Ooo that smell

Coming around the corner to the back LipsYard a heavenly scent fills the air. It's the Purpleleaf Sand Cherry (Prunus cistena.) Its deep foliage collor and lighter blossoms are offset nicely by the Flowering Crab (Malus,) but it's the scent that makes this one of our favorites.

It smells like Grape Nehi soda! You know, the kind Radar downed at Rosie's in M*A*S*H. Charmaine and I find any excuse we can to go out the back door and take a big whiff.

There's also a smell around the John McCain campaign, and unlike Grape Nehi, it stinks! It's the smell of lobbyists. Just days after it issued new rules to address conflicts of interest, the McCain campaign was furiously sifting through the business records of aides and advisers. The new rules were prompted by disclosures that led to the abrupt departure from the campaign of a number of aides who worked as lobbyists, including some with ties to foreign governments.

McCain has long been defined by his calls for reducing the influence of special interests in Washington, but as he heads toward November, he has increasingly confronted criticism that his campaign staff is stocked with people who have made their living as lobbyists or in similar jobs, leaving his credentials as a reformer open to attack.