Lilac - a short story of springtime surprises

picture by Giulia Spanghero, Tarcento

These weeks I have done some travelling. It is not playing only that breaks the time ; I also do some walking, being a tourist with a cause. In springtime there is flowers everywhere. But the lilac and its sweet smell I encountered from Ljubljana way up to Malmö.

My father worked in the coalmines. He worked at the frontline deep down in the earth. No wonder that once back in the sun he went out for long walks. When I was still young enough to believe in miracles, but old enough to figure out that I was witnessing some ritual, I was enchanted one day by the vision of a bunch of Lilac in a vase on the table.

This triggered my memorie. And I suddenly realised, that my father brought lilac to my mother, every year at springtime. He never told where he found it. But the lilac was a yearly announcement that spring had arived.

On the picture you can recognize two colors, the orange of the orange, and the lilac of the lilac.