrey Hepburn". She left the convent, you know, at the end of "A Nun's Story". Hope I didn't spoil the ending for you if you've never seen it. I'll tell you what, the ending spoils the whole movie, anyhow. Just watch it until she leaves the convent and then shut it off. You'll feel much better than if you watched the whole thing. I'm generally not so judgmental about girls who leave the convent, but Audrey didn't do us any favors in that film. At least Mary Tyler Moore kept us guessing if she was going to choose Jesus or Elvis. Viva Los Convent.

Sigh. I should face up to the fact that she probably chose Elvis. No nun could wear that much eye make-up and choose Jesus. How can that woman see out of those eyes? Her world must be a blur of black.

Where was I? Oh, yes, our Mary garden.

At one point, I unwittingly planted a morning glory in the ground near the back door. I had no idea the properties of this plant. This morning glory now covers the entire house and part of the neighbor's houses and trees, even though I tore it out of the ground years ago. Not only does it grow about a foot a day...and I'm not exaggerating...it also roots itself into the ground wherever it touches down.

It's like the devil. It's everywhere and you can't get rid of it. You can only keep hacking at it and ripping it out.

It's all over the entire garden and all the roses, which means our penance will be meticulously pulling it out of the roses while the roses, ever ungrateful, try to stab us to death.

We're looking forward to the rest of the this joyous month.

We'll have to run a Mary sale in the shop! Use the proceeds to purchase a Mary statue for the garden. Right now we only have a little statue of St. Rita. I really like her. She had to spend her life all alone in her room at the convent after she got her stigmata thorn wound. It smelled so terrible no one could stand to be around her. Ironic, since she had to work so hard to get them to let her into the convent in the first place. When she died her room smelled of roses. I thought she would enjoy being out among the the roses and their thorns.