Lilaceous

Lilac, the color.

Lilac, the smell

Lilac, the flower

Lilaceous, all things lilac

Was killing weeds in my brick walks and then ran out of weed spray.  Didn't want to waste a pretty day going to the store for more (besides looking like I was a creature from mars with all the covering I wear when spraying).  So decided to cut out the dead on two rose bushes.  Then decided another rose needed an arbor I had put someplace else.  That required cutting a lot of vines out before moving.  Got so hot, I decided to pull weeds on the east side of the fence.  When all of a sudden (at 4:00 PM) I thought:   Iced tea!

It's a warm (78 degrees) beautiful day and I need iced tea even though it's only April 1st.  But first I picked a huge bouquet of lilacs.  Then a few tulips and a branch of the crab apple tree.  And now I have my glass of tea. 

Here's my mother-in-law's perfect iced tea recipe.  Being from Georgia, they always have sweet tea, but it'll work either way.  I added the spice tea for just a little more flavor.

Margaret's Gibson's Iced Tea

8 cups (2 qts.) - Cold water

6  - tea bags (any kind such as Lipton breakfast type)

1 - tea bag of Constant Comment spice

1 pinch - baking soda

Optional - 1 to 2 cups - Sugar

4 Quart - pitcher

Remove paper tags from tea bags

Put cold water and 7 tea bags in a large pan

Bring to a boil

Turn off heat

Add a pinch of baking soda (it will bubble up)

Remove bags

(Optional: put sugar in pitcher)

Add hot tea - stir if using sugar

Add another 2 quarts of cold water to tea mixture.

I know this is a basic recipe.  By following these steps it'll be really great iced tea. 

Now to arrange those lilacs in a vase and enjoy the scent for a few days.  Lilaceous!

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Top photo is the first Red Admiral butterfly I've seen this year.  He was enjoying this old-fashioned purple lilac as much as I was.

Second photo is of a very old white lilac original to our old house.  Very scented.

Third photo is of lilac "Sensation".  It doesn't have much of a smell but certainly is beautiful.

Bottom photo is a pink lilac called "James MacFarland".  It has little scent and blooms late.  Yep, mark them down as lilaceous!