Far-Flung Randomness

I am overwhelmed by all of your wonderful, loving comments and emails about our dear Amy.  It is comforting to know that we are not alone with this ... that so many of you have recently gone through this with your beloved pets ... and that you cared enough to send such wonderful thoughts my way.  I am humbled.

This past weekend was a blur.  It began on Saturday morning with a beautiful sunrise.  I was sitting here on the couch in the family room, answering emails and thinking about how to write about Amy, when I noticed a beautiful pink light coming through the windows.  I grabbed my camera, put on a coat and boots, and I stood outside leaning against one of our oak trees, snapping photos while the sun rose.

I checked on the roses in the greenhouse, and I found that the bud on the Mutabilis baby was open!  (I showed it last week in THIS post.)  Looking at this makes me really anxious for rose season ... but I have so much to do before then.

Later in the morning, we went to see our grandson's soccer game.  I loved watching our daughters play soccer when they were kids, and I get to experience this feeling again with Drew.  It was cold, and we froze, but it was so much fun!

In the afternoon, The Husband and I went along with our daughter for the first fitting of her wedding dress.  You should have seen her face light up when she stepped out of the dressing room and looked at herself in those huge mirrors.  I took pictures, but I can't show them to you ... sorry.  Trust me, there will be lots to share after the wedding in June.

We had a wonderful spur-of-the-moment dinner with friends on Saturday night.  She called while we were at the soccer field, and invited us to come over after the dress fitting.  It was a delightful way to end a very hectic day.

Sunday was a whole lot warmer than Saturday had been.  Before anyone else was awake, I put on my coat and boots, put my second cup of coffee into a travel cup, and I slipped out the back door to go for a walk in the garden.

I love this time of the morning because the angle of the sun illuminates the barn in the distance beyond the garden.  There's still a lot of work to be done in the garden to make it decent.  I'm thinking of having a volunteer work day soon ... I wonder if anyone would come?

As I walked to the barn itself, I found that deer have been using the area around my new David Austin garden as a pathway to get to the pond next door.  Nothing is eaten ... yet ... but it's probably only a matter of time.  This garden should probably get its picket fence sooner, rather than later.

There is a beautiful view from beside the barn, the highest spot on our property, across to the vineyard at the winery next door.  In summer, this view is the most beautiful color of green!

I couldn't stand around and admire the surroundings for too long, because I had to get cleaned up and on the road to do a presentation for the Virginia Peninsula Rose Society, which required a 2 1/2 hour drive to get there.  It was really relaxing ... the traffic was light, the sun was shining, and I tuned my Ipod to my favorite Godsmack CD and turned the volume UP ... it seemed like the perfect day for some hard rock.  The folks at the rose society seemed to enjoy learning about the roses I grow.

Today will be a warm one ... perfect for pulling weeds and pruning roses.  There are still a LOT of roses left to prune.  While I was gone yesterday, The Husband finished installing the timber edging around the rambler fence.  It looks really good!  (I'll show it to you later.)

Now, I have to call someone and have them bring me a dumptruck-load of mulch.