Nose Candy

Bearded irises.... my favorites (or at least, one of many favorites). My love of them began back in Ohio when I was little. We had them growing along the back of our chain-linked fence. They were purple. I would pass by the forsythia bushes, the lilac bushes that arched over my head, past some Queen Anne's lace and through the pine trees to find wands of green with crowns of purple standing in their secluded spots of quiet glory.

You know how a certain scent is emblazoned in your mind forEVER?!?! It's that way for me with irises. The soft, sweet, ethereal scent that awaits one's nose is such a strong imprint in my mind...never dulled by years gone by.

I have my own back yard now. Not in Ohio. It is graced with irises here and there. Today, 3 gloriously sunny-yellow ones greet passer-byers from my front garden. I am ever so tempted to cut one and take it to work with me, as I have in the past. But since my home is on the market, I leave them all...thinking that someone driving by in the market for a new home might have their memory touched by seeing my irises gracing my front yard..amid the Queen Anne's lace and other wild flowers...and fall in love with my home. I tell myself that it's ok to not be taking irises to work with me each week. I tell myself it's ok. I tell myself that when all the dust settles this year and I have a new back yard, I'll be able to have new irises stretching out of the soil and bursting with furls and glory. Then, I entertain the idea that when the house is sold and I pack up my life, maybe I'll dig up my irises and take them with me!!! Shhhh.... don't tell anyone.....