#150

The first peony, pink of May,
three days late, will not 
adorn a grave on Decoration Day,
but adorns my back yard, 
a place I love at this time of year,
and I will miss, moving 400 miles 
south, where hopefully peonies bloom.

catherinenglish 05-30-2013

#149

Karen's grandma's grape irises 
actually smell like grapes, 
the purple flowers' aroma
permeates the house in a 
sleek glass vase in my front room,
surrounded by my friend's art
and heart. 

catherinenglish 05-29-2013

#148

Jerry and John tried to move the 
big cement "rock" and only got it 
as far as the curb before they 
gave up trying to lift it onto a truck bed.
Both convinced they needed some 
larger equipment. 

catherinenglish 05-28-2013

#147

I bought these purple "flags" 
(a term for them I learned 
from a play, "White Room of
My Remembering"), in the fall 
of 1992, first autumn in Aurora,
awaiting their royal glory, just in 
time for Memorial Day, 1993, 
just a decade before Dad's grave
would be adorned with them (if they 
blossomed in time). 

catherinenglish 05-27-2013

(Happy 7th Anniversary John and Amanda!) 

#146
for Karen

These pastel yellow irises
were rescued by Diane and Barrett,
the summer my best friend sold her 
house, a grand old house, where she 
planted old roses and these, her 
grandmother's irises.
catherinenglish 05-26-2013

#145

I drove to Silver Creek, Nebraska to 
decorate Dad's grave and met my cousin 
Lynn Cave in Genoa, with her Dad, 
my Uncle Henry, who commemorated his 
65th high school reunion, and when they 
announced the class of 1953, it dawned on me 
that it was my dad's 60th class reunion, and it made 
sense that as I crossed over the Loup River bridge, drove by 
the Loup Canal and before reaching Beaver Creek, a 
flock of mallards lifted up, flying northeast over Highway 92. 

catherinenglish 05-25-2013

#144

You never know what kind of beer 
you'll find on sale at Walmart on a trip
to purchase five battery-operated 
smoke alarms, new fire codes, if you
want to sell your house.  

I have always been fond of the Dark
Side.  

catherinenglish 05-24-2013