Try This When You're Not Home

One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving is to leave the house and go out for a walk while the turkey is cooking. Not for my health or for the fresh air, but for the wonderful experience of walking back into the house and smelling the bird in the oven.

Two weeks ago I accidentally did this with flowers. Working at Sun Valley, I am lucky to be able to bring home all sorts of blooms to enjoy. On a Wednesday, I brought home some big, bold White Cup oriental lilies, not even realizing that early Thursday morning I was packing the family in the car and heading to Sacramento, which is about 5 hours from Eureka.

White Cup lilies growing at our Arcata farm.

When I realized I had these lilies and wasn't going to be around to enjoy them, my first thought was to give them to a neighbor. I looked out in the neighborhood and all was pretty quiet, either way I figured I better get these beauties in some water.

I clipped the stems and placed them in a sort of ordinary vase, figuring I could lend it to a neighbor. Then the phone rang, and kids needed picking up, dinner needed making and bags needed to be packed for our family weekend getaway.

In short, this left the lilies sitting in their vase all but forgotten as we got out the door early the next morning.

Honestly, I didn't think about them at all over our mini-vacation to Sacramento.  Go see the zoo if you're in Sacramento with kids. It's small by most standards, but they have some really amazing animals to see. The lions, tigers and anteaters were my favorites, and the kids are still talking about the zebras and giraffes.

Sunday evening, about 7 pm we arrived back in Humboldt County. You know this feeling; nerves frayed from the long drive home, kids cranky from all the time in the car and starting to think about heading back to the office on Monday (Dread!).

I got the kids out of the car seats, grabbed some luggage and trudged into the house. I was expecting to hear the kids and my spouse battling over dinner and bath times, however, it was eerily quiet. Then the fragrance hit me. Wow, it was incredible. The rich warm scent of the Orientals that had been all but forgotten was enveloping my senses. Unconsciously, I took a deep breath and exhaled, my blood pressure dropping like a stone.

As I walked into the living room, there was my family everyone just sitting there pensively enjoying the amazing aroma. No fighting, no whining, just peace.

Learn More About Our White Lilies

Ten stems of Orientals saved the day and took the edge off the usually hard return from a vacation.

As Memorial Day approaches, the summer travel season is just about here.

Try leaving some flowers at your house to welcome you home.