The Smell of Dog Paws

(March sez: please welcome a new guest blogger, Cinnamon!)

Engin Akyurt / Pexels

Alas, I’m not going to be writing about the title today, but perhaps I got your attention…

Hello, all. I’m going to be inhabiting the Wednesday slot for the time being, writing under the nom de l’odeur, Cinnamon.

Some (a likely very very small number) Posse readers might remember me from when I ran the Scent and Sensibility Perfume online niche site in the UK, which I did for six years until around 2015 (i.e., from when the finance industry decided I was surplus to needs until the whole world and their mum started stocking niche perfume and things got too hairy to continue).

In keeping with the current direction of the blog, I’ll certainly be writing about perfume – but on other issues of interest/obsession/desire/perplexedness as well.

I’m a bit of a hither and thither, but have been settled in the Southwest of England for the past decade, in a small terraced house that needs a lot of work (which hopefully is going to happen very soon – should have builders’ quotes by mid-February), located in a village that is seeing many of its older houses torn down to be replaced by Grand Design-type things. A walk through the village can elicit anything from open mouthed horror to being goggle-eyed going oooooohhhh.

I’ve got a uni/college age son, who is a lovely soul. He comes and goes, though his desktop computer still takes up a lot of space in the dining room. And a wonderful Labrador retriever, who we call the glue of the household, but who has resisted all attempts at training except as related to getting more food (of course I will sit and wait patiently for treats).

Household glue……

I was a poster on Makeup Alley’s Fragrance board during the glory days when the noise was all about The People of the Labrynths’ Luctor et Emergo, Lutens’ cherry/almond thing, and Laura Tonatto Dama (which is how I came to follow the Posse when a number of frequent posters started blogging). And bar Guerlain Mitsouko and Shalimar, my perfume faves are still mostly small producer and niche.

Some of my favourite smells are creosote, lily of the valley, tuberose, coriander and, indeed, dog paws (which maybe I’ll write about next week).

My favourite book is Michael Ondaatje’s In the Skin of a Lion, and most loved poem is also Ondaatje – The Cinnamon Peeler’s Wife.

I love pomegranate seeds, figs, Turkey mince made into burgers with loads of cut up chili, cannoli, chai lattes and cinnamon buns from Sara’s Petite Cuisine in Topsham, and the smell of basil in the morning.

I used to blog when I ran the website and am really looking forward to doing it again.