If I could send Points West some of the torrential rains we’ve been having, I would. I think we have reached our saturation point: rivers are close to overflowing, my tomatoes won’t need watering for the next couple of weeks (I’m a huge fan of growing peppers and tomatoes with very little water (after planting) as I feel it produces a sweeter fruit). Weeds abound. And my peach saplings are going gangbusters!
But! Enough is enough. The ground is spongy with water and I suspect there are mosquito nurseries in every nook & cranny. The green, though. Jungle green. Rainforest green. It’s green out there. Green. GREEN. Do y’all remember a post I wrote a few years back, when I was digging up those ferns? Everywhere around here smells like those ferns right now. Like it’s the beginning of time. I’ve been wearing Mathilde Laurent’s Les Heure Vertueuse – that primordial green scent that is nearly unwearable…until you work up a good sweat, as I did these past two days pre-and post-storm. Vertueuse gives off this weird, oily sap-smell that works well when one is cutting up tree limbs and dumping gallons of rainwater – my little frog gauge gave up at 6″. I have a 10″ vase out there that was filled to the brim. I’ve tried wearing Vertueuse at leisure and, wonderful as it is, it is Not Wearable. Who would’ve imagined it blossoming in the heat of the day, hauling logs! I hope Mme Laurent does not read this and if, by horrible chance, she does, I hope she accepts that this is not a negative. Vertueuse is gorgeous – it just is mo’ bettah gorgeous when one is sweating like a hog! The Universe has an insane sense of humor.
photo stolen: Internet
When I’ve not been smelling gloriously of Vertueuse I’ve been just plain ol’ stinky. It’s 100% humidity out here – and I’ve been ripping out rain-emboldened weeds and tying up tomato plants and putting in the peach trees and the new willows and I will have pictures in the next week or so and you will see how fabulous it all is (or will be). I’m sending El O off to see his maw and I look forward to spending the VERY long weekend (I am closing the shop Thursday-Sunday) drinking lemonade and reading Deborah Harkness’s third installment of her All Souls Trilogy “The Book of Life”. I remember settling down for what I thought would be an hour’s perusal of “A Discovery of Witches” only to find myself gobsmacked into a full afternoon’s read. When “Shadow of Night” came out I caught it at my little local library – poor Mary! I dove for it (and, come to think of it, it was the 4th of July weekend then, too!). She said it was an interlibrary loan and it had to be returned. When I started to cry she caved and made me promise to have it back by Monday. Heck! I could’ve had it back the next day! I ran home, jumped in the chaise longue in the garden and read until my eyes itched! I scored an advance reading copy and by golly I’mo READ it! 70F & sunny. Gin & tonic and some salted almonds, Bruno on his blanket in the grass, my tinkly little fountain….and “The Book of Life”….I’ll probably wear a vetiver to keep the bugs away. Or Guerlain Imperiale. I think I have the makings of a fabulous holiday weekend!
Holiday or not, what’s on your agenda for the weekend? Is it dry where you are? Or soaking wet, like here?
Btw: I know I need to have Bruno pull some winners from last week’s lame-o post, but he’s sleeping right now. I promise to have the winners pulled and posted for next week. And for those of you who won the Amouage samples, do not despair. I’m decanting! I’m decanting. I swear it! It’s just been a wacky week.
I love L'Heure Verteuse! You're the one who hooked me on it with that post, so long ago. Yes, it's green, medicinal, but lavender and herbal. FWIW, I use it often as a slumber scent :D I do really like green scents. (Ok and musk, incense and florals) I can't wait for the third installment in this series. I've read and then just recently reread the first two books. What strikes me is Harkness' obsession with scent. In my second reading I highlighted descriptions of smells, and nearly every page has one. (More in the first book, but also in the second) very fun. I look forward to it. Hope you all have a wonderful Fourth--I have to work, but plan homemade ice cream after and dominoes with the family. I'm easy to amuse! Be well.