FRILLY JILLY

 

"Frilly Jilly" was named NZ Floribunda Rose of the Year in 2008 with very good reason. It is a gorgeous rose. It is fragrant with frilly apricot flowers that fade gently to gold. It has a lovely fragrance and it is extremely reliable with exquisitely beautiful blooms throughout the season. 

On a sunny wind still day early in the summer I planted "Frilly Jilly" in the back paddock. I was delighted with the spot that I have chosen for this very special beauty. T he soil rich and black, full of big fat earthworms. The verry best place for my "Jilly". 

Every morning early I took a brisk walk to the back paddock to have a look at "Jilly". Has she got any new leaves? Is she ready to bloom? Is she happy? Same thing happened in the afternoon. I loved this rose ... a lot!

Last Wednesday was Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is a holy day in the Christian calendar but also a solemn day. It is the start of Lent and a day to turn away from sin. It is a day to repent. It is a day to stop wrongdoing ... a day to turn back, to love the Lord God with all your heart and with all your soul and to love your neighbour as yourself. 

We left for the Holy Mass at Saint Bridget's Parish at about ten. The Mass was at eleven. It was a solemn occasion with plenty of time to reflect on my own sins and to make resolutions to have a good lent this year. No meat for forty days, no chocolate, no swearing, no getting on my high horse so quickly ... in fact that was my biggest resolution. I am so quick to get angry and I took a firm resolution not to do that and especially not to do that for the next forty days.

Once back home, life returned back to normal. There was the washing to fold and the towels to hang up on the line and lunch to prepare. The thinking about something to prepare for lunch took up most of the space in my brain because preparing meals during lent with no meat, no diary ... tricky. Tricky to prepare a meal with no meat, no oil, no diary, no eggs and especially no wine.

So I was not really listening with my full brain when my husband suddenly said: " something has been eating our roses in the back paddock while we were away!" In slow motion it all came to me like in a dream ... " Frilly Jilly"

There it was ... all the evidence were there. Sheep droppings from the gate all the way to "Frilly Jilly" and "Frilly Jilly" now merely a stalk!

Ash Wednesday is a day to stop wrongdoing ... a day turn back, to love the Lord God with all your heart and with all your soul and also to love your neighbour as yourself!