And every time I’ve held a rose
It seems I only felt the thorns…
And so it goes, and so it goes,
And so will you soon I suppose…
Those are the words of one of the newer songs my a cappella barbershop group have learned, the sad and wistful ‘And So it Goes’, written and originally sung by Billy Joel. Bear with me as I explain about the roses!!
Since the Golfer and I took possession of our Fitbits (activity trackers) on Christmas Day in 2017 we have boosted our steps and total activity by walking to get the Sunday paper, the only paper other than our weekly local one that I make time to read; this can be 2 or 4 miles, depending on whether the little shop in our village is a) open and b) has my chosen paper. Yesterday it was the shorter walk, a circular route round the lanes from the village shop and back home, and on this occasion was unaccompanied by the Golfer. Without a walking companion, as I walked I mulled over potential contents for the next day’s vase, the preparing of which would be my first task on returning home (after my mandatory ramble round the garden of course!).
I had decided on the basics and was considering a possible title when I caught sight of these roses on the roadside verge; assuming they were artificial, I walked past but quickly retraced the few steps, thinking they might still come in useful as props for IAVOM one day. Not surprisingly I was ‘gobsmacked’ to find they were real – and not only real but fresh! Had they been flung from the window of a passing car by the spurned purchaser, or an ungrateful recipient, or as the result of a lovers’ tiff…? We will never know, but there is clearly rejection involved and most likely sadness too in the heart of someone, someone who is now feeling the thorns instead of seeing the beauty of the roses…
The shops will be full of red roses in preparation for upcoming Valentine’s Day, and this bunch has been hand tied with string; having been cultivated under controlled conditions to produce long straight stems and to flower at a specific time there is of course no scent, which for those in our blogging community is unpardonable. Having been presented with this opportunity and an intriguing story, however, the roses instantly usurped my original plans and mulling turned to titles for this enigmatic bunch. Abandoning initial thoughts of a stark ‘Love Rejected’, I chose the more subtle ‘And So It Goes’, thus landing myself with the inevitable earworm!
Once back home, I cut a few stems of wild plum which were just coming into bud, printed off a broken heart and searched through my slimmest vases, choosing this clear glass one to show off the handtied stems. And so it goes: here is today’s vase!
What you will you find (in your own garden or any strange and unexpected place) to pop into your mid-February vase today? Please share it with us, with or without a story attached, and leave links to and from this post so that we can share in the pleasure it brings you. **
** there is an addendum to this story…
The roses, you might recall, were found on a verge, seemingly abandoned in despair or anger by an unknown individual, and in true opportunist foraging style I retrieved them for the vase. Your comments, like my post, puzzled over the possible background to the abandonment but, unless you thought it but didn’t want to say it, no-one suggested as a friend did that they might have been left as a tribute… I was aghast, ashamed in fact, that I hadn’t even considered that as an option, so used am I to seeing sad cellophane wrapped bunches left on roadsides following a tragic accident. For someone who had lost a loved one this way, leaving a bunch of red roses close to Valentine’s Day would, of course, be entirely appropriate, and although I wasn’t aware of an accident having happened at that approximate spot this was no excuse for me not having considered it a possibility.
Reader, I went out under cover of darkness and replaced the roses near to where I had found them, leaving with them a reverent and abject apology…
How odd to find a bunch of red roses lying on the ground. How fortunate too. Well done with the walking
It was odd – but an opportunity for me! I am very diligent with my steps and rarely don’t make 10,000, even if some are the result of circuits around the house towards the end of the day!! It all helps
It does indeed. Use it or lose itπͺ
Fascinating story Cathy! Enjoy the unexpected bouquet. Thank you for hosting each week.
https://pbmgarden.blog/2019/02/11/in-a-vase-on-monday-double-cream/
It would have been daft not to take advantage of them! They still look very artificial though π
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How very intriguing! I have to admit I was rather surprised to see the roses as they certainly didn’t look like roses you would have wanted to grow. We will all now be wondering what happened to the giver and recipient of the roses. My vase has no story attached just the happiness that home grown flowers always bring. https://myhesperidesgarden.wordpress.com/2019/02/11/in-a-vase-on-monday-changing-tulips/
Yes, even though it seems a bit of a cheat using those and therefore missing the ‘happiness of home grown flowers’ I know it was too good an opportunity to miss. Perhaps the recipient was a keen gardener…I know I wouldn’t be overly grateful to receive a bunch like this!!
You’ve linked in your arrangement this week very cleverly with your singing and walking. The flowers found story would be just the sort of little picture woven into a novel and then a film. Golden goblets feature in my post this week: https://noellemace.blogspot.com/2019/02/in-vase-on-monday-golden-goblet.html
Yes, my mind still darts off to possible scenarios! I am so glad that I happened to be walking past when I did as they would just have withered away undiscovered I expect…
What in interesting story. To find such a fine bunch of roses does make one’s imagination soar. Happy IAVOM.
It does indeed Lisa, and I shall keep on wondering about the citcumstances…!
Oh no! How sad but good for you to find .
That is quite a story and it does fire the imagination. Perhaps a thorny problem unsolved? Hmmm. Here is my vase this Monday. http://theshrubqueen.com/2019/02/11/in-a-vase-on-monday-bling-vegetables-and-weeds/
It certainly made an ideal IAVOM post – I talk about foraging for blooms, but I didn’t expect foraging of this sort!
What a story! The upside of course is that someone else found them and took them home to give them their moment of glory. My offering for today is here: https://www.lindabrazill.com/each_little_world/2019/02/the-fernery.html
Yes, an opportune happenstance, Linda, as this is not a lane that many people would be walking along
I concur with the above comments: What a story! Yes, some kind of rejection and anger vented on innocent flowers shipped from God knows where. We humans are a funny bunch, aren’t we?
Yes indeed π
How lovely, what a wonderful surprise, perhaps you have a secret admirer! Or maybe the Golfer crept out very early to surprise you, now wouldn’t that be romantic? Nobody has been strewing roses in my path but I have snowdrops. https://thebloominggarden.wordpress.com/2019/02/11/in-a-vase-on-monday-fanny/
Oh no, there was definitely nothing personal about it as it was a lane outside the village, just connecting two other lanes – and the Golfer dislikes cuts flowers (but has got used to IAVOM!)!! I would be a bit worried if he did anything remotely romantic, to be honest – and he’s too busy rebuilding the fruit cage to consider to dream anything up anyway π It will remain one of Life’s mysteries, I guess… Snowdrops are better than supermarket roses any day of the week!
How unusual to find these discarded in such a way. I love that song and it’s perfect for today’s bouquet. We’ve been covered with a foot of snow for the last few days and it just keeps coming but I still found something to plop in a vase: . https://outlawgarden.blogspot.com/2019/02/in-vase-on-monday-tea-time.html
Ooh, I briefly wondered if you have been digging in your snow but I think you will be thinking out of the box in your your unique way and I look forward to seeing what you have on your tea table π
You could go in many directions with that intriguing story! All I can say is those lovely roses have come to the admiring attention of so many more people than they might have done if they had found their way into the hands of the original recipient!! And we are enjoying them – thank you very much!! My flowers are bright and beautiful this week too, but sunshine yellow – to match the weather today!
Amanda https://therunningwave.blogspot.com/2019/02/vases-on-monday-11-february-2019.html
Yes, that is true – I don’t suppose anybody driving past would have noticed them and as there is no footpath it is not the sort of lane where you would get regular walkers. But now all my IAVOM readers can see them and they have generated a lot of thoughts and comments π
A mystery to start your morning – and ours! I hope there’s a happier ending for the recipient than the abandoned flowers suggest. I’d planned a touch of red in honor of the upcoming holiday but that didn’t happen. Here’s my post: https://krispgarden.blogspot.com/2019/02/in-vase-on-monday-variations-on-theme.html
And we have no way of knowing whether anyone was happy with the outcome – except for all of us at IAVOM!
What an intriguing story! Great that the perfect person came walking along to take care of them.
Thanks Ali – and I strongly suspect I would have been the only person walking past them while they were still alive
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How lucky you came along and rescued them from the cold! Enjoy them Cathy! Here is my contribution for today:
https://wordsandherbs.com/2019/02/11/in-a-vase-on-monday-apple-blossom/
I think they would just have festered otherwise, Cathy
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What a lucky find. And so intriguing. Iβd love to know the story behind those roses! Hereβs my flowers for the week. More spring bulbs again. Iβm enjoying just adapting the same arrangement each week to be honest. Itβs an ever changing scene. https://bramblegarden.com/2019/02/11/in-a-vase-on-monday-11th-february-2019/
Yes, most opportune – for me, but sadly not the giver or recipient
Itβs really odd. I wonder what happened.
Oh what serendipity Cathy! Now my Sunday morning constitutional yesterday to get the paper didn’t provide me with as many steps or with any discarded bouquets. I was just delighted to get back inside just ahead of a rather dramatic hail shower. So many possible scenarios with those roses. I’m glad that they found somebody to love them.
Hail?! Ooh, not here, altough it was raining on Sunday morning before turning into a beautiful day. Hmm, and I wouldn’t say I ‘love’ these roses as they look so ununreal, but I am happy to have utilised them
Well thatβs a good story! I wonder if the original owner regretted the hurling and came back looking for them.
I bought a Fitbit this last December. Iβve been far less virtuous than you, at least since we got home anyway. But I have worked out that the drive/steps/precipitous bank circuit is just over 300 steps. So three and a bit circuits for each thousand in deficit..
Well, I suppose we will nevre know unless they happen to read this blog, Jessica! Even though I am pretty active anyway, the Fitbit has really boosted that and also reminds me when I have been sitting for too long – which was a bit of a shock as I think I don’t do a lot of it, but it is mostly when I am catching up on blogs (or travelling, which I can’t usually do anything about!). It has definitely made a difference and a I am a big advocate of such trackers, as long as people don’t become too obsessed by them. That’s a tough circuit for you though – I shall think of you when I am doing my flat ones!
This is certainly one of the more unexpected bouquets I’ve seen you come up with – giving a new dimension to the idea of ‘foraged’! π While they are not quite my ideal of roses in a vase either, I can’t say much about trade-produced flowers… at least not tonight… Mine weren’t even a matter of serendipity, merely temptation…: https://www.smallsunnygarden.com/2019/02/11/but-it-fell-in-my-shopping-cart/
And finding them was certainly unexpected for me, Amy
What an intriguing story – we all want to know more but we never will! Obviously something quite dramatic. I ran out of time to post a vase but I do, of course, have things in vases. The best is some horse chestnut twigs which I am watching open. I’ll be better organised next week. Thanks for sharing your fun story.
Ooh, I do hope your horse chestnut buds open for you. Here, the wild plum flower buds in the vase are opening, which I am thrilled about
A day late but joining you now. https://digwithdorris.wordpress.com
I hope no one has been round to ask for their flowers back Cathy?!
Not to worry, I do not keep a list of latecomers π
Phew!
Oh, and no, they haven’t, but there is an addendum to the story which I shall write about in next week’s IAVOM post…
Curiouser and curiouser
Cathy the story of the Roses is so intriguing! It could be the clue to a murder in a novel by Agatha Christie. Or maybe the end of a relationship between a married man and his secretary who throws the roses with fury out the window of the car to be disgusted. Or the unsuccessful request of a boyfriend in love with his girlfriend who says no by answer and rejects ring and roses, and he desperately throws the roses. How much you can let the imagination fly. Those roses are beautiful and although they have no smell, they are a beautiful vase. Take care. Greetings from Margarita.
A bit of a cheat perhaps, but the story is worth it.
Not a cheat rickii, as I do encourage local (legal!) foraging if our gardens are bare π
Unpardonable? My favorite roses happen to be hybrid tea roses, which are notoriously lacking of fragrance. I know there are better roses, but no one will convince me that I should not bother with the hybrid teas.
Oh Tony, I do have my tongue in my cheek when I say some of these things… π
Heck, I do not mind if most dislike them anyway.
It’s more likely to be a case of liking others better, I think, not disliking