DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER .......... OR NOT !!!

The 3rd of J uly is our wedding anniversary.  This year we have been married for 43 years and engaged for a bit longer and the diamond fell out of my engagement ring !!! 

When I say diamond, it's the smallest diamond you ever did see. We bought it from an antique shop and it cost £15.00, that's 16.7 Euros, or $18.7 !!!  .... but I would never change it.

I didn't notice it was missing until the evening so it wasn't worth looking for it, it being so small ... it could have been anywhere and, even if I knew where it had fallen, I would never have seen it !!!  

The diamond has now been replaced at the local jewellers ..... Mr Home picked it up ..... he said he needed security to accompany him home !!!

The above book is an Angela Brazil ..... its called ' The Jolliest Term on Record ' ..... all jolly hockey sticks and fruitcake in the dorm ! I read a lot of them as a child .... a far cry from my schooldays !

The Kiftsgate rose that grows in our garden .... it only flowers once in June but it is so pretty and the perfume is wonderful.

..... and this is Penny Lane. A fragrant, climber that was rose of the year in 1998 ..... repeat flowering, it flowers well into October. 

Rings and roses ..... ring a ring a roses

XXXX

all photographs via me

THE KIFTSGATE ROSE ..........

Rosa ' Kiftsgate ' is an extremely vigorous rambling rose, bearing masses of small, single cream-white flowers with a strong musk fragrance, followed by red, oval shaped hips .....

It is ideal for growing through large trees  so we planted one about four years ago to ramble through the tree that we planted in 1987 just after the Great Storm when we were all asked, if we could, to plant a tree to replace the hundreds { thousands ? } that fell during that storm.
 I wouldn't recommend the Kiftsgate for a small garden ....

 ..... along with the Great White Shark and the Bengal Tiger, Rosa fillips ' Kiftsgate ' should be avoided by all sensible human beings !!!

Every 4 inches or so, it is embellished with the biggest and sharpest thorns you have ever encountered and you risk life and limb if you should need to prune it !!! We are lucky enough to be able to let it run away into the tree ..... it is vicious.

..... but, it smells divine , looks so pretty when bought into the house, and it's open, single flowers are attracted to bees . 

It looks like a cascading waterfall amongst the trees and is equally as beautiful when you bring some inside. 

It is so easy to take cuttings ..... most will take if you just stick cuttings into the ground ..... 

BUT .....

only give them away to people that you don't like !!!

AFTER the RAIN ..... and a senior moment !!! ..........

This is our Kiftsgate rose scrambling through a tree ... the high winds and rain that we had the other day blew down a bough .....

SO .....

I put them in a jug .....

 Aren't they pretty ? .... and the fragrance is amazing.

Do you know what else I did ? After a little look around the garden, I noticed the greenfly were attacking the roses so, I thought that I would attack them back with the bug spray { over the years, I've tried Fairy liquid but it never works for me } I gave them all a light spray but instead of using the bug spray I had used weed killer !!! 

D'OH !!!!!!!!!

images 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5; via me, image 6: via google