Reblogged from Ritu at But I Smile Anyway, a lovely story and a haiku in response to the photo prompt:

Sue’s photo prompt today reminded me of the first bunch of roses Hubby Dearest gave to me when we were dating. He was a student, so they were never going to be the full-headed, huge, deep red blooms that you need to take a loan out to afford.

But they were roses, there was a dozen, they were red, and they were mine!

I was so touched, I wanted to keep them forever!

Remembering the advice of a friend, instead of trimming them, and sticking them in a vase, I used twine to secure the bunch and then hung them to dry, upside down.  They dried beautifully, with their little heads held high.  The colour faded. What aroma they had, disappeared. But they never failed to raise a smile, when I looked at them. I kept them for a few years, but they got to a state where they started to disintegrate, so I had to say goodbye to them…

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