Scent from heaven

You may be familiar with the (true) legend of Johnny Appleseed. I think that he had a counterpart in this area who did the same for lilacs that Johnny did for apple trees. We live in a rural area where there is a lot of uncultivated land, and at this time of year it's quite easy to spot all the lilac bushes - either with one's eyes or one's nose. We're very blessed to have an abundance ourselves - they've just started opening and this evening I cut a large bunch. It really doesn't matter where in the house we put the vase because the fragrance now permeates every corner.

(60mm  f9.0  1/13 sec  ISO100)

click on photos for a larger image

(60mm  f5.6  1/100 sec  ISO100)

(10-22mm  f11  1/40 sec  ISO100)

(Day 126) Almost heaven

We had another weird-weather day. The only thing we didn't get was snow. The forecast was for partly cloudy skies, but we started the day off with rain, then clearing with strong winds, then a brief but violent thunderstorm, followed by more clearing. Towards dinnertime it started raining again, but the sun was shining brilliantly. I ran to grab my camera to try and capture this phenomenon but when I got outside the rain had stopped, and instead there was a 'sign' from heaven that reminded me of a promise made long ago.

After dinner I walked over to our lilac 'woods' (there's at least an acre of them) to capture them before they're gone again. The air was heavy with their fragrance - surely heaven must smell like this!

(18-55mm  f8  1/1250 sec  ISO200)


looking out the front door

(18-55mm  f5.6  1/100 sec  ISO200)

(18-55mm  f14  1/100 sec  ISO200)

(18-55mm  f5.6  1/160 sec  ISO200)