Two roses in remembrance
My mother cherished this rose that my father gave her and it is now in my garden.  Today after a great deal of suffering Dad passed away and is now reunited with Mum.
Dad spent most of his working life flying -  in the RAF, in training pilots and flying commercially including big airliners but he really enjoyed flying small aeroplanes battling the elements and swooping above the countryside.

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, --and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of --Wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air...
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark or even eagle flew --
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

John Gillespie Magee