Ever since Rosemary and I returned from Italy (now two months) I have been in a blog rut. I keep postponing. And then I note that I may be missing about a month’s worth. Is this the beginning of my gradual decline into not writing blogs at all? I have noticed that my old blogs have long and detailed content. Of late the content is next to nothing,

I may have one lame excuse. May/June is the season when roses begin to bloom. After breakfast  I run out into our deck to see what surprises are in store for me.

Today the surprise (and I must add that it has been dependable with me for at least 25 years) is the English Rose Rosa ‘Abraham Darby’ named after a 18^th century Englishman who discovered that when coal was heated in an oven without oxygen it made something called coke. When combined with iron ore it made good hard ore. Later coke was used to transform iron into the even stronger steel.

Shropshire’s Abraham Darby gave us Iron Bridge and then the building of English railroads and all that ushered in the industrial revolution.

That a plant, specifically a rose (unlike lupines for example) can carry al that into what is a five inch wide and extremely fragrant blossom perhaps gives me license to do nothing for the next while.