In betwixt and in between …

The featured pic (sorry, not great) is of swans on the estuary. Migration time is starting. For me too.

I’m offline till next week (ie, 19 October; writing this Friday). Maybe I’ll have internet Monday; maybe it will be later in the week. In any case I move back into the house on Tuesday. It’s turning out to be one of those stressful moves. I’m wearing Tauer Perfumes LE Orris from 2006 as it’s incredibly grounding. I focus on it below, after I’ve had a rant (apologies).

So, rant… The house isn’t finished. Went in on Thursday with project manager (so glad I used a PM as I know jack about building issues) and no one was there but us. Place is a mess. Kitchen isn’t finished (see pic – what look like draw pulls is plumbers’ tape to show placement; dishwasher and fridge sitting in middle of room; no cabinet door handles installed; and I seem to have only one set of instructions for the five electricals – washer/dryer, dishwasher, oven, stove top; what have the guys done with them????).

They’ve installed the wrong bathroom sink and the wrong shower system.

Oh, and they cracked the windowsill on one window.

Waiting to hear back on what they’ll be doing over next four days.

I have to move back as my lease runs out here.

Oh, and the car died yesterday. The garage guy seems to think it’s a reasonably easy fix and won’t cost the earth, but just when I really need wheels I may not have them till next week.

So, yes, cheery I am, as Yoda would say.

On to Orris. I pulled this out of the box (the bottle has about five more sprays, I think) as I was looking for something that would be totally grounding and make me breathe fully. It is definitely doing that.

I love Orris. Like the Cezanne candle which has disappeared I wish I had bought three bottles.

This is not a ‘pretty’ perfume. It is incredibly rooty and woody. I don’t recall it ever going sweet through its development. The iris isn’t cold like SL Iris Silver Mists. It’s more towards something that was dug up, dried and mixed with some magical ingredients. As it develops it gets a slightly rubbery aspect which is actually quite compelling.

Notes include cinnamon, black pepper, grapefruit, rose, orris root and sandalwood. I can imagine that on some people this leaned sour, but it doesn’t do it on me. Just that rooty, woody thing, with a whisper of flower and fruity accords. So perfect for this stressful time.

Back to eating ginger biscuits and corn cakes, and drinking ginger tea, doing laundry, and doing last bits of packing. I haven’t had a holiday in more than a year (which I expect is the case for many of us) so unpacking and eating takeaway from the gourmet supermarket once moved in will constitute my time off .

Anyone sampled Orris? What did you think?