Summer weekends at Ocean Shores are very magical.  Take for instance this handsome fearless buck who simply walked right past-within three feet of- Rick!  Bucks never do that!  They are very shy and stay well hidden. For a moment we both held our breath, not believing what we were seeing.  We watched as Mr. Buck happily munched on the Oregon crab apple leaves while his gorgeous antlers were lit up by the sun.  We both felt like we were being visited by a spirit!  Rick ran inside the house to grab his camera and managed to get this photo:

Bold Buck

And since the camera was out, I took these photos of the garden which is looking lush and perfect in its own unique way:

Don and Simone's raspberry bushes are growing and full of blossoms!

The herb garden is the only thing the deer are not interested in and, therefore, unprotected

Bird Bath and Beyond

And Rick took these photos of my roses. It is no wonder why people make such a big fuss over roses!  The dark pink rose is about as big as my hand and smells heavenly:

I started this rose from a cutting!

There seems to be a story behind most plants in my garden. The dark pink rose above, for example, grew from a rose cutting I took from my neighbor’s garden in Seattle.  When we moved into our condo, between our property and the neighbors’ property, there was a line of exquisite roses growing.  The roses were neglected and have now almost all died out.  The mother of this rose is now gone, but mine lives on. The couple who planted them and tended them moved to an assisted living home.  Not only did they leave their beautiful roses behind, but they also left a very old and sweet Himalayan blue-eyed cat named Henry.  How cruel can anyone be?   They were told the assisted living home didn’t accept cats so they simply abandoned Henry.    All of the neighbors looked after Henry, making sure he got fed and sheltered, but he died within 6 months.  People thought he died of old age, but I know he died of a broken heart.  I call the dark pink rose, Henry.

And there is also a story behind this yellow rose.  On the original tag, it says this is a “carpet” rose, but the truth is, this rose grows tall and is anything but a carpet variety! Lisa Fox presented me with this rose when my mother passed away. How could Lisa have known that yellow was my mom’s favorite colored rose? This rose bush is always in full bloom on the anniversary of my mother’s passing and I always think of my mom when I see it in bloom!

Lisa Fox's yellow rose