blossom time

Pear blossoms stink. I didn't know that until I brought a handful into my house and ensconced them in a vase on my mantle. They are white, delicate, beautiful...and a bit stinky. It's that rotten flower smell. So from now on, I leave them outside to attract bees and turn into pears. Yum. Pears do not stink. Well, unless you let them rot, of course. But I digress.

The old, gnarly pear tree is just outside my bedroom window on the south side of the house. It surely is beautiful just now. The big, pale blooms have matured and are beginning to drop from the stem. This morning, in the still-dim early-morning light, a gust of wind kicked up and a shower of petals swirled through the air and across the dark green lawn. Ah. Magical.