A good day

Today the air calmed, so when I walked into the garden after work the fragrance from our roses kept kissing my face. Kissing is the best word I can come up with. You catch the scent, and it catches you and you want to chase it all at once. All the varieties of roses have their own personal scent, somewhat like a human being does. Lagerfeld is so heavenly it's almost overpowering. Blue Girl is sweet but still has that classic rose sharpness that stabs our nose and says rose perfume. Oldtimer would be candy sweet except it's gentle and softened by musk. All these roses and more mingle into a whiskey blend that stops me in my tracks, but stopping is a mistake. You lose power if you stop. Your nose dulls to the scent while the never-still air runs off with the scent. You just have to keep moving, and if you don't get another kiss, well, you'll have to go steal one by burying your face in a blossom. They feel nice. The petals have that coolness of silk combined with a texture that reminds me of youthful human skin. That creeps me out if I think about it too much.

Also today I got to watch the goats pigging out on blackberries. In a heroic assault my husband and my son tackled the fencing project and finished it, on Father's Day no less. At first the goats were nervous. I'm sure they thought it was a nasty trick. But greed overcame their fears and shortly after I got home from work they started feasting. Serious feasting too. The romans would have had nothing on these goats, who behaved as if we starved them. Especially Skunk, of course. Skunk's body has deepened and she's got quite the belly on her, meaning that she has to act the hungriest of all, grunting and commenting while she gorges herself.

They were, and are, very happy goats. It couldn't have happened without my son's hard work, and I hope he felt real pride. I think he knew he was supposed to, and said as much, as we stood on the deck and watched the goats milling around the edges of a massive blackberry wall. He may not realize it, but he made Rory's Father's Day special and good.

It's going to take the goats a good while to eat those berries down. I expect though that in the war of goat vs. blackberries, the goats will win, especially since they have victorious veteran goats on their side. All hail Skunk, mighty goat general.

It was a good day. I hope most everyone had a good day, though I know not everyone will. I had some young adults go through the checkstand today, three sibs. They bought about $60 worth of candy, pop and chips, and two Father's Day cards. After seeing the total, they decided to put the Father's Day cards back because they were too expensive. They'd call dad instead, because he'd like that just as well as a card. I'm guessing, since they'll be calling, that they won't be seeing him in person and therefore sharing the candy, pop and chips with him. They gave me a $100 bill to pay for their stuff. Who knows. Maybe their dad is a jerk. Anyway, it made me sad. It felt good to come home to family and to smell the roses.