Sitting in the garden...

We're starting to get a second flush of roses in our garden. The garden seems to be rushing headlong towards Autumn so it's particularly welcome as a quiet reminder of the warmer days of high summer.

I like wandering in our garden. I try to do it every day, rain or shine, to make sure I am savouring all that it has to offer me. Admittedly, at times, it's nothing more than a quick mooch in the middle of getting the washing in, but my favourite times are when the children are at school and I can sit alone on the garden swing, with only the smallest glimpse of our house, and be still and pray and think and watch. That doesn't sound very still, does it, but it feels still to me, compared with normal daily life!

When I was out yesterday, this beautiful creamy specimen caught my eye. It only gets two flushes a year, rather than flowering continually as I'd really prefer, but they are so sumptuously full and fragrant when they flower that it makes any quiet spells worthwhile.

The colour is perfection. Creamy calico on the fronts of the petals and the warmth of freshly whipped double cream on the backs, which means that, as the petals fold in on themselves towards the centre, the colour reflects and intensifies and becomes almost pale gold. Heavenly.