An Unknown Fragrant Shrub and First Beans

After checking out the new patios yesterday, I moved over to the drug store to pick up a couple of prescriptions and some sunscreen.  Do you know where you get a sunburn while in a wheelchair - on your knees!  Then I headed back toward the long bumpy hill.

I was really surprised to see this purple shrub in a front yard, that is it has purple leaves, not purple flowers.  Looking it up I think this must be a Black Elderberry, a shrub I don`t remember seeing before.

I see these white, sometimes tinged with pink Bindwwed flowers many places just now, spreading through the grass.  A bit of garbage washed down the hill too.  It`s a vine and it often climbs up other plants like tall grasses.  But it`s VERY difficult to get rid of in youir garden as it has such a hardy and widespread root system.

Just up from the downtown street is this sign sitting on a vacant lot and now looking very overgrown.  It`s been there as long as I can remember.  This illustrates one of the challenges of small towns, keeping a level of economic activity to support the community.

And right beside this sign is this very fragrant shrub, the kind of fragrance where you can`t help but notice and stop to check it out.  But this is the unknown shrub for me.  It smells like Lilacs, and the small blooms are somewhat similar.  However the small leaves are not at all similar.  Any suggestions welcome.  [Thanks to a comment from Rose, below, I think this is a Tea Olive, one of the many species of Osmanthus]

This front door and flag struck me as a good colour combination.

I`ve never seen a blue Canadian flag before though.

 After I struggled up the bumpy sidewalk on the hill I come to this interesting house.  The shrubs looks very overgrown but it`s the architecture that interests me.  I wrote a post on Gothic Revival Cottages a month ago, and this house has many of the same features.   Notice the dormer in the attic, the decorative finial at the top of the roof, and the gingerboard under the eaves and at the top of the porch posts.  If you look closely you`ll see the small door opening onto a small upper porch with a tiny triangular window above.  These features are repeated on thousands of homes across southern Ontario built in the late 19th century.

This little fellow sits around the first corner when I go on my rides.

And here at home we`ve just picked our first few yellow beans.  With a few more in a couple of days this will make a great first feed of our own beans!  Lots more to come.