May 24, 2006: Smelling Honeysuckle

Somehow this year, the honeysuckle escaped the pruners. Every other year, my husband and my father have managed to cut out every remnant of this "invasive plant species" that makes Randy's allergies go wild, but this May our yard is soaked in honeysuckle, and I can't stop breathing in summer.

Honeysuckle is the embodiment of summer in Tennessee for me. All those college evenings spent on a honeysuckle-laden campus, slow evenings full of nothing but discovery. Honeysuckle makes me want to stay up all night talking on a park bench, take slow and aimless walks in the moonlight, drink sweet tea.