More on the Alpine Meadow

Narrator:

Bowles once wrote:

Voice of Bowles:

I would give anything possible in the shape of toil and thought, even putting up with such evils as dirty nails and worn-out garments to achieve even a quarter of an acre of such a meadow as those I rushed past in the autobus on the outskirts of Predazzo in the Italian Dolomites.

Narrator:

Bowles collected grasses that were suitable for his Alpine Meadow. This was at a time before grasses were popular in gardens, but Bowles appreciated them for their dramatic possibilities: their height and their movement. He referred to:

Voice of Bowles:

“tall flowering stems, delightfully light and elegant, which appear in July and last until spring…

MUSIC: (Reprise) Ring-a-Ring-a-Roses Levasseur establish and run under the next paragraph and Voice.

Narrator:

In the house, during the winter months Bowles filled vases with displays of dried grasses. His housekeeper, Alice, was not so keen. And whenever she had a chance, she threw the dust-gathering stems away. This irritated Bowles, who complained:

Voice of Bowles:

“Alice has been at it again!”