It's a Good Thing that Wednesdays Exist

[lydamorehouse]

Image: white lilac

I'm at least always reminded on a Wednesday that maybe I should go on over to DW and at least drop a line about what I've been reading. As has become typical of me, I will also attempt to catch you up on the rest of my life. But first, since it's probably the least interesting, I'll start with my reading.

This has been a banger week for me.

I finished Nghi Vo's The Chosen & The Beautiful, which I probably would have appreciated more if I were a fan of The Great Gatsby, which I am not. I didn't hate Vo's book, however? I liked the magic far better than any of the people, but I'm pretty sure, given what I know about The Great Gatsby, that was likely by design. Then, I have been absolutely CRANKING through The Singing Hills Cycle, which is Nghi Vo's loosely connected series of novellas about the wandering scholar-priest Chih, whom I adore. This week I listened to The Empress of Salt and Fortune, When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain, and Into the Riverlands. I have Mammoths at the Gates queued up and ready to listen to! I don't even know how to explain how awesome these novellas are, but if you are at all a fan of C-Dramas I guarantee you will *love* these. I could not be happier to see that another in this series is up for a Hugo this year. Thank all the gods my friend naomikritzer is up in a different catagory or I'd have a real connundrum on my hands.

Also, because there was a day when I could not get the next Singing Hills novella, I listened to Remote Control. another novella, this one by Nnedi Okorafor. I have to say? These two hour audio versions of stories are amazing--like popcorn for the brain! 

The rest of my week has been a lot. Much of it fun stuff, but a goodly chunk of it being preparation for heading East to watch Mason graduate from college. (I know! It doesn't seem possible to me, either!) To be fair, Shawn is doing most of the actual planning. But my job is often to do much of the fetching, as it were. Plus, with this crazy heat (it's been all the way up to 90 F / 32 C), I've been trying to keep the ground moist for my baby seedlings that are coming up in the boulevard garden. My bouelvard, like anywhere that I attempt to "grow" grass, is an absolute nightmare. I would be summarily kicked out of any gated community for my inability to keep grass of any sort alive. However, I am attempting to make up for that this year by having a stunning boulevard garden. So in amongst the perrenials, I dumped a literal ton of "butterfly garden" seeds. Things seem to be emerging? Of course, we are also poised to be out of town for a week and a half. So, I may come back to a lot of dead things. 

Which I guess also goes with the grass aesthetic, I guess. 

Sigh.

At any rate, the fun thing I did this week was spontaneously go on a "Midwestern hanami" with the above-mentioned Naomi. I have long told her how jealous I am that the Japanese actually make a holiday out of flower viewing (which is what hanami translates to--actually technically it's just "flower" and "to see.") In Japan, of course, what people go out to look at are cherry blossoms. We could do that here, but cherry blossoms bloom when it's still a bit "nippy," as we say here in Minnesota, plus there just aren't a ton of cherry trees to be had. Lilacs--even though lots of other things are in bloom--are really to the Midwest what cherry blossoms are to Japan. Like in Japan, lilacs are not native... but you wouldn't know it. Also, people plant them EVERYWHERE and when they bloom, you can smell them on the air. Just like in Japan, you can, if you know where to find them (and I do,) walk through a kind of tunnel of lilacs in bloom.



Image: On Summit Avenue, there exists a secret tunnel of lilacs two blocks long....

Naomi and I have long talked about doing a lilac hanami, so we finally did. On Tuesday, we set off to Summit Avenue just east of Lexington where exists a lovely, two-block long tunnel of lilacs. It was a perfect spot, actually. Public, but still a little private. 


Image: A silly otaku (me) enjoying a picnic under the lilacs.

We spent the time snacking on sushi and fantasing about a Minnesota where everyone has the week off when the lilacs come into bloom. We imagined all sorts of lilac "flavored" treats people could sell, including some "Minnesota State Fair"-inspired things like a corndog with lavender/lilac-colored mustard artistically droozled to look like a lilac. It could be a thing!

Minnesotas could all wander around with phones and camera out, trying to get the perfect quintessential lilac shot.

Comments

[spiffikins]

I can SMELL those photos :)

Lilacs were my mom's MOST favourite flower. I remember when I was maybe 12-13 I got it in my head that I wanted to buy her a lilac bush as a surprise for Mother's Day. Of course, being 12 - I had no money and no way to get to the nursery on my own.

Did I let that stop me? Pfft. I managed to convince her to give me some money when we were at the nursery (where I *saw* the lilac saplings in their pots) - and managed to "wander off" on my own enough to grab one and take it to the checkout - and somehow I managed to get them to deliver it later that day? I do not remember why this was a service offered to a tween buying ONE potted bush :D

Unfortunately, the bushes were not flowering - so it wasn't until we had planted it and it had grown - the next year - that we found out that while it was not only not the dark purple that I had hoped for - it was a VERY pale pale purple - it also had BARELY any scent to it! I was crushed. My mom made the best of it - and that bush did well.

But years later - a friend of hers who had a magic green thumb, was digging up HER lilac bush to replace it with something else - and she brought it over to my mom and they planted it under my mom's bedroom window. And THAT bush was amazing - the flowers were SO saturated in colour AND the scent was so perfect!

It is something that I miss, living in California - no lilacs because it doesn't get cold enough here in the winter! I gather there are specific varieties that have been cultivated to not need that - but I've never seen a lilac bush since I moved here.

[coffeetime]

Oh, that's fun indeed!

I did a modest hanami - went to Chicago a few weeks ago to see their cherry blossoms, on an oddly warm day. It's not on the scale of Japan, of course, but still pretty cool.

Lilacs are also heavily scenting the air here. Unfortunately they give me a pretty respectable headache, so I don't bring them in the house and do not linger under the bushes.

[sabotabby]

Gorgeous lilacs! I smelled my first one yesterday. I basically have them all over my front and back yard because it's one of the best smells, but my own haven't bloomed yet.

Singing Hills is so fantastic. When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain remains my favourite, but the newest one is a close second and Mammoths at the Gate is probably #3. Which is like having to choose what the cutest cat is. They're all great.

[oracne]

Congratulations to Mason! Wow!!!

Lilacs smell so amazing. I think I am allergic to them but don't care.

[pameladean]

Felicitations to Mason! It probably seems like a longer time to him than to older people since he was a freshman.

The lilac hanani is a wonderful idea. Long ago we used to do something similar. Carleton College for decades had a lilac maze, and in the eighties and nineties, David's mother would let us know when it was blooming, and we would grab anybody who seemed interested and hie us down to Northfield to wander amongst ancient lilacs of most possible colors. After that we went to Bill's Pizza, often with David's parents. Alas, the bushes reached their natural lifespan and the entire maze ended up being removed, to much lamentation.

So I particularly love your lilac tunnel, as a reminder of how that lilac maze was.

P.

[anirrationalseason]

Congrats on Mason's graduation!

Love the flower pics! I always get lilacs and cherry blossoms mixed up, to be honest... I know there are lilac viewing festivals in our neck of the woods, but for one reason or another we've never made it to one--we had our first real hanami experience watching the cherry blossoms in Seattle last month, which was super cool. I think everyone should experience a hanami at least once.

[elainegrey]

This year i made lilac syrup and lilac sugar. It wasn't bad! Different and maybe with herbal notes as well as the floral, but still better than other attempts to save floral scents. One lesson is that i think shorter times may be better than longer. Over steeping may be where the herbal notes come from....