in the garden......

ok, so i came home from work and took a lap around the perimeter of the garden...to look in on what has bloomed since my last visit, and just to unwind from the day...today needed a bit of a debrief...being the first time i saw an actual cocaine-addicted newborn......currently in the custody of grandparents...and requiring medication to soothe its withdrawal from in-utero drugs.....such infants are given phenobarbitol, which is a cocaine derivative......in decreasing doses....as well as a medication commonly used for ulcers to soothe the stomach....such babies are born with fragile intestinal tracts, due to in-utero drug exposure.......omg......and these grandparents did not seem especially surprised nor upset by the situation.....turns out they have had custody of another child's 4 children at one point......omg.......and so the actual parents can only visit the baby in the company of a court-appointed social worker....and must complete a prescribed rehab program........so very sad.........and such a downer...the notion that a couple's twilight years are consumed with the care of grandchildren that their own children could not rally to raise........ouch........and so my garden was such a refreshing spector when i drove into the garage.......my grandmother's old-fashioned rose is starting to open up....its scent is so intense that it lends creedance to the term rose-scented........it is so rosey it almost smells fake.........and there are lesser roses.......blooms that look pretty but have no aroma at all.......it is the fragrant flowers that keep my interest and fan my fire to keep the beds weeded and watered and fertilized.........int he midst of the rose show....there was a snake skin in amongst the sage.........i didn't pick the thing up to judge just how big the snake was getting.......it is enough for me to know to look extra careful into each bed before i pluck weeks or snip off a bloom to put in a vase.......i have enough drame at work.....i avoid it at home at all costs.........