Last week, when straightening the house before bringing my husband home from a hospital stay, I brought the first few roses to open since early December inside to brighten the table by his chair.  A rosemary sprig completed the little bowl of multi-colored blooms…all from the same bush.  These roses, named Mutabulis, are different colors at various points in their budding and blossoming, darkening with age, instead of fading.  Single petals open soft yellow, changing through peachy coral  to  rich pink and finally dusky crimson.  Flowers of all these colors will often be on display at the same time, looking as if a host of varigated butterflies has settled on the bush.   C. S. Lewis said  “What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are.”  I can stand on all four sides of this huge rose bush and see a different color rose each time.  I know this is due to this old rose’s roots as well as by what they are nourished.  I believe I am hearing that the sort of person I am is due to the same things.

When I picked the flowers for Joe, they were the first and only to open.  Today, only 2 weeks later, our three rose bushes in the corner of the back yard are putting on quite a show.