old roses

Frequently, hybrid tea roses are grafted onto hardy old rose root stock. After a particularly hard freeze one winter, the pink hybrid tea rose bush died. The next summer, the old rose roots threw up these eager red, red roses. They bloom only once a year, but boy do they bloom with enthusiasm! Not much scent, but a lotta color!

And one of my favorite sights is the stained-glass translucence of sunlight on the leaves. Still emerald bliss.

I was sitting close to the window, working on the lace, glanced up to see three crows feasting on the mushy watermelon we threw out, then looked back at my work. Suddenly the crows started shrieking. Shrieking, - I kid you not! I looked back outside, and there was the neighbor's Abbysinian cat with a crow's throat clamped in her jaws. The other two crows were just standing there, yelling. The cat gave the crow one good shake, and was up and over the fence with it. A couple of minutes later, I could hear, through the closed window, one of the neighbors hollaring, "Abby! NO! Put it down!" that cat's a heck of a huntress.

The lace has gone ever so much easier. I finished the first swatch today. Same pattern twice more in different colors. And then a few neckpieces with beads on them. Pretty!

And the weigh-in at Weight Watchers brought good news today. Last week I was up a pound and a half. This week down four pounds! yayyyy! I ate a lot of strawberries this weekend. That must have done it. The Hood strawberries are in and I'm gonna eat myself into a stupor. That's my plan, anyhow. What local, seasonal goodies are you savoring?