Roses and roses... Outdoor, Indoor and a little bit o' Legacy

Roses greeting me on the steps as I return from a long day at work

Gosh, mother's roses are beautiful...so old-fashioned and sentimental

Gathering some of them up is a wonderful "pausing" in the early evening

Yes, indeed, do "stop and smell the roses" from time to time...

...then place them around the house for some indoor enjoyment as well.

Ah, roses....it's really hard to dislike roses even after one has been nicked by the thorns of roses time after time after...time.

I have aways loved roses and have noticed them since I can remember but I never grew them myself until living in the first house of our early-married-life years back in North Carolina. James and I put in rose bushes there and had them potted into large containers as well gracing our patio in the back yard. Pretty and pretty darn profuse with their bloomings throughout the years, those rose bushes.

Out here on this island, I maintain my late mother's rose garden.

It's a tiny one and very casual. It's set at the base of our double stairs which leads up to the front door. It's backed by morning glory vines while lantana carpets its space and includes a simple pedestal birdbath sitting in the middle. It's quite lovely and reminds me of mother every day.

Since she planted everything in this little rose garden spot, I am determined to keep it exactly as it is...primarily red roses or red-orange roses with some light pink ones thrown in as well.

This week, after last week's drenching rains, it has decided to not only bloom but to BLOOM!

The photos above are ones I took early yesterday evening after coming in from work. Well, after coming in from orchestrating and mc'ing an in-store kids fashion show with 30 child models on a Saturday afternoon, wheh. This event was a lot of fun but also a big expansion of energy n' enthusiasm which afterwards definitely needed some inner-refueling and so I commenced my usual "spending time outside in the garden".

Soft, cool ocean breezes were catching the nose of our dog sitting out on the porch with me after we ambled about. These breezes drifted my way the scent of the nearby roses- catching me up within its deliciousness. Too heavenly to ignore! I plucked myself off my porch perch going to get the clippers out of my trusty wooden garden trug and then commenced to clip a few roses to bring inside and further enjoy.

Sometimes we do indeed need to literally, "stop and smell the roses," while sometimes as well someone actually does. "promise...a rose garden."

May your days ahead lend you roses or at the very least, a tinge of rose...through rose colored glasses.