Lavender Fields…..

“with immediacy and intensity, smell activates the memory, allowing our minds to travel freely in time.” Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume, 1984

I love Lavender. I love to strip a stem’s flower and rub it in my hands, inhale deeply and utter that sound of contentment. Put me near Rosemary, Sage or Lavender and I’m harassing the plants. The smells elicit bygone times…………

The other night as I was working my way back toward town and the sunset, I came upon a roadside sign, ‘Lavender Fields’. What the heck, I thought, I will venture in. I parked my rig and observed the Lavender field waving to and fro in the evening wind. Hundreds of Bumble Bees flitted about the Lavender. The field was alive with the wind and the Bumble Bees moving in some concert.

I looked about and a short distance up a hillside beneath some trees sat a lady, enjoying the shade and taking me in. Figuring this was mosey territory, I moseyed on up to say hello (I am admittedly too tainted and citified to say ‘howdy’). The lady, my age, was eager to discuss her Lavender field and the resultant, sachets (see I know what a darn sachet is), soap and oils she produced. I took it all in. Bought some oil, feeling obliged to help out. I then told her I wanted to photograph the field. She said go right ahead.

Whereupon the wind kicked up and the Lavender really began to wave about. The fragrance, the smell, was wafting through the air. The low sun, waving Lavender and dancing bees combined for quite a site better captured on video than with a camera. I snapped some images and as I expected they were for the most part a blur with pockets of clarity. 

I said goodnight to the lady. She thanked me for listening to her and buying some oil. I was the only customer she’d had that evening. It was special for both of us. I departed to catch the sunset, still smelling Lavender.