Last Friday marked three weeks without central heating/hot water while we wait for a part for our fancy Navien heating system, which is apparently every bit as difficult (and presumably expensive) to maintain as a vintage Ferrari. I’m glad we’re renting and don’t have to pay for this repair. The weather’s warmer than usual for January; we’re making it work, we have backup heat and a daily routine that allows us to make do, but honestly? I am soooooooooo over it. I want my mod cons back — quiet heat, hot water on demand, and I’m sick of shuffling around space heaters. [breaking news — as of Monday afternoon it’s finally fixed!]
Things that are keeping me sane: the orchids are blooming, which makes me ridiculously happy. It’s not a given that they’ll rebloom every year (or ever, for that matter). Please enjoy some orchid picspam, it’s like a fancy florist shop in here right now.
Also, in search of additional warmth, Carolyn and I went to a local tea shop and bought a whole variety of teas based on how they smelled and the shopkeeper’s recommendations. Carolyn also bought me this adorable glass teapot after I saw it on a shelf and lost my mind, thereby blissfully cutting short all my dithering about whether I “needed” it. I don’t know much about tea (hey, I don’t know much about much) but I’m enjoying this new afternoon fancy tea journey.
Here’s a brief visit of three samples I pulled from Carolyn’s LuckyScent order (lots of comfort scents) and sniffed, trying to stave off my peevishness:
D’Annam White Rice – oh, this is nice. Rice, pandan, orris, jasmine, musk, cedarwood, tonka. I love a rice scent. This starts off a teensy bit too much floral-musk on me, and then that fades and we have several hours of steamed rice bliss. (Anyone remember KenzoAmour? I think that was my gateway to floral-rice comfort scents. I should pull out my bottle.) BORNTOSTANDOUT’s Dirty Rice is also on the to-try list but their sample size was out of stock.
Diptyque L’Eau Papier – did I write about this? I remember I sniffed it … somewhere awhile ago and was underwhelmed. I’m thinking I was at the Dallas airport where it’d have been competing with the smell of the nearby food court and the flop-sweat of anxious travelers. From their website: “In L’Eau Papier, white musks are delicately faceted by an accord of rice steam, evoking the grain of the paper. To these are added luminous notes of mimosa, while a backdrop of blonde wood tones roots L’Eau Papier in the material itself.” Wow, this is lovely, if less bold and quirky than some of their scents. I should test drive this next to that L’Artisan I wrote about recently since they’re both featuring the mimosa blooms in and around Grasse. The drydown makes me think of papier d’Arménie, which makes sense.
Cirque de Soleil – apparently they have their own bespoke fragrance?! Bergamot, Buttery Popcorn Accord, Caramelized Amber, Cotton Candy, Fresh Freesia, Iris Petals, Red Apple Smell-the-Taste (huh?), Sandalwood, Vanilla Bean. I sniffed it without seeing that list of notes which explains a lot because holy cow is it sweeeeet, and I’m saying that as someone who has a fairly high tolerance for sweet gourmands. Not what I was expecting. I think it’s a crime that L’Artisan discontinued Dzing! which is the perfect circus scent.
Is it a gourmand time of year for you? A tea time, in beverage or fragrance? Do you toss your grocery orchids after they bloom? (No judgment from me!) My daughter was gifted an orchid for Christmas, her only houseplant, and she’s stressing already.
photos of blooming orchids: mine, all mine!
I am really thinking that in the long run renting is the way to. Anything breaks it’s the landlords worry, Of course you need a decent landlord.
Our landlord is LOVELY. After he bought the property (surprise!) two years ago and I was living in the casita, he gave me a break on the bigger house and he’s been incredibly responsive. He felt terrible about all this but he couldn’t conjure up the part either, so.
There is nothing worse then knowing you are going to have to start the morning with an ice cold shower! Glad it got fixed! There is a lovely, ornate historical greenhouse in Volunteer Park in Seattle that has beautiful orchids. I’ve managed to kill every inside plant I’ve owned so I just admire them from afar. I love teas but no caffeine for me. I think hunting for a lovely tisane will be a fun winter project.
It was AWFUL. I celebrated all yesterday by re-washing everything in the kitchen in VERY HOT water. Oh, I love those greenhouses! I miss the one in Washington, D.C., a haven in winter.
No heat or hot water in winter is awful! I hope everything stays fixed.
Your orchids are beautiful. I have wanted to try my hand at them for a while now – probably will this coming spring, with some of the easier varieties first.
Rice in perfume just doesn’t sound appealing to me. I am curious about Diptyque L’Eau Papier. It seems to get a lot of varied opinions from everyone.
Me too! (on the heat/hot water) especially since it’s about to cool off significantly to more normal weather. L’Eau Papier seems polarizing — you might like it, though. My unsolicited orchid advice: buy one at the grocery/big box, one you think is pretty, and enjoy the blooms. Watch a couple of YouTube videos on care — they’re not “difficult,” just specific in their needs. With any luck you’ll have another set of blooms this time next year, but there’s 11 months of boredom in between. I get why people love them, and also why they treat them as disposable.
That’s a good idea on orchids. Last spring I fell for Streptocarpus (Cape Primrose). They bloom almost non-stop – maybe a month or two off. Any “boring” plant can be interspersed with some blooming ones. From what I gather, Streps and orchids like similar conditions.
Oh my GOODNESS I just googled them and I neeed some of those 😀 I have mini African violets in a Wardian case but after a lot of initial blooming they’re just sitting there. (“streps” what an awful name lol) thanks for the heads up!
HA I agree on the name, but they really are so pretty.
I have a mini plant – a Vietnamese violet (primulina tamianna). It’s related to the African violet but not at all fussy. It would look terrific in a Wardian case. They also bloom consistently. I propagated mine – one leaf makes one new plant – and now have 5 in a fancy ceramic bowl. Several are already sending up blossoms. 🙂
So glad your heating system is working properly now. And your orchids are stunning. My 98 year old mother has an orchid gift, she has a couple that have kept going for years.
I recently had to stop drinking coffee because my stomach can’t handle it anymore, so I bought a hot pot and started experimenting with tea. It’s kind of fun. But my taste is very low key, like chamomile and mint. And good old Constant Comment with cream is great in the afternoon.
Oh, that’s so lovely about your mother! Re tea: I drink a lot of herbal in winter to warm myself up, but it’s the same 2 – 3 types and nothing special, just a teabag in a mug. It’s been really fun trying some new things, even if some I don’t care for (rather like perfume.)
Your orchids are beautiful! I’m so glad the heating was fixed. I’ve never figured out the secret to keeping houseplants alive and thriving.
Love your glass tea pot! I just bought a new lotus flavored loose tea from The Tao of Tea. I drink hot tea all year-round. Love tea scents, but that might be as close to gourmand as I get. I do love Kenzo Amour. I should sniff the rice scent. The Circe de Soleil scent sounds crazy! Stick to your fabulous performances guys!
Lotus tea sounds FABULOUS. I’d like to think of myself as being the sort of person who’d drink tea year round, but mostly it’s winter and I’m cold. You might really like the D’Annam, since I did 😀 Yeah, avoid Cirque like the proverbial plague haha
Orchids curl up & wither as I walk passed. They look beautiful but I may have murdered them just looking at the pix. It’s a skill.
PG Poudre de Riz is my go to rice scent. More makeup rice powder than steamed rice.
I’m delighted you have hot water & heating again
Ha! I’ll keep an eye on mine in case you’ve had a deleterious effect. And THANK you, it’s about to get cold and snowy later this week so I’m glad it’s back on.
Thank goodness you have heat and hot water again.
Love orchids. And they are indeed quite easy. Give them a bit of love and leave them to it.
The Cirque de Soleil scents sounds intriguing — to smell, not to wear.
And just in the nick of time, it’s about to get cold and snowy in a few days. I’ve tried hard not to complain since all the plants were safe enough, no idea what we’d have done. Moved them all … somewhere, I guess, but that’s a lot of plants! I told Ava the same thing about her orchid (gift from a friend) — they’re not fussy so much as they have specific wants. Give them that and they’re happy. I said the same thing about the Cirque!
You must try Dirty Rice, it is beautiful. I tried it on paper and skin. It lasted nearly 2 weeks on paper ???
Oh, that sounds fantastic. It’s still in the shopping cart so fingers crossed it’s in the next order.
Congratulations on your successful reblooming!! Last year my mini orchs threw out lots of fat buds… then boom! All of them either shriveled up or they THREW themselves off the stem. Sigh.
No tea-lover here, alas. And I’m also vaguely put off by rice accords… dunno why.
Right now I’m swinging from aldehydes to … well, aldehydes. You know how I love them in the cold!
We’ve had a couple bud drops — I still don’t know what causes that. The fickle finger of fate, maybe. And YES I fully expect you to be armored in aldehydes this time of year!
Heya March.
Those ORCHIDS!! We give our spent orchids to my BFF Kath’s Dad. He has about a 70% reflowing success rate ands enjoys the challenge. When I first met him in 1999 he was part of the orchid club near him. It’s a gift.
We have SO MUCH TEA! There’s always a bunch we bought. Then, people know we love tea so it is often a gift. We do our best to get through it all but then sometimes that feels like work so we give a bunch away.
That tea pot is fabulous.
Do you make scones?
Portia xx
Damn! L’Eau de Papier! Freaking amazing. I’ve been jonesing for a bottle for ages.
I am too, now — and I’m a bit surprised as I wouldn’t have thought it was “you” but your tastes are pretty eclectic!
L’Eau de Papier is really interesting. I’ve tried it with a few different friends and EVERYONE gets a different ride. A true shape shifter.
Oh, that’s interesting. I keep reapplying it and it’s a somewhat different ride even on me but I am reaaallly jonesing for a bottle now.
Oh, I love that there’s an orchid destination for you! We belong to the Orchid Society. Years ago in my former life, everyone in the neighborhood gave their spent orchids to the Korean couple who ran the local deli (with a huge plate glass window facing west.) There were always a few orchids in bloom year-round.
What a fabulous idea. I’m going to tell our Korean grocery about it.
Do it! The place was … kind of a dump otherwise tbh but those ORCHIDS! I don’t know who cared for them (him or her) but they were a delight every time I passed by.
PS and I have made scones before, but there’s a place near me that has the most delicious currant scones with bits of ginger, I buy theirs so I don’t end up eating a dozen all on my own.
Sensible.