Summer Heat

Eighty-seven degrees yesterday, and windy, and the third day in a row where we topped eighty so the flowering plants are pushing out blooms everywhere. Take "Dad's Redbud" (below) which I planted many years ago to the north of the henhouse. This tree is Dad's favorite and he'd always point them out as we drove. I found a tiny sprig of a sapling to our north, dug it up and planted it here. Now each year we have its pink-violet flowers.


The tree doesn't amount to much yet. It might be 20' tall and skinny as I used to be, but it's literally covered in flowers right now. From the kitchen window, we can see the mass of pink above the henhouse roof.

And lilacs ... is there a better scent anywhere on the planet? Once, as a child I was sick in bed and my Aunt Belle sent me a bouquet of lavender lilacs which were placed on a stand beside my bed. I couldn't help but love them from that day forward. My aunt's lilacs lined her garage and she picked the bouquets for "Decoration Day", making the family graves at Hill-Grove something special to behold.

My lilacs are both white and taken from a friend's plant which was grafted and which bloomed in multi-colors. I suppose the root stalk was white. In any case, both of my plants are pure ivory and I can watch them whipping in the wind in the meadow today. I walked up this morning and cut a bouquet and have the lovely flowers in an antique vase on our brick hearth.