Native Aroma

I walked to work today, about a 15-minute walk. The residential neighborhoods between where I live and the church office contain historic homes and tree-lined streets, making the walk a very pleasant one.

The best part about the walk came about halfway, when I passed a corner house that had no lawn. I turned on that corner, so I got an extra-long view of that house and its garden. In that garden, instead of a lawn, are a variety of native flowers and shrubs. Not only are they beautiful to look at, but they smell wonderful! Today I smelled what I think was sage, which reminded me of many hikes I've taken in the hills of southern California.

This picture, which I took last winter, shows some of the native plants (and wildlife!) of southern California. The plants smell even better than they look. (The boys, not so much.)