Spring in Indiana

To quote a cliche, "this is my most favorite time of the year." And I really mean it! The chore of doing the lawn and weeding the flower beds is more than offset by the beauty around me. The azaleas are almost fully opened up now. Mom was disappointed that they stayed closed up while they were here. (We had a cold snap that slowed them down.) The lilacs are scenting the air. The aspargras is booming and we are almost getting tired of it. The new flower bed out front is elicting comments from passers by. And Kent has tilled the garden for the first time. Of course it is also the time of frequent rain showers so the grass is growing as fast as it can. The joke around here is that you have to mow anytime it stops raining because if you don't it will be a foot long the next time!

I am particularly fond of lilacs. We had them in our yards in Wyoming and in Gaylord. After I graduated from high school I was never home in time from college to see and smell them. In fact it wasn't until the spring of 1991 when I was living in Gaylord while Kent was in Kuwait that I got to enjoy lilacs again. A block down the street from where I was living (Gerald and Sue's old house) was a lilac hedge about 15 feet tall and half a block long. It was upwind of us and for several weeks we got to enjoy the heavenly perfume wafting towards us.