I took a drive, after dropping Charlotte in late to school yesterday (she’s a diligent, hard working student – but is unfairly afflicted with hay-fever). I ended up at the Lady Norwood Rose Gardens in Wellington. I was pretty sure the roses would be in bloom by now (I’ve been away on holiday and only back in Welly for a couple of weeks… so it’s been a while since I visited the gardens).
As I drove into the rose gardens, hopeful for a parking space (as they are limited from now through till the end of summer), I was rewarded with the sight of a multitude of colours. The dark cloud hovering in the distance I gave a firm ‘sod off’ stare to and found the one remaining parking space (my hopeful vision of ‘believing a space would be there’, came good).
I opened the car door and inhaled, deeply (as a mother always does before moving children from a confined space into a public arena). The scent that met my nostrils was one of heavenly goodness (a rare treat – as it’s normally the scent of ‘something going off’ in the car, or under a child’s bed, or in an elusive corner, sometimes under the sofa, or in the fridge even, and the bin, definitely in the laundry basket… say no more).
The rest of my rose garden experience was everything one would hope for… a nice stroll, children playing hide-and-seek (without me losing them and without any damage to rose beds), a genteel chat with some lovely old ladies about the science of roses and inter-breeding (or whatever they do to them to get amazing duel coloured roses from one plant) and a latte at the cafe without my children spilling anything or cracking any plates.
A perfect Tuesday morning then!
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Hi there, your ‘about me’ info is very good. I’m visiting your blog via expatsblog.com. I’m British too and now reside in Kuantan, Malaysia with my Malaysian wife and 2 Malaysian-born children.
Lovely photos by the way!
Your fellow expat,
Duncan In Kuantan
I’m itching to go there again after this beautiful post…..I WILL make time between now and Christmas..I will, I will! (if I keep repeating this mantra it might actually happen!)
poor Cha Cha
sounds like a wonderful Tuesday morning
and WOW!!! WTG your home schooler for taking wonderfully beautiful photos
Those variegated roses (whatever they’re called) do smell divine! So sweet and pleasant. Beautiful time for flowers 🙂
Yep, Sophie’s been taking some gorgeous pics lately. She also wrote a little blog post (unprompted too!) – https://fairiesvspirates.wordpress.com/2012/11/20/rose-time/
(I’m not allowed to edit or try and suggest any modifications to the sentence structure though – she says, ‘Mummy, it has to look like it really is written by me and I am only six!’). I’m just thrilled she’s writing more (handwriting too). I’ve learned not to say much, but simply praise her for writing alone. She has some wonderful thoughts and it’s great she’s now feeling comfortable about expressing herself in written form. I remind myself that there will be plenty of years to work on perfecting punctuation, grammar and hand-writing – for now, it’s great she’s seeing the joy of it.
Awesome, what a happy post this is. Roses are pretty amazing, especially the old fashioned ones with the strong fragrant scent. I’ve been meaning to go to the Parnell Rose Gardens but haven’t made it the necessary priority. After seeing that first photo of yours I’m definitely diarising my visit. Happy Wednesday to you and yours.
Whow….I can almost smell the roses looking at those gorgeous pictures ..such a lovely garden to visit and after the stormy day we have here a joy to see indeed Thank you for them all..big hugs!!