Spring Fever

Yeah, the fever has got me in its clutches and I just have to say something about it. I included these pictures of dahlias because I love them so much. They are more than just a flower to me. They provide very special memories too. During my before mentioned illustrious career at Salt Lake Clinic (now one of those IHC clinics) I had a good friend who was one of the radiologists. This in itself is a rarity because she was a doctor and I was well an underling at best. Radiologists are a breed all their own. I decided long ago the people who want to be doctors but have limited people contact became Rads (informal term used but not necessarily with affection). I worked with a particularly wonderful one at St. Marks Hospital. He liked to throw things. I personally had to dodge a lead apron and a ladder…a story all it's own. The only contact Rads want to have with patients is when they are filling them with barium (through more than one body orifice) or some sort of contrast that lay people like to call dye. Let me stop here and make it clear that they are not the ones to insert the enema tubes, catheters, needles or ultrasound transducers (wands to non-ultrasound people). That lovely job was left up to me. They only showed up after the dirty deed was done. So, given that background being friends with one was almost like being some sort of traitor to my fellow Rad Techs. But my friend was way more human than most thus the friendship. Sorry, I’m rambling.




So anyway, my Rad friend introduced me to dahlias. I don’t think I had ever seen them before, at least not that I knew of. They come in many kinds and colors. Some of them get as big as a dinner plate! Their petals are so intricate and detailed. I could stare at them for hours and marvel. They are truly one of God’s creations. I remember one day she just showed up at my house with a whole bucket full of fresh cut ones. Boy, I miss her. I tried to grow them myself with limited success. There is some work involved so that’s probably why I wasn’t very successful. You have to dig them up each year and store them somewhere cool and dark which is too much effort for me.

She also shared with me some iris starts, decorative rocks (we were landscaping the yard at the time) and some flowers called Comos. She told me at her house they grew close together like a little border, only about a foot tall. So we planted them in the front of one of our flowerbeds. I don’t know if it’s that good West Jordan dirt (said with sarcasm) or what but ours grew six feet. No lie they were tall and thick! So needless to say they looked pretty funny at the front of the flowerbed. We had to use a machete to hack through them to get to the flowers behind. Okay, I’m exaggerating here, but they were that tall.

I will always think kindly of my Rad friend. Not only because she was so generous with all things floral and yard-like but because during Steve’s many, many tests she was such a great resource to me. She took the time to look at more than one of his CT scans with me and was very candid about what she thought was going on in his body. I really appreciated that. So here’s to human radiologists, dahlias and spring! Salute!