Of Racing and Roses

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Well, I have to get something off my chest.  Years ago, I wrote a small newspaper piece that discussed the dreadful dangers of drag racing.  How terrible for our teens to engage in such risky behavior! 

So, is it hypocrisy or maturity that drove me to the same (legal) track with my family to don a helmet and ride along with my husband?  To hold a bouncing iPod and try to video corners like this?



 By the way, we had a blast in our closed course, racing against a clock.  So no worries, right?  I mentioned racing for pinks (wink) and one of my sons assured me that registrations are digital now and paper copies must be requested in advance from the DMV.  Ah. . . times, they are a-changin'.

From there, I traded in exhaust fumes and helmet hair to something more seemly for a lady. . . .  tending my garden.  A few months ago, a friend enrolled me in a local rose society.  Once a month, she and I take a class in some aspect of horticulture, history, etc.  My roses have looked great this year!


Sunshine Daydream


Madame Cécile Brunner

Hot Tamale

Yellow Lady Banks Rose

We are now a week away from the annual rose show.  The glorious day is arriving for trophies and ribbons!  . . . And my rose garden is bereft of blossoms.  Sigh.  Bunches of branches and leaves.  An early warm season got the plants blooming to their peak a month ago.  A few rounds of blackspot creeping on the leaves didn't help, either.  So, pickings are slim. 

There is one rose that still looks especially magnificent.  A long stem with lush, proportional, green leaves and a fat bud that promises creamy petals.  It's a winner.  I can sense it.  A definite contender in my newbie-rookie-beginner-never-won-a-medal-yet division. 

So, perhaps you can imagine how my heart beat a little faster when the sepals popped open yesterday. . . eight days before judging.  Imagine the silent, slow-motion scream of "Noooooooo!" resounding in my head.  

Wouldn't it be wonderful if that bud stayed tightly-wrapped, then opened to half-bloom NEXT Saturday?  Is it wrong to pray for God to stop a rose from blooming until it assures me accolades?  Just wondering.  

Ah, well, it would make a lovely decoration on our dining room table.

I imagine you are itching to see it. . . I'll try to keep you posted.

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