I read a quote by Susan Branch the other day and it said, "Take lots of photos so you'll know summer wasn't a figment of your imagination."  I have one real rose bush that just happens to be producing the most delicate, beautiful, fragrant roses this summer, and I am thrilled.  It has been five years since that little bush has been given to me, and this summer it is it's turn to shine.  Yesterday, I took my five year old grandson out to my  tiny rose garden.  One rose bush and five knock-out rose bushes...that is why I call it my tiny rose garden.  I showed him the roses and had him inspect the center of each rose, and then I showed him the tightly closed rose buds and explained to him the process of the bud opening to the full flower.  I am sure it wasn't real exciting to him, but he did act slightly interested.  Of course, I am used to that, because that is how all the people I am surrounded with, act:)

I showed him how you can cut a rose off and bring it into the house, and then I showed him a few ways one can display it indoors.  There again, he acted interested in what I was saying. I showed him the thorns, had him touch them, and explained to him that the thorns were placed on the rose bushes to protect it.   Finally, I showed him how his mawmaw loves to take pictures of these beauties, just to share with you.  Who knows, maybe it will help him to understand his wife better someday.

The rose is one of those flowers that excites not only the sight, but also our sense of smell.  Just smelling this flower can take me back to my childhood, when both of my wonderful grandma's gave me a love for roses.  I can remember it so well.  I can close my eyes and be transported to their rose gardens and how I loved smelling each rose.  The thin, silky petals are so perfectly shaped and the intricately created center of each flower simply amazes me upon careful study of it. 

"As a countenance is made beautiful by the soul's shining through it, so the world is beautiful by the shining through it of God."    ~Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi

"I find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see.  The longer I live, the more my mind dwells upon the beauty and wonder of the world."    ~John Burroughs

And my friends, the older I get, the more I understand my grandma's love for these beauties. 

I am thankful that my little rosebush has survived it's five year life.  At times I did not think it would, but it did.  In reading my rose books I realize that growing roses can be difficult, and I know from visiting some of your blogs, you have mastered this skill. I would love to walk through some of your rose gardens with you.  I would like to be your neighbors and receive some bouquets of your roses.  I would also like to recommend that you give others a gift of a rose bush.  It is the gift that keeps giving year after year, if you can keep it alive:)



In the next post, I will be sharing a few highlights of our trip to Kentucky this past weekend, for my nephew's rehearsal party and wedding.  If you enjoy events like this, please stop by.