I love the smells of spring

I love this time of year when everything is in bloom.  Walking out my back door I'm hit with the sweet smell of star jasmine that covers 40 feet of trellis around my back deck.  I love that smell.  Further on is a magnolia tree blooming.  I love to cut a flower off that tree and bring that southern smell into the house.  As I continue through my yard I get the smell of ligustrum which brings back memories of growing up in Florida.  Its funny how smells bring back specific memories.  In the house I grew up there was a ligustrum bush growing under the window of my bedroom.  In the spring when the weather was beautiful we would leave the windows open and I would smell it all night.  That smell is so ingrained in those memories.  Earlier in the year as our citrus trees were blooming the smell reminded me of when I would drive from college at the Univ of South Fla in Tampa to my parents home in Orange Park, FL and I would drive through miles and miles of orange groves.  I would usually drive at night and, since I had no A/C in my car, I would have all the windows down and would breathe in that wonderful orange blossom smell.  Unfortunately many of those groves are no longer there but the smell always brings back those memories.