Our lilac bush is so lovely...and smells SO good!

Jo and the beautiful lilac bush

A close-up!

The handsome husband checks out the bush.

Back when Hannah was in fourth grade, I accompanied her class on a three-day "Oregon History" field trip. One of the amazing places we went was to Philip Foster Farm National Historic Site, which is in Eagle Creek, Oregon (see www.philipfosterfarm.com). It was at this site, located on the Barlow Trail (last leg of the Oregon Trail) where pioneers, who had traveled over 2000 miles, for seemingly endless months, could finally find real civilization: gardens, orchards, provisions at the store, fresh vegetables and fruit, pasture for their stock, a blacksmith, camping sites, home-cooked meals, and even cabins to rent. And being the history nut that I am, I loved this place, and I really recommend taking a tour there. Today it is operated as an authentic replica site, and tours and demonstrations of pioneer life are given by employees in period costume. Anyway, to make a long story even longer, when Hannah and I were there, I purchased a lilac start from the gift shop. (Actually, the gift shop had sold out of the starts, so the employees gave me a shovel and a pot and "let" me dig my own start from around the base of the original lilac bush, which they then sold to me, making it even more fun!) The neat thing about this lilac start is that it came from the first lilac bush in Oregon. The original start traveled to Oregon from the east coast of the U.S. in 1843, via Cape Hope at the tip of South America. Today you can still buy the starts from Mary Charlotte Foster's original bush, which is huge - taller than the two-story homestead! I bought and planted our start in about 1997, and it has been somewhat slow to strut its stuff, but this year, it has grown so much, is loaded with blooms, and smells SOOOO good! Thank you, God, for making such lovely things for us to enjoy.

and P.S... the rhododendron is looking mighty fine, too
and another P.S. - I don't know why my font size is so small in the paragraph above?