This week I picked two little posies for my daughters' bedside tables. Each different, each marking a "first" of some kind.
Ever since Big Sister was a tiny toddler, back in our old house, we would eagerly await each year the first rose opening in the garden. That first summer she went to the wall at the back of the garden where the old rambling rose grew and Mr Roses picked her up in his arms and she lent forward to pick her rose, sink her nose into its sweet scent and toddle back into the kitchen clutching her treasure. Each year the tradition continues, for many years the roses came from that old rambling rose - these past few years it has come from different roses in our new home.
This particular one has the sweetest, headiest scent and takes me right back to those seemingly endless summer evenings of my childhood. Early evenings spent outside playing with friends, riding on our bikes, skipping and most importantly, making rose petal perfume in jam jars of water. It is a smell I associate with my childhood home, summer, sunshine and all things lovely.
So this rose, once it starts to fade will join the others that Big Sister has kept and pressed in her flower book. Each one marking another summer, another chapter in her life and mirroring , I think the beautiful young woman that she is becoming.
The second little bedside posy was picked for Little Sister to welcome her home from her own very grown up adventure. Her first residential trip without us Roses alongside! Our house was strangely quiet without the youngest rosebud in it and I waited with baited breath for her return. This was a big one for us all, our "baby" returned happier, more confident, extremely tired and a little more grown up. The riot of colour that sat on her bedside table will I think be pressed too, to mark a very big and important chapter in our lives.
I'm not sure if our "babies" ever stop being our "babies" or our "first born" ever stop being our "first born". Of course the years go past and the flowers get picked and pressed and Big Sister now towers above me and the memories fill the once empty flower book but I know that certain things like that big beaming smile when Big Sister picked her first rose, or the triumphant smile Little Sister gave me when I collected her after her trip are as precious as the flowers that mark them.
Have a lovely weekend
x
29 comments:
That's lovely, Kim. And you certainly brought back memories; I had forgotten how I used to try to make perfume from rose petals. Such innocent pleasures we had back then...
Have a lovely weekend too (despite the weather).
Hen x
A lovely way to treasure those childhood memories.
Goodness me I remember doing the rose petal thing too!
T has a school residental trip coming up at the start of July and I'm wandering what the effect of that will be on him.
Enjoy your weekend.
Lisa
Another beautiful post Kim. And how fun to have the dried flowers to remember the girls' lives. How lucky they are to have you for their Mum!
The flower book is a lovely idea. I love how you make an occasion of events in the girls lives. I am sure they will reach adulthood with happy memories of their childhood at home.x
what great memories!
The flower book is a lovely idea. I'm hoping to do some pressing with my two this summer - they're asking about the flower press in their room for the very first time so there is hope!
Glad the roses are all safely gathered in again... little rosebud being enriched by her adventures.
Well Mrs M... how come we both have a love affair with roses this week.. spooky and spookier still.. I opened an old French text book yesterday and out fell a cluster of pressed flowers.. primroses from the past..
Dxxx
What a lovely tradition, Kim! x
that's so lovely, it reminded me of my sister and me, making rose perfume and daisy chains, pressing flowers, really sweet!
felicity xx
What a lovely tadition Kim, my mum has some similar roses which she grew from a cutting which my gran grew from her wedding bouquet...I darent ask for a cutting especially as I just killed my albertine...have a lovely weekend H
what a beautiful tradition Kim, something so simple that she can always keep doing
April xx
Ooh that brought tears to my eyes :o) time flies SO fast doesnt it,I look at mine every day & say dont grow up too fast my little ones,they laugh at me lol.Its something you only understand when you are a mama I think,how precious every day is & how fast time slips through our lives.Its so important to savour every day,dont sweat the small stuff as they say,it goes too damned quick to get worked up about little things.
Life is for enjoying & of course smelling the roses :o)
My Eglantyne,Generous Gardener,Pauls Himalayan Musk & Gentle Hermione are enchanting us & everyone who walks down the lane at the moment.Such bliss!
GTM x x x
I think you are right that they will always be our babies. I am eagerly awaiting the return of my 19 year old son from his first overseas deployment with the navy. Three weeks and counting.
Lovley post. Roses are one of the most evocative of flowers, gently nostalgic and fleeting. I've ordered a few more that will arrive in early winter, the old English ones, so looking forward to their arrival; lots in bloom here at the moment, plenty to pick for the house too.
MrsL
xx
I remember making rose perfume as a child, so many roses don't have that gorgeous scent anymore. Glad to hear little rosebud had a good time too!
Do you think one day they might press their wedding bouquet, now what would be in it?
Fancy a coffee and chat next wek/
Emx
what a lovely tradition, I can remember making rose petal perfume too when I was little...
what beautiful pics!
What lovely memories you have!
Such sweetest memories and summer blooms...loved this heartwarming post, Kim. :o) Happy Days to you all ((HUGS))
The smell of roses is my favourite of all time. As a child I also used to try and make rose petal perfume. It is good to remember the simple pleasures of childhood occasionally.
Such beautiful memories we have of our children and whenever a friend has a baby (or now more likely grandchild) I think of all the firsts that child yet has to experience. Wonderful!
Another truly lovely post.
From 'up here' at my age, my first born is still just that, & my babies are all still my 'babies'.
Another truly lovely post, you took me right back to my childhood. I love picking roses from my mum’s garden and bringing them home to do a posy.
I could have flowers in every room of the house, it always reminds me of my childhood, I’m sure your girls will look back when they are older and still have the love for flowers and happy memories too.
Have a lovely week Kim…love Lou xxx
The house is certainly quiet when they are away.
Miss Cottage is away this week & it feels so empty without her lovely presence -I shall be bereft when she goes to uni in September.
Enjoy the special moments & days - they fly by so quickly!
Jayne
What a lovely way to remember the important events in your childrens' lives. I,too,used to make 'rose water' when I was a little girl, it must have been a universal occupation:)
Hi Kim,what a beautiful post,my first baby has just turned 20, I imagined when she was young,that I would worry about her less after she turned 18, but it's not the case, once our babies, always are babies,we're picking her up from Brighton in the next 2 weeks, can't wait to have some lovely times with my girl!
Rachel x
What a beautiful tradition!
No, our babies never stop being our babies - even when they come home to visit, bringing their own babies with them.
You've inspired me Kim to go outside, when the rain stops, and pick a posy from my garden. All girls should love flowers. I remember there being pressed leaves in old encyclopedias passed down to us as children, I don't know what happened to them? x
Such pretty flowers. And I adore roses when they have a scent. We've a white one flowering now...the scent is heavenly.
We loved making rose petal scent. When number 2 son got married last year, I dried rose petals to make confetti.
Margaret and Noreen
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