Early-ish March isn’t that much different from late February. On an early morning walk, I just wanted to stop time.
This house always grabs my attention, with its quiet simple beauty.
As I walked, I kept smelling something that I couldn’t identify. It was a good smell, and one that I hadn’t noticed before. It was on a route that I only take when my walking partner isn’t with me, chosen because it is shorter than our normal walks. That’s the way I trick myself into going alone.
This is the first time in 26 years that I’ve noticed ceanothus while walking. It is native to this area, and it isn’t very attractive in my book. But I wondered if that was the source of the good smell.
Indeed it was!
With flowering quince and daffodils going gung-ho (that’s a weird word—Chinese origins?**) in my yard, along with mowed weeds that pass for a lawn in spring, I almost felt happy to be alive*.
*Fret not. That’s something my dad used to say in his buffoonish way of disseminating wisdom. I was thinking about him a lot in February because that was both his birth and death month.
** Thank you Gnat for sending me that little piece on MentalFloss.com verifying my guess that “gung ho” is Chinese!
4 Comments
I’ve never heard of ceanothus. What does it smell like/similar to, I wonder?
That is an EXCELLENT idea for storing gardening tools and something I’d never heard of before. How simple…yet effective.
Elizabeth, ceanothus is a California native, usually in the scrub-brush level of foothills. It smelled surprisingly sweet, although not as good as orange blossoms (nothing is as good as orange blossoms!) There is a deep blue version available in landscaping, very drought tolerant, but I’ve killed two in my yard. Typical (for me.)
What a beautiful place to walk! Too bad the internet can’t share the scent of the ceanothus. Using mailboxes as tool containers is a genius idea!
Michelle, I can’t take credit for the mailbox idea but I sure have taken advantage of every opportunity to acquire mailboxes!
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