dish water roses

There is a detail from a piece of writing that has remained with me. Unfortunately, I don't recall if it was from a novel, biography, or perhaps a newspaper essay. The writer mentioned a rose bush, wild and gnarly, that was in their yard. The mom in the family had a habit of saving the rinse water after washing the dishes. She would carry the pan of water to the rose bush each day and empty it there. Though the area had experienced some very dry years, the rose bush thrived.