Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Seven Sisters

Today has been a really wonderful day. The sky is so blue, the grass is so green, the air is so clean, and my Seven Sisters roses are blooming. Don't they look lovely?


And look at the cluster of buds just waiting to burst out into the world.



Days like today make me think of my grandfather (we called him BaaBaa ... don't know how to spell it ... maybe BawBaw?). Handsome, wasn't he?

When I was about thirteen I spent a week in the summer alone with him . Alone. The word alone is important because being alone was rare -- duh we had 11 kids in our family (7 girls, 4 boys, hence the Seven Sisters roses). All that togetherness was usually a blessing, but sometimes being alone was a good thing, too.

Anywhoo.

When I stayed with BaaBaa that year it was the week of July 4th. I have some special memories - waking on the fourth to firecrackers exploding a few houses away, BaaBaa cooking "hobo" breakfast in one pan (potatoes, onions and eggs all scrambled together - yum), and, later in the week, baling hay. I didn't do any baling, I just rode along on the tractor while a few men (including BaaBaa) walked alongside and, using pitchforks, tossed the hay into the baler. The smell of the hay, the blue sky, the freshness of the air and the wonder of watching my grandfather in an activity sooo foreign to a city girl. It's an experience I cherish and will never forget.
And on beautiful days like today the memory is especially fresh and sweet..

What memory does this wonderful spring day bring to your mind?

3 comments:

TexNan said...

What a lovely memory! I never stayed alone with BawBaw (that's how I spell it), though I remember staying alone with him and granny when I was thirteen. Now that was a treat! (We never stayed alone much with them, did we? Maybe cuz we were so many? Woulda taken a lifetime for us to stay one by one.)

Your roses are gorgeous. My Knockouts have aphids. :^P I read a tip about smushing garlic cloves and simmering them in water to make a spray to get rid of aphids. Maybe I'll use the insecticidal soap I bought last year!

LITTLESASSY said...

My knockouts are doing fine. Knock on wood. Hate to hear you're having problems. But I must say, the Seven Sisters are just blowing my socks off every day. The bush is about 12 feet tall, so it's the one I see when I look out the back window. And every morning I get up to see how many of the buds are open. It's GORGEOUS! I know they only bloom in the spring, so I'm enjoying them while I can. I want to get all the EarthKind roses, including the climbers, so I can have beautiful roses spring through fall. LUV ROSES!

number6 said...

WOW - THANKS FOR SHARING.