The End of the Line

The theme for this month's Picture This Photo Contest at Gardening Gone Wild is "The End of the Line."  I haven't participated recently, and wasn't planning to make the effort this time.  But often opportunities are handed to us when we're not expecting them.  Every day when I have walked the dogs this week, I have marveled at the delicate white roses blooming on the corner down the street.  We go for our walks in the late afternoon, just before dusk starts settling in, so there is a gentle light illuminating their white petals.  Yesterday I realized I had forgotten yet again to take my camera along, so when we got home I grabbed it and went back to the roses.  Up close they were even more beautiful, in all stages of growth.  There were a few at that oh-so-fragile point when their petals begin to wilt and droop before dropping off to the ground below:  the end of the line.  Rather than looking forlorn, this one had a dignified grace about it, a softening before the final fade.

So much has been said and sung of beautiful young girls,

why don't somebody wake up to the beauty of old women? 
~ Harriet Beecher Stowe

Psst.... I thought I would also share one at a younger stage, for comparison: