The color was startling against the autumn shades of Northeast Ohio; there was just this nubbin of lilac on one of several lilac bushes that bloom like mad things every spring. I had pruned the shrub to control the growth pattern back in June, so maybe that had something to do with this surprise blooming. Yet, I have pruned the lilacs nearly every summer and never seen this. A happy surprise for our area, we have many summer flowers still blooming since we have not had our usual real frost. My garden has zinnias, snapdragons, nasturtiums and lavender blooming as in summer. Heck, my $5 sale-at-the-end-of-the-season rose tree, a happy buy of last year, is putting out its most fantastic blooms of this year right now. This is the fourth good set of blooms this year and they smell like a bit of heaven: very pleasing.
But this, a clump of lilacs blooming in October, this reminds me that God and nature, our world, always has surprises for us. I mean happy surprises, not just the other kind. If we see truly unexpected flowers, like roses growing on lilac bushes, then we could think the world has really slipped the bounds of chaos. This blooming is, for me, a little bit of joy so we remember the world is still a good place. Mankind and our politics can frustrate, depress, and even frighten us. Thank God there is more to life than all that. This is serendipity and I had to share.
