Five things

I had something in mind to write about but always check back at Posse to see if I’ve done that before and in this case I’d done something vaguely similar in 2020 so no go.

Then, an article on perfume bottles popped up on the weekend edition of the Financial Times. So, I thought about bottles, but got side-tracked by the mention of the Gucci The Alchemist’s Garden series which I’d never heard of. This is definitely something I want to explore but clearly a couple of days isn’t going to do it.

And, it’s weir weather here. Around 60 degrees Fahrenheit, damp and sunny. I’m not complaining about the sunny. But the temp is wrong for the time of year and it’s leading into yet another wet period. I have loads of roses and the nasturtium continue to grow madly. Mother Nature is mad at us.

Plus we’re getting towards the holiday season. Yes, I know Xmas doesn’t get discussed till after Thanksgiving in the US, but many retailers here are so at loose ends you start to get Xmas shops popping up in department stores at the end of August. I turn my face away.

Anyway.  So, a fallback to five things – a couple perfume related. My answers in red.

1. A couple of fave winter memories? In late December 2010, we got on the last plane out of Heathrow to NYC as a huge storm was coming into the East Coast. Got diverted to and stuck in Minneapolis for a day (no fun, spent it at the airport). Made it to NYC where there was two feet of snow. My son got to sled for the first time in Prospect Park and then we had hot chocolate at the sadly now gone Ozzy’s on 7^th all hush and white. Sort of sublime.
   
   In the January before I left NYC (mid-1990s), again, a huge snowstorm, Sunday into Monday. I was able to get to work but things closed down at 1 PM. I had lunch with two friends at one of the only open restaurants (Moroccan place) and then got on the subway which stopped completely three stops from home. Walked for an hour in knee-deep snow. Winter wonderland.
2. When it’s cold, dark and dreary, where is one place you would take yourself if you could? We went to an Indian ocean island in the Maldives the summer before the pandemic. True Robinson Crusoe, barefoot luxury. Probably the most fascinating, relaxing holiday I’ve ever had, as it was so far from ‘normal’ life. I recall stepping on to the room’s deck once we were settled in and seeing a ray swim by, followed by a school of iridescent blue fish.
3. What are a couple of cold-weather perfume staples (assuming you live some place where it gets reasonably cold – if not, your ‘winter’ staples)? Generally, I dive deep into Serge Lutens Arabie once it gets colder. It’s luscious and comforting in a really oddball way. Another Lutens, Rose de Nuit, also comes out of the box. Rose and apricot: hot and heady. This year, because I now own it in perfume form, Guerlain Shalimar will get a lot of wear I expect.
4. What perfume do you have your eye on for the colder season? I’ve been making so much noise about Kilian Dark Lord – I would love a small size (ie, I think they offer travel sizes) of this. Even if I wear it infrequently it’s so stuck on my nasal passages and head – the want monster is going in tough on it.
5. Lastly, holiday gifts. I already know I’m getting a Buddleja (butterfly) bush for the garden. But if the sky were the limit I wouldn’t mind a small flat in a palazzo in Venice. I’ve just finished a book series set in Venice by Philip Gwynne Jones (highly recommend) which has me jonesing for this in one of the quieter neighbourhoods (Dorsoduro? The name alone…). I’ve never been (only been to Florence). Clearly, one can dream.

So, what about you? What are your answers?

Pics: Pexels & Wiki