Lilacs Blooming At Twilight

I was driving with the car windows open the other day, when all of a sudden I caught a huge whiff of lilac from a hedge of it that had bloomed and was warming in the sun. This lilac is across the street from our house. The tops of it are just starting to bloom, and they smell incredible.

Lilac is such a classic flower, I thought there had to be some sort of story or myth associated with it. I was right. Lilac is in the genus Syringa. The word Syringa comes from the Greek word for "pipe." Because of the lilac's pithy stems, two early names for it were "pipe tree" and "blow stem." Both allude to the Greek myth in which the nymph Syrinx, pursued by the god Pan, turns herself into marsh reeds, which Pan then joins and uses as his flute, or panpipe. (From marthastewart.com)