Nicky | Pilgrim's Perch

The excitement of a Summer of Roses

July is a time of high summer (usually!) and one of the joys of this month is the glory of the rose. Both cultivated and in the wild they bring colour, fragrance and a sense of sheer exuberance and celebration.

Roses over a doorway leading us into the heady days of summer — Roses open a door to the glories of summer

A fossil of a rose found in Colorado suggested to archaeologists that roses have existed for over 35 million years. Roses are renowned for their resilience – the world’s oldest living rose is believed to be 1,000 years old. Growing on the wall of the cathedral of Hildesheim in Germany its existence has been documented since AD815. Legend has it that the rosebush symbolizes the prosperity of Hildesheim; as long as it flourishes, so will Hildesheim. In 1945 allied bombers destroyed the cathedral, yet the bush survived. Its roots remained intact beneath the debris, and soon the bush was growing strong again.

Wide open beauty - the thornless rose Zepherine Drouhin — The thornless rose ‘Zepherine Drouhin’

As well as their beauty, fragrance and powers to soothe mental health issues after flowering roses bear hips and these are rich in Vitamin C. Childhood memories of jars of rose hip syrup may well spring to mind – a daily dose was recommended as a way of getting sufficient vitamins.

A full blown Gertrude Jekyll rose — Fragrant rose ‘Gertrude Jekyll’

Who knew that as well as being internationally renowned roses are also space travellers? In early space research the miniature rose ‘Overnight Scentsation’ was sent into space as part of research into how low gravity affected a rose’s scent. It’s good to imagine and hope that early settlers on Mars might well grow these beautiful plants…

Relaxing and enjoying tranquility brought by roses — Roses aid relaxation and help restore inner calm

Red roses are well known as symbols of love but other colours have significance too. Pink roses represent admiration and grace; yellow roses bring joy and cheer; white represents purity and innocence, and orange roses are harbingers of energy and zest for life.

Massed roses to bring joy — An exaltation of roses!

Whatever your own preference, I hope you can enjoy and revel in this wonderful season of roses.

A Nightingale sang…

Walking along a leafy path a few days ago, spring birdsong providing a musical accompaniment, I was suddenly aware of a different mellifluous tune. Immediately and delightfully recognisable I identified it as a nightingale. More usually heard singing at night – their song is so much more noticeable then when other birds are asleep – this noon day bird was carolling his heart out. Enough to lift the heart and cheer the soul.

Nightingale perched on branch — Nightingale – unobtrusive to the eye but spectacular in song

Nightingale song is beloved of poets, musicians and almost anyone with a sensitive spirit. In 1924 the musician Beatrice Harrison was practising her cello in the garden when she became aware of nightingales singing around her. She persuaded the BBC to record this wonderful partnership and the resulting recording went as viral as was possible in those days. Public reaction was enthusiastic and Beatrice received over 50,000 fan letters – some simply addressed to ‘The Nightingale Lady’.

The poet John Keats is well known for his ‘Ode to a Nightingale’, slightly melancholy but with those beautiful phrases that speak of ‘tender is the night’, ‘magic casements’ and ‘thou light winged Dryad of the trees’. I thought of those phrases later that same day when I leant from my window in the small hours of the night and heard again the nightingale singing his bubbling joyful paean – this time accompanied by a distant tawny owl.

Spring bliss indeed.

New spring growth on trees in springtime — Blissful new spring time…

Holy Week and Easter

The season of Lent draws to an end and the Christian church enters Holy Week. Palm Sunday blows in with the cheering and waving of palm branches as Jesus enters Jerusalem. ‘Hosanna to the Son of David’, the people cry – believing that here is the Saviour they’ve been waiting for. Repression, oppression and hardship will cease and all shall be well.

But the events of Holy Week take a twist. The authorities are upset by Jesus and what they see as his subversive actions. Determined to do away with him they bring about his arrest, fake trial and execution. All seems lost…

Good Friday is one of the most painful days in the Christian year. Betrayal, loss, grief and bewilderment – just some of the emotions felt by the family, friends and followers of Jesus as they stand at the foot of the cross and watch him die. So many people have endured these emotions over the last year as they have seen the effects of Covid-19 on family and friends. It’s tough to experience; hard to understand why such bad, sad things happen. None of us can bypass the cross. But even as we stand there, weeping, God is with us. Even as he died, one of the last thoughts of Jesus was for his mother and his much loved disciple, as he commended them to each other’s care. His love never ends.

Jesus dies and is laid in a tomb. All seems lost. Holy Saturday comes in as a quiet, sad and reflective day when the earth seems to cease turning and all life is suspended in a kind of disbelief.

But then a new day dawns, Easter arrives, and with it a jubilant message of death being overturned. New life bursts forth with the risen Jesus – just as he had promised. A new story begins…

Each of us can take hope from this. In the last book of the Christian Bible are written the words, ‘Behold, I make all things new…’ (Revelation 21:5.) Spring arrives, and with it comes an explosion of new life springing forth. Now is the time for us to delight in the signs of spring and to remember that age-old promise expressed so delightfully in the Book of Psalms, ‘weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.’ (Psalm 30:5.)