Like A Rose

My flowers this spring have suffered from an abundance of rain and not enough attention from me.
The rain has been a bit more constant than normal; I think it rained for nearly 18 straight days in May. That, combined with an unfortunate spate of poor health on my part, has meant my flowers have been left to their own devices more often than not.

My roses have bloomed but rain quickly blemishes the rose petals. Plus rain washes away insecticides, dust, and plant food before any of it does that for which it was made and applied.

However, we had a few days of sunshine and the rose above bloomed out. It is the only one blooming at the moment.

It is my special orange rose, given to me in 2001 as a birthday present from a friend.

I have mentioned before that I took it as a sign from my mother, who had passed away the previous August from pancreatic cancer. We had a conversation about the after life a few weeks before she died. She had promised to send me something orange as proof that there is something more than what we see.

And so came this rose, which blooms around my birthday (and usually in August) to remind me of my mother, my friend, and our souls. (Today is not my birthday, though. That is next week.)

You might note that in this photo there is an inch worm hanging from the side. It was in the other photo, too, but I cropped it out. I didn't see the worm when I was shooting the pictures or I would have removed it from the plant.

For some reason the little inch worm amuses me and I decided to share it, too.