Spring Fling

By Tom Spring for me is always a period of joy. After months of cold, drab weather (yes, even in Los Angeles, where it's raining as I type this) spring will, well, spring. Growing up in New England that meant that practically overnight the maple trees that ringed my parents house would burst into full leaf, the lawn went from greyish brown to almost cartoonish emerald, lilacs exploded into showy purple or white blooms and crocuses seemingly shot up before your eyes like time-lapse photography. Winter clothes could cautiously be abandoned, and my bicycle could come out of the garage. People say there are no seasons in Los Angeles. They're wrong of course. We have winter and it has definite stages. The deciduous trees here lose their leaves in Winter: there are Maples planted on Alden Drive not far from my place that put on a 3 block mini-show for us with bright orange leaves, Right around now they're awaiting the day they burst into full leaf. We don't have lilac, but the Jacaranda trees on Oakhurst and Palm Drives and the Magnolias on Beverly will do nicely, thanks, even if there's no smell. That comes with the jasmine. But for me Lily of the Valley is the ultimate scent of spring. At my parents it was a sigh that spring was well and truly here. Now, since it doesn't grow where I live (that I know of) I have to buy it in a bottle. The one that I'm most reaching for is Comme des Garçons Series 1: Leaves, Lily. It's lovely straightforward lily, with hints of freesia and lilac leaves that reminds me of those New England springs years ago. At the time I reviewed it last year I was told that it might be going away. I'm glad to report that it's still in stock at LuckyScent, so I can continue to have this Technicolor simulacrum of my youth on hand. Image, New England Spring by Robert Harrington, is from fineartamerica.com.