The couple who bought my house in Winnsboro were kind enough to post pictures of the roses growing on that property. I always enjoyed stopping to smell the roses as I headed out for a walk in the mornings, and one bush did produce the prettiest roses. Of course, I don’t remember the name of the rosebush. Heck, sometimes I don’t remember the names of my kids. But I think I will do some research, and see if I can get another bush like this for my new house in Sherman.
IN THE NEWS
Well, after days of speculation as to whether Ronny Jackson would be approved to head the Veterans Affairs department, he withdrew his name late Thursday. Apparently 23 people came forward over the past week to report misconduct on the part of Jackson as White House Physician. Some of those reports included allegations that he had been lax with prescription drugs and drank alcohol on the job.
Since he had served two presidents before the current one, I wonder why nobody came forward sooner to report him. Several of the allegations were quite serious, and should have led to him being fired. Does that mean the allegations are not true or people just decided to look the other way?
Is there to be peace between North and South Korea? North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is set to meet with South Korean President Moon Jae-in for a summit to be held in the Peace House located in the DMZ between the two countries. This is the historic site of the signing of the 1953 armistice that ended the fighting in the Korean War, so maybe something else historic will happen when the two leaders meet.
Hundreds of Central American migrants who had been part of a caravan traveling through Mexico reunited in Tijuana on Wednesday. They plan to cross into the United States together this weekend, in defiance of threats by the U.S. President.
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday from attorneys on both sides of the travel ban issue, and a final decision will be made in June on this controversial issue. The president’s attorney asserted that the ban is a national security issue and not a Muslim Ban. The attorney representing the state of Hawaii, and a group of Muslim residents, pointed out the many times Trump has made extreme, and derogatory, statements against Muslims. Then in his second day in office, he tried to establish the first travel ban, that was then shut down by federal judges in You can read more about this story HERE on NPR NEWS.
JUST FOR FUN
A boy asks his father, “Dad, are bugs good to eat?”
“That’s disgusting. Don’t talk about things like that over dinner,” the dad replies.
After dinner the father asks, “Now, son, what did you want to ask me?”
“Oh, nothing,” the boy says. “There was a bug in your soup, but now it’s gone.”
A man walks into a bar and sits down. He asks the bartender, “Can I have a cigarette?” The bartender replies, “Sure, the cigarette machine is over there.”
So he walks over to the machine and as he is about to get a pack of cigarettes, the machine suddenly says, “Oi, you bloody idiot.”
The man pulls back in surprise and returns to the bar stool without a cigarette. He then asks the bartender for some peanuts. The bartender passes the man a bowl of peanuts and the man hears one of the peanuts speak, “Ooh, I like your hair.”
The man says to the bartender, “Hey, what’s going on here? Your cigarette machine is insulting me and this peanut is coming on to me. What’s the deal?”
The bartender replies, “Oh, that’s because the machine is out of order and the peanuts are complementary.”
GROAN!!!!
My friend thinks he is smart. He told me an onion is the only food that makes you cry, so I threw a coconut at his face.
Roses are for many Maryann and mother knows this too well, as she has been pruning these last few days. It has been a long/late winter up yonder here and we pray we will gather soon.
Not seeing a loved one for a while, being so close, certainly toils on one’s soul.
Even so…
Roses are meant for many reasons and occasions. The happiest to the saddest, there shall always be a rose.
)
The rose bush tells many stories and like mother on the farm and you in your new home, the memory of the rose shall always be.
She placed a red rose upon her own father’s passing, that moment in time at the cemetery in Arlington. Mother walked toward her father’s coffin, just prior to entering the earth of God’s deliverance.
She wept, she wailed, her body thrown over his coffin, not wanting to let him go, but knowing she needed to, to let her father go to the Good Lord.
Her black skirt and nicely ironed white shirt, drenched her with sweat, on this day in June (I think it was 1989).
Her husband loved to smell this, especially after a long days work on the farm; slopping hogs, feeding the farm cats, and making supper.
The weather was torture, as the heat protruded through the skin of all attending dad’s fruitful event. That one red rose she placed upon her father’s coffin, meant the world to her.
Still, that other rose meant something as well, possibly more, I am not sure.
****************
Year’s passed,
…June 22, 2012.
My mother, once again, had a rose in hand.
Her own husband, who always said he would make it until mother’s birthday. Sure enough, high noon, June 22, 2012, eyes wide open, he said three words rarely heard…’I love you.’
Thanks to my brother’s dog, Otis, who lay within feet of my father’s death bed, my brother awoke to the sounds of a ‘whoof.’ Mother, asleep at the kitchen table soon knew what was to come.
She did and felt blessed to have her beloved look her in the eye and say ‘I love You.’
This was his gift, proudly and placidly.
Church; she placed yet another red rose of peace upon my dead father’s chest, prior to dad’s entrance into the church for all to uplift him to the pearly gates.
She ever so gently tucked that rose under his hard hands, as I too placed my father’s most proud accomplishment of his daughter; my college tassels, along with what I desired to talk of at his celebration…’A farmer’s daughter.’ Knowing I wouldn’t be emotionally able, I tucked this also under dad’s left lapel of his suit.
I wept again.
Weeping shall remain and roses will always be there, the one’s we have ‘lost’ also will know the joy and love they have past on to us all.
Love you dad…hoo ya
red rose in between my MY OWN FATHER’S weathered farming hands, in prayer position. June 22, 2012,
Thanks for sharing those special “rose” moments, Sheila. Yes, roses can stand for and mean many things in our lives. When looking at the roses on my place in Winnsboro, I always felt a great deal of peace.