The Fragrance of Lilacs

September has brought cooler weather, even to Texas. The high each afternoon in now only in the 90's. In August we endured 24 days of over 100.

Thank God for air-conditioning!

Most of the people who live in this retirement home have lived in Texas all their lives. They are accustomed to the weather, including the violent thunderstorms which sometimes bring tornados. Last week a twister picked up a northbound semi-truck, spun it around until it was headed south and slammed it into the side of a warehouse. That was on the other side of Dallas. No damage here in Garland, but the furious rain caused the ceiling to collapse in our dining room.

Enough to make Mariam wish she was back in Illinois. She grew up in Bloomington and came to Texas 30 years ago when her husband was transferred here by Allstate Insurance Company. Asked what she missed most about Illinois, Mariam said, “Lilacs.”

I, too, remember springtime in Illinois and the beauty of lilacs in bloom all over town, mostly in that lovely light shade of purple that Sears catalog calls after their flowers, “lilac”. One time my family went with friends to the lilac festival in Lombard where lilac bushes as tall as trees were umbrellas of delicate pastel blooms in many shades, including whites, as pretty and fluffy as a the summer dresses young girls used to wear.

Lilacs do not do well in Texas. Too hot? Not cold enough? I’m not a horticulturist.

Instead of lilacs, we have crepe myrtles. They grow into tall bushes, similar to lilacs. Beside Ilene Timmerman’s house was a crepe myrtle tree, as tall as the second-story windows and covered with at the end of every branch with a canopy of pink blossoms.

In summer crepe myrtles add color to every street in North Texas. I remember the white crepe myrtle behind our house in Irving in the 1960's and a dark red one at the corner of my house in Garland, which I sold last year. Now from my third-floor balcony I see a pink one behind the house on the other side of the parking lot.

Crepe myrtles bloom all summer long. They are still in bloom here in the middle of September. Driving to the doctor’s today, they nodded to me over fences in the back yards of houses along the roadway, added color to front lawns, and stood in rows along the parkway. They made even going to the doctor a pleasurable drive.

Unfortunately, crepe myrtles do not have the fragrance of lilacs.