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| Heirloom |
I found my Lowe's gift card with a few dollars left on it. A table at Lowe's had plenty of Shasta Daisies on sale, so I took a few, plus one pot of mums. Removal of the Hostas to the backyard meant I had some low spots in the Rose Garden. The rain was promised but had not come. Yesterday took care of that. Rain came down so fine that it hardly made a difference, then the serious clouds unleashed rain suited for another Ark.
Where were the new daisies and mums? They were soaking up God's own patented fertilizer, rain mixed with usable nitrogen. Sassy had her own bath towel by the door, so she could go to the ladies' room and come in to be dried off. Several times she decided she could wait a little longer.
Someone recently asked, "Why do you grow roses?" A look at the garden provides the answer. The little plot of land has produced flowers from Joe Pye, Allium, and Shasta Daisies, but they are not winners - too big, to stinky, too small - when compared to a vase full of roses. The best alternatives are from spring and fall bulbs, which bloom riotously but stay quiet the rest of the summer - Daffodils in the early spring, Gladiolas in the late spring.
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| Bride's Dream |
I enjoy having people point out the newest roses blooms. "Did you see that new one?" the ask, as if I garden for the weeds. Everyone gets a charge out of them. The staff of the diabetic specialist said, "We love seeing Christina's name on the schedule. It always means a vase of beautiful, fragrant roses, with a list of names."
Some are already muttering, "He bought some roses already, almost November. Good luck with that." Yes, the least likely supplier had some overstock so I decided to gamble, or it is gambol? Rose clearance sales give me new names to remember and appreciate.
I am guessing that these are from the wholesaler. I have received very mature (overgrown by nursery standards) roses from Weeks Roses. I can dig up some wild roses (always on my Must Do list) and replace them them with clearance roses. The wild one will bloom dark red in the early spring and then take a vacation - except for their delight in snagging skin and cloth.
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| Falling in Love |
One Facebook reader agreed with me - people need to be closer to God's Creation. One reason is Jesus Christ the Lord of Creation. He was and is the creating Word of Genesis 1. God the Father commanded and God the Son executed the commands, the Holy Spirit hovering over Creation and leaving us that witness. "All things were created by Him and nothing was created apart from Him." John 1:3 explains Genesis 1 in that fashion.
Given what the Word of God reveals, a husband should always view his wife as God's Creation, and the same with her - seeing her husband as coming from God Himself. There is no force more powerful than that, since children - the blessed fruit of marriage - are nurtured and trained by that union, where two become one.
The flower girl at the wedding was in the arms of her father, so she could carry out her duties and not be distracted. She took the petals in her hand and dropped them down the aisle. Then came that special moment, when she was eye-to-eye with me. She gave me an unmistakable and mischievous smile - and tossed her last handful of flowers straight at the groom, leaving him well decorated. Everyone saw the flowered groom and laughed. A few of us saw the flower girl's fun.
I was going to summarize the trip to Seattle, but that image is the week's epitome for me: a man and a woman united by the Word of God, friends, relatives, parents, grandparents, and great-grandma. The uncles only had to show up to delight their nieces, but they entertained the girls as well. That was another indelible picture.
