How does my garden grow?

In 1970, when our home was built, the "country-look" was in. Rugged, exposed beams were the hip thing.
Fast forward to when we actually bought this house in 2001. I struggled with those once-hip exposed beams.
Truthfully, I hated looking at those things sticking out of our roof line. I wondered if there was a way to cover them so they wouldn't look so ~~ugly~~ hideous.

Some of our neighbors with the same model actually sawed their beams off, but that left the front of their homes looking weird and unfinished.

So, until we can afford to completely re-do the front of the house, I figured I'd just deal with it.
I found this fabulous climbing rose called Stairway to Heaven or (STH), which promised to climb at least ten feet. I liked it because the blooms looked just like the red roses I carried in my bridal bouquet. (sigh)

So we planted the rose bush and honestly, that first year it was such a disappointment. just a few skinny sticks coming out of the ground. The next year I said to Eric, "Let's just rip it out." Apparently I said it within earshot of the STH and it exclaimed "A mi?!"" (because yes, all inanimate objects in my home speak to me with a Cuban accent, but that's not important right now. =D) Which is just like saying "Not me, baby!" and it started to grow. Not just to grow but to flourish. Every year it gets taller and fuller. And every year it takes my breath away.

And sure enough, every year I remember that I fell in love with it because it was a reminder of my wedding day. (aww!)
This year it didn't look like it was going to grow too high and I said to Eric (again within earshot of the rose bush), "Let's just trim it way back so we can paint this year." Again, we heard the familiar motivational words, "A mi?!" and off it went.

This is what it looks like today.... (notice how the sticky-out beams are covered by the glorious flowers?)