Lilac Season

May is lilac time in New Hampshire!  Beautiful, gloriously fragrant lilacs!  Our own lilac bush, for no reason I can possibly comprehend, produces very few blooms.  (I was happy it had three this year.)  But nearby there is an abandoned and decaying property where the neglected lilac bushes grow 10-feet high or more and nobody is there to enjoy them.  So each year, armed with some snips, I go and gather an armload.  This year’s bundle:

As soon as we got them home, Colette set to work arranging them in vases.  Their heady fragrance filled the room!

The biggest bouquet was arranged in my pale aqua blue depression glass ice bucket and went outside for our Memorial Day table, before taking up a more permanent residence on the dresser in the foyer.

Another grouping, in a pewter pitcher, went on the kitchen table.  Another in a crock on the mantle hood over the stove.  And lastly, a single stem by my bathroom sink.

Lilac time is so fleeting, but so beautiful!

Spring Home Atmosphere

This is the second in a series of postings on how I think about the atmosphere of our home in a seasonal manner.  If you'd like to read the first posting, Winter Home Atmosphere, click here.



In my mind, each season has an atmosphere all its own, and that atmosphere spills over to: the kitchen, touches of beauty and comfort, and our activities. Here is how I am thinking about this spring:

Spring

Growth.  Bloom.  Color.  New.  Clean.

The Kitchen:

-fresh eggs

-quiche

-asparagus

-lemon desserts

-strawberries

-grilling

Touches of Beauty and Comfort:

-fresh flowers on the table

-open windows

-forsythia branches indoors

-lighten and brighten decorative touches

-fresh air

Activities:

-Easter!

-spring cleaning

-make soap

-creatively dye eggs

-lighten wardrobe

-clean out closets

-start seeds

-travel

-plant garden