Fun Amid the Roses

I am well into my third Blackberry after losing one at an airport and having one die. The one I have now is relatively new but is turning bratty: I took a bunch of photos of Donny playing with his Tonka Truck in front of the house. It was great because it was in front of my 16 John Claire Rose Bushes. I wanted rose bushes instead of boxwood and spent a buttload of money on them. And I chose those particular bushes based on the fact they are named after John Clare, one of the most amazing and tragic poets ever to put pen to paper. I've never regretted my choice and this year, especially, the bushes are fantastic, heaped with old fashioned pink cabbage roses so heavy the stems can barely hold them.

And my stupid blackberry erased all but two of my kid + roses photos.

Maybe its not the blackberry, maybe its a sunspot. Today has been kind of like that in general. Anyhow, here are the two photos that survived:
The other great thing was that Donovan discovered the joy of sliding down the cellar door. Well, great for him: if you look closely at the photos below, you will see the doors are held shut with a nasty, big, splintery, dirty, sure to cause lockjaw if a sliver of it gets into you, piece of wood. Everytime he slid down (which was about 800 times in 20 or so minutes) I would silently pray ,"PLEASE don't let him grab that wood to stop his fall!" He avoided that trap but I'm seriously considering tacking bubblewrap to it. Aaaand, here are those photos (I'm especially proud of the final, Real Action shot):