First off, let me say, I intended to include a picture of mom sniffing a flower with a blissful look on her face with this picture. Note to readers, there are no pictures of mom sniffing flowers on Facebook. Surprised? Doubtful? Prove me wrong.
Anyway, this nice picture of Sarah will do just fine. Mom is the photo credit on the picture and I believe that it was taken at a botanical garden in Denver before Sarah's grad school graduation (wasn't that just yesterday...?).
Mom, Dad and Sarah just left Houston on Sunday (Sarah left Monday, but I was at work, so that doesn't count) after two weeks of visiting. During their visit aside from trips to the many wonderful culinary offerings of Houston, Jarrod, Mom, Dad and I went to Brenham to pay a visit to the Antique Rose Emporium. We would have gone to the Blue Bell Factory...but it was closed. We would have gone on the painted churches of Texas tour....but apparently Good Friday means that the churches are closed to tourists. We would have gone to Galveston, but mom says, "Ew, gross."
But the Antique Rose Emporium is one of those places from the good ol' days of Mom an Dad living here that they like to visit. It's one of the 'pluses' in the short list, next to the long list of 'negatives' that Mom and Dad have drawn up about living in Texas. I'm not sure which side of the list I'm on...poll the audience?
It was a beautiful day, perfect for taking pictures in the blue bonnets and for wandering around the big flower shop. Mom and Dad insisted that you can't visit the ARE without purchasing a rose, or two (or many more if you're Mom, but she couldn't since she was flying back to Alaska). So we set about the task of picking roses for me!
Dad chose the Julia Childe rose for me, a petite rose bush with baby fist-sized yellow blooms and deep floral notes (sounds like I know what I'm talking about, right!?) and Mom helped me select a plant with light pink blooms. Though she did not think the two would compliment each other well. We also picked up a rosemary plant, though I've already filed a living will for it because I have a terrible, horrible track record of killing rosemary.
I spent some time picking yellow, spotted leaves off of my two rose bushes yesterday afternoon. I know nothing about plants, so I have no idea if my plants are doomed to disease-ridden death, but for the 15 minutes or so that I sat crouched on my porch picking off the dead leaves I felt like a gardener. I felt like I was with Mom in her garden at the Katy house. I remembered all the Saturdays and Sunday she piddled around the pool caring for the beds and around the front yard pulling weeds.
I don't know that I'll ever be filled with the passion for plants like mom is. Someday? Maybe when I have a house? But I remember forever how mom could spend so much happy time out there picking at the garden and making it look nice.
So, Mom, there you have it. The flowers you bought me make me think of you.
I'm glad you all made it home safe. Much love from Houston.
EM