Down the Lane...

I wandered in a bit different area on my hike this afternoon.  The sun was already starting to set in the west when I headed out but something drew me to my aunt and uncle's place next door.  This was their old home and the property has been vacant for some time.  Being as I spent so much time there with my cousin, Margie, when we were both youngsters, I always felt that it was just an extension of my home.  I still like to mosey around once in a while even though the homestead is no longer there.  As I rounded the bend that would take me down what used to be their lane, I suddenly got a whiff of something delightful!  A sweet scent wafted among the southerly breeze and told me that the azaleas were in bloom.  At one time the lane was part of my favorite walk as it was lined with all sorts of wonderfully blooming shrubbery.  Each season brought a different bit of interest whether it be in the form of flowers, huckleberries, roses, or holly, cedar and pine!  The lane was almost magical!

Today, the azaleas were just starting to bloom.  Even though hedgerow is now covered with vines and fallen trees, it was still a thing of beauty.  Those bushes were trying their best to bring for the blooms that have always been associated with the long driveways of the Deep South.  Old oak trees dripping with Spanish Moss would form a canopy making the lane feel almost like a tunnel.  The sides of the lanes were always lined with azaleas in colors of red, hot pink, pale pink and white.  My aunt and uncle's drive could have been one from some long-ago plantation home.  I could not help myself!  I picked a large bouquet of the blooms to take home with me!  The azaleas at my place are just starting to show their colors with the buds still tight closed.  Perhaps this is due to them being much younger plants or perhaps because mine are more in the open and subject to the cold.  Truth be told, my bushes are actually "babies" from the huge bushes down this lane!

Once home, my lovely bouquet was placed in Grandmother's crockery milk pitcher!  There is just something so comforting about the memories that the flowers and crocks evoke!  Ahh...tiny bits of home..of a time past..of family....what more could one ask?