Sweet smell of Spring

So things have been crazy busy in my life lately - with my job, (and possibly a couple more contracts on the go at the same time), getting ready for the new house (ie: stressing over money), attempting to offload some vehicles (getting expensive), and making appointments for potential tenants to come see our apartment, there haven't been too many nights where I've found the time to sit and relax. (For this reason, I am not including a picture with this post as I'm, quite frankly, too tired to go take any and upload them at the moment). :) That being said, I did manage to tear myself away from my work tonight long enough to take Cricket outside into the back yard, with a glass of iced tea, and put my very tired and sore feet in the cool grass.

I sat for a while, but eventually curiosity got the best of me and I got up to snoop around my gardens to see how things are doing. (Unfortunately, this prompted an 'accident' - where I dragged the hose over some new alliums, breaking their leaves... :( ) On a positive side, I found one of my hostas (I am suspecting the other will never re-appear). It's the blue one, and it's now about five inches tall and starting to unfurl itself. I'm excited. :)

Also, my herbs are looking strong and full, which is equally (if not more) exciting - I'm hoping they'll survive the move to Aylmer in a month...

Anyway, in addition to the warm evening and lush cool grass, and my soft cute kitty enjoying it all with me, I also took great pleasure in the smells outside tonight. Our black cherry tree in the front is in full blossom - and even one of the people who came to see the apartment remarked on what a marvellous 'smell' there was in the front yard. Also, I couldn't resist plucking off a few pieces of fresh lavendar and crushing it in my hands. Absolutely gorgeous scent - I definitely want an entire bed dedicated to lavendar in the new place, because I'll finally have the sunshine required to grow it. :) The best is that it starts as a crisp, almost evergreen scent, then as your hands warm it, it starts to transform into more of a lavendar soap smell, and finally releases a sweet scent that reminds me of my favorite incense (nag champa)...

I still have to find out what kind of tree is over on the corner of my street. (I wonder if it's a Linden?) Luc and I were on our evening walk the other day and I happened to stop yacking long enough to catch a beautiful fresh, almost citrussy scent floating on the breeze. It was quite a strong scent too, so when I tried to smell the blossoms dangling over my head (on that tree), I wasn't able to tell if they were producing the scent, or if it was enveloping everything. Now I'll have to investigate - it'd be nice to replace the scraggly pine and cedars at our new place with something a little more 'sightly'.

Anyway, I do have to say, I'm so glad I discovered a love of plants and outdoors - there is no better remedy to a stressful life than taking a few moments to just sit and watch the awesome things going on in your own back yard - I highly recommend all of us crazy city people grow a garden, just for that reason. :)

xo