On roses

In the last few weeks I've been very lucky to have received a great many lovely roses, which, like buses, have all arrived in a cluster. The ones above arrived by surprise at the weekend with the Ocado man. My sister had arranged for him to come visiting and as well as these beautiful roses he also brought a bottle of pink sparkly goodness, chocolates, some mango (with a plastic lime, because Laura's shopping basket rarely gets filled without something a little odd ending up in there) and lots of other goodies. Her thoughtfulness and generosity often make me feel like crying - in a good way - because I feel so lucky that she is my sister and that people as lovely as her actually exist. (I also love that she is so sweet-spirited that she actually believed me when I told her by email this morning - expecting her to know that I was joking - that I could do headstands too and that the only reason I hadn't done them at Christmas time was because I didn't want to steal her limelight. Because that's exactly the kind of thing she really might have done. But really, if I was actually capable of doing headstands, I'm ashamed to say that I would have been right there with her, getting the children to give us marks out of ten).

This week I've mostly been sitting at the dining room table doing computery things (sewing room/bedroom: pit of dust and tools) where I've been able to look at these roses all day. They make me think of a man I knew at college - I always loved how when I asked him how he was, he would tell me that he was in 'rude health'. I imagine these roses trilling that about themselves - they are so outrageously cheerful.

Earlier last week my lovely Mama appeared with these beautiful blousey pink roses - they are exquisite and remind me of her lovely soft cheeks.

Sometimes I love something so much that I worry that I might actually photograph it away....do you think that having taken 59 photos of these roses is excessive?

 

And finally, a few weeks ago my husband bought me these beautiful white roses mixed with lilies - it was around our wedding anniversary and these are very similar to the ones that we had on our wedding day. At the time he bought them we were at the stage of building work where the front door was left open all day and the only place that I could go to keep warm was in the living room with the fire turned on...these roses kept me company in there and made it feel like there was a little bit of serenity in amongst the plaster dust.

I always think I know just which type of roses I love the best...but every time I look at the photos of all of these I'm unable to decide which type and colour really is my all-time favourite. Which makes it all the better that I can't see myself ever being in a situation where I have to definitively say which is the only rose that can continue to exist in the world. But imagine if you were....it's a decision that could take some time.

Florence x