Wow! Just reviewing your posts here is bringing back all sorts of memories. Isn't it amazing how strongly taste and smell are tied to our memories?

I'd never heard of tea olives, but I checked the link Chatty provided, and they sound like a lovely bush -- something I would enjoy in my garden... I'm going to have to check to see if they are hardy enough to grow in NW Illinois!

As for me, I love lilacs. We've generally had a lilac bush or two in the yard of every house I've lived in. This house doesn't have one, but the next door neighbor does, and his is a huge lilac tree that towers over our fence, so I can still get my springtime "fix" of lilac!

Years ago, I used to love to visit a park that had a lilac garden. They had rows and rows of lilacs, in every imaginable shade, from white to a purple so dark it was almost black.

I used to love to take the kids there in the spring... They'd frolic among the trees and I'd stroll around to try to figure out which color was my favorite. I never could make that decision...

As for great tastes of the past: How about A & W Root Beer floats? When I was a kid -- pre-McDonald's -- my mom would generally pack a meal whenever we went on a family trip, and we would stop at some wayside picnic table and eat our sandwiches. That was always sort of "ho hum" to me.

I much preferred the ever so rare occasions when we would pull into an A&W drive-in, talk through the mic to order our meal, and have it delivered on a tray that attached to our rolled down car window.

THAT was such a treat. And the best part was always the root beer floats. Though the term "black cow" hovers somewhere in my memory?

Does anyone remember exactly what the difference is between a Black Cow and a Root Beer Float? I'd sure love it if you could remind me...