Cutting Back The Roses

Cutting back the roses that overgrew my patio in the past decade gave me satisfaction yesterday, but also put thorns in my hands—a metaphor for life. Today I have more roses to trim, another metaphor. Yesterday was a very good day, in the morning Old House Society picked up the last of my lawn furniture donation, including the two nine-foot metal arbor gates that I brought from Mother’s house five years ago to make her more comfortable living in my home. The arbor gates were fairly impressive, but not to my personal taste, and now there is nothing in my yard to compete with my lovely landscaping, my raised flower beds, butterfly garden, fruit trees, etc. Each day I try to work outside to maximize the sale potential of this house. I ache all over from the twisting up and down work I did yesterday, so trimming just one overgrown rose bush is my to-do for today.