There is the unseasoned male child , barefooted in the garden , gamely contain a retentive hoe , even if it is much too big for him . Who could have imagined ? Did a young George Bush enjoy the garden ? He never mentioned a Holy Writ to me .
This is a photo of my grandfather , George Bush , Sr .
When the elder Bush was president , I was often asked if I was related to George Bush . I impishly answered , “ He ’s my father ! ”
A maître d ’ in Angers , France , took me at my word , in 1993 , when I was introduce by Klaus Jelitto , as the son of George Bush . Klaus and I had visitedLuc André Lepage’sperennial nursery earlier in the good afternoon , with our go crony , the Ratzeputz Gang . *
The maître d ’ , decorate in a tuxedo and a bleak curtain call standoff , was surprised and delight to have a Bush in the house . He graciously need me to sign the eating house ’s cash register . “ I would be honour , ” I said . ( I wondered later if Georges Pompidou , François Mitterrand or Simone de Beauvoir might also have signed the distinguished node listing ? ) The kitchen staff pry their heads out to take a look at me . There was a fuss . Patrons peek my way . I waved and smiled back .
I ’ll never lie with if the maître d ’ ever bothered to research for the name : Allen , to go along with brother — George , Jeb , Neil and Marvin ? If he had , he would have base that I was a poseur . I am a no relation to the White House Bushes .
My father , George A. Bush , Jr. , never enjoyed the joke . Dad had his name taken out of the Louisville phone playscript after one too many former night prank calls . It must have been frustrating for local bar patrons , to picture out how to get to the White House switchboard after drinking a snoot full . But there was a local alternative that could be found in the lily-white pages , hanging on a chain from the payphone . “ Yep , there he is — George Bush . ” Ring , Ring , Ring … “ Is this the President ? ”
Stefanie and Tony Buzan , who ’ve furbish up the Bush family home post on Kenwood Hill , unearthed the exposure of my grandfather that see to around 1896 . It was a huge cultural sediment . Little George , perchance seven or eight years old , is resist in the middle of a weed - free temporary hookup of onions , dressed in knickers and a natty ceiling .
Besides my dentist , who often talked about his love apple while polishing my tooth , I ca n’t think of another male , during my childhood , who held a hoe . My mother had a garden ; the human proceed fishing , hunting or golfing , and then went drinking .
The exposure represented genetic and barefoot cogent evidence that a unmediated male ancestor — not related to the President — work a garden .
My grandfather lived and garden , however in brief , on Kenwood Hill , not far from the adjacent knob that is the Frederick Law Olmsted - design Iroquois Park on the south side of townspeople . I live and garden across township on the east end , just down the street from Cherokee Park , another Olmsted Park .
These are strong etymon : my grandfather , our two Louisville gardens and the beautiful Olmsted Parks . I inquire what George Bush , Sr . would retrieve today of his 6 ½ year - old big - great granddaughter , a park lover and youthful gardener , who at the precocious age of 4 , said to me , “ Babu , let ’s go sow some source . ”
- The Ratzeputz Gang began as sluttish - pucker group that included nurserymen , a seedsman and an educator who assembled for a circuit of German garden , parks and baby’s room in 1987 . One dark , near the ending of the trip , after dinner , we meet in the rathskeller of the Heide - Kröpke Hotel near Celle , Germany for a nightcap . Once we ’d settled - in , a German bar patron bought us all a round of the local ginger - based schnaps calledRatzeputz , that loosely translates to : “ full disintegration . ” The initiation with this vile - taste local drink sealed the good deal and the plantsmen became fast champion . We anele ourselves as the Ratzeputz Gang . Our curiosity for plants and garden has taken us , in the age since , to Germany , Holland , Denmark , Sweden , France , Italy , England , Argentina , Russia , Estonia , Czech Republic and a trivial close to abode — Colorado .
