Stitching with Elli

Spring has sprung. With the little buds and flowers, has also come rain.

The rain brings grey days with overcast skies and dripping rain. Rainy days are not necessarily gloomy. There is beauty if you know where to look. Little water droplets form tiny sparkling orbs to enhance whatever they land on.

Like tiny sparkling diamonds they emphasis every stem and leaf, adding sparkle and beauty to otherwise drab bushes.

Puddles reflect the lace of the forest around them in a delicate web of branches and new leaves.

Dolls dislike getting wet as much as cats, so they tend to spend most rainy days indoors. There is one thing that overcomes their dislike of the damp and the rain…..their eagerness to check on their roses. This eagerness usually wins out. Little groups of twos or threes of dolls make their way thru the puddles to the rose garden. Will there be more buds today? How many days until the rose blooms? What about that poor little stick of a plant, does it have leaves yet? Don’t forget to weed!

Today Rose and Elizabeth were the ones to dash out in between rain showers. They wanted to check on the Peace rose. It had two to large buds that they were hoping were opened.

“Not yet, ” sighed Rose “What do you think Elizabeth? another day or two days?”

“Maybe one day? At least I hope so. I want to see it open!!” Elizabeth replied. She already knew just the vase she wanted to put it in….right next to Emily’s sewing machine. 

“It looks like a torch today!” laughed Rose “All red on the top and yellow on the bottom. But what is this yellow stuff all over the leaves?”

“It is just the pollen from the pine trees,” Elizabeth explained as she moved on to examine the next bush. ” The icky stuff gets everywhere this time of year. I guess it didn’t rain hard enough to wash it away yet.  Speaking of which…Did you see Emily’s black truck? It looks like a bumble bee from all the pollen!!” Elizabeth chuckled at the memory.

Rose laughed and said she would have to go look at it when they went back to the house.

“Rose, did you see these leaves? They looks a little bit shrivelled and wrinkly…do you think we can do anything for them?” Elizabeth asked as she bent to inspect some of the lower leaves.

Rose wasn’t listening. She was distracted by spotting another bud. “Look at this one Elizabeth! maybe two days on this one?” she asked optimistically.

Elizabeth thought it would be more like 3 days.

They worked in the garden for a while longer….weeding….saying hello to the flowers and stroking their soft petals, pulling the pine needles off that tried to hide the beauty of the flowers.

“I think we need to go back to the house,” Rose said anxiously. “I think I felt a drop and the sky is getting dark again.”

Elizabeth glanced up at the sky and saw the gathering dark grey clouds. She agreed that they should go back. Off they went to the house to snuggle under a blanket on the couch and read a book while they munched on cookies.

The next morning when they went to the garden…….

The peace rose had bloomed!!

Rose was anxious because the blooms were a little small and not quite formed right. “Do you think it is because we check on them too much? Does a watched rose not bloom properly?” She worried aloud.

Elizabeth assured her that a watched rose could bloom just fine. “It is just that the bush had a traumatic experience being uprooted, sent to the store,…and sitting there for a while ,then coming here, and being planted. It will do better later when its roots get more settled,” She explained.

Rose was satisfied with the explanation, and they headed back to the house to put the roses in water.

“Let’s check on the red rose too. The…. umm …..what was it called?  Cry slur umpire? No, that isn’t right. What was it called?”  Rose stumbled over the unfamiliar name.

“Chrysler Imperial,” Elizabeth told her “Yes, if the Peace Rose bloomed it should have as well. The buds were about the same size”

Sure enough…it had..

“Oooh” Rose let out a small sigh of happiness. “I just love red roses. I think they are my favorite.” She leaned against the wall and just stared at the beautiful bud.

Elizabeth thought it was lovely too, but she was in a hurry to get the roses back to the house and put them in water. She wasted no time cutting the red rose.

Then it was back to the house and time to arrange the roses in vases.

” I guess it makes sense that  the first blooms weren’t perfect.” Rose chattered while she worked on arranging the red rose with maidenhair ferns.. “After all, the first time I try to do something it doesn’t usually work perfectly. Keep trying, roses! You’ll get it.”

Elizabeth smiled to herself at the thought of Rose giving roses a pep talk.

Rose had a new thought…. ” Elizabeth, Where did the red go? Remember yesterday the bloom was red and yellow? Now it is mostly yellow with just a little bit of pink.”

“It just changed, Pink is like a light soft red, so when it bloomed it just changed from a red to a pink.” Elizabeth explained.

Rose persisted. “Will the red rose change ,too?

“No, the Chrysler Imperial will stay red.” Elizabeth was sure.

“But why? If one red changed, why doesn’t the other red?” Rose was perplexed.

Elizabeth paused and realised she didn’t know the “why” of why petals changed colors. “That is a good question. I don’t know”, she admitted. “I suppose we should find a science book to find out. I know that certain ones change and other don’t, but I don’t know why. Now  I’m curious too. Let’s find a book after lunch.”

Rose thought that was a good idea, but what kind of science book did they need? Was there a book called “Why flowers changed colors?”

I must admit that I’ve never seen a book with that kind of title, so I wonder what kind of a book they will find to get their answers.  Now they have me curious too 😉