Honeysuckle and Lavendar

I love honeysuckle, I always have . In the early spring after a long winter, I could open up my windows and smell it's heavenly fragrance. It gave me hope that it would be warm again. That with the coming of spring and summer the world would come alive again.

Honeysuckle doesn't grow naturally here. We have a small patch of it. If this had been the south, that thing would have already taken over the fence and the yard. But here we have to encourage it to grow. On the other hand, lavender doesn't grow easily in the south. It doesn't like the humid temperatures or the clay soil. People get it to grow in gardens, but they have to nurture it like a miracle child. But here, everyone has it in their gardens. It grows in the cracks of the sidewalks. It will take over a field and I've seen it growing wild on the side of the road with wild foxglove. I had never actually seen real foxglove before I moved here. It's prettier than the cross stitch motifs that I sewed decades ago.

I like lavender too and over the past several years I have begun wearing the fragrance a lot. I like Dr. Teals Lavender and Epsom Salts body wash. It's awesome stuff for aching joints and the lavender oil soothes eczema like nothing else. The smell is nice too. I pair it up with Yardley's English Lavender Soap. It makes me feel like I'm being extravagant.

A few weeks ago I was talking with my niece about Bath and Body Works. She asked me what my favorite fragrance was and I told her that it had been the Wild Honeysuckle, but they had stopped making it. I hadn't gone into one of the stores for many years; probably since Mollie was a teenager. So for Christmas, Nora got me a bottle of the Wild Honeysuckle body spray. I love it as much as I remember. She said that she cheated because she had a coupon to buy so many and get so many free. She was able to get the Lavender spray that she loves.

I had gone to Pier One with my sister, really to look for a mug for her stocking. I didn't find anything that I thought would work, but they had a buy one get one sale on the candles. I bought a lavender one for my niece and got a honeysuckle one for me. It seems we shop well for each other...and ourselves.

I'm still using Dr. Teals. It would be awesome if he'd come up with a honeysuckle fragrance. But the two go well together. I come out of the bath smelling like flowers. The cats don't like it much. They have quit jumping up on my bathrobe the minute I take it off and throw it on the bed. In fact, I'm burning the candle right now and none of them are in the room. I think they prefer the sandalwood incense that Karen is burning.

It's getting cold. They say we may have snow on Saturday. Saturday is a good day for snow. We can cook a stew and relax in the house.