What I’m loving

A brief post, with a brief overview, of things I’m briefly, or lengthily, loving.

  1. Matt bought me some filing boxes – lovely little faux suede beauties – for my decants and samples. It’s a delight to have things organised alphabetically by house. Next, I’ll be wanting all those little bitty vials to stand up. Goodbye, scatterbrained self.
  2. All things Annick Menardo. It must be the onset of darkness here in northern Europe, but suddenly her fragrances seem just so right. Now, I don’t know all of them and one or two I use as air fresheners (I know, I know, but you can get things like Jaipur Homme cheaper than Glade, or nearly. And heliotrope smells better in the air than on my skin). Hell, I don’t even own Bvlgari Black anymore. But currently, I’m all about Le Labo Patchouli 24: that dark smokiness with a lick of vanilla fits right about now to perfection. It’s all the bonfires, plus the slight candy waft of the funfair. Bvlgari Black is urbane and chic; for some reason Patchouli 24 is rustic and mucky and glorious. I’m also stumping up for Bois d’Armenie, a perfume that’s danced a slow waltz of seduction with me, to which I have finally succumbed. It’s a perfect comfort scent, even if the price is a joke.
  3. Bottles rather than decants. I’m not a bottle lover really, but somehow, a decant rarely satisfies properly, even if I know I’m unlikely to use more than 10mls of a scent in as many months. What is this? Greed? Fetishisation? My own version of conspicuous consumption?
  4. Saving money. Matt has got me hooked on savings, and even though I now work part-time and bring in less money than I have for over ten years, I’m somehow saving like billy-o. And yet, still buying new perfumes all the while. Dressing in rags helps. At least I’ll be a snazzily dressed pensioner at this rate.
  5. Streamlining my scents. In spite of number 3., I’m determined to keep only the fragrances that I truly love as I reduce my mound of full bottles from 100 to nearer 50. I think I’m 65ish now, though this fluctuates depending on what arrives (sometimes, temptation’s hard to deal with, ain’t it Louise?).
  6. Belle and Sebastian. I’ve stopped buying music for some reason, but the winsome vocals combined with the mordant wit of this Scottish group has always held a place in my heart, and they seem to have shifted to the fore once more. Love them. ‘Stars of Track and Field’ has to be one of the best songs evah, alongside ‘Wrapped up in books’, ‘The boy with the arab strap’ and too too many others.
  7. Rousse by Serge Lutens. I haven’t worn it for a while, and had a little spray earlier today. Oh yes.
  8. The Stuff of Thought by Steven Pinker. Sometimes, intelligent non-fiction books that don’t journey from A-B in their analyses irritate the hell out of me. Fortunately, I guess, Pinker’s anecdotes are so engaging that I don’t mind too much if I forget what they were there to elucidate in the first place. He’s a writer who makes the journeys to C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y and Z a pleasure even when it leads to aporia… (that’s for Marina).
  9. Radio 4. I wake up to the Today programme, and even though it’s often filled with the standard geopolitical despair of our times, I thank the heavens that the BBC manages to produce such incisive and impartial news, beset by scandals or not. And it has truly wonderful comedy that you can listen to again whenever you want via the website. Favourites of mine are spoof radio phone-in show Down the Line and I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue. You have to listen to at least one episode of each now. Though neither is exactly PC, and Humphrey Lyttelton manages to get away with the smuttiest jokes you’ll ever hear at ‘tea-time’…
  10. Where I live. The other day, I chatted to a holidaymaker who was out walking his daft little dog (that’s a compliment). He took in the view of the expansive village green across to Melford Hall and with a sigh told me how lucky I was to live where I do. It’s easy to forget the beauty that surrounds you, whether that’s people or places. We tend to be so absorbed in doing that we fail to sigh and feel the pleasure – unless we go elsewhere deliberately to do so. I’ve been guilty of this a lot the time, and often my perfume obsession (let’s be honest here, right?) can lead to a ‘What’s next?’ mentality, as I forget the wonders that are already in easy reach for those that are yet to arrive. It’s the one area of my life where promiscuity has free hold, and sometimes I worry that I all to easily end up forgetting to look at the view. So, for that reason, I’m determined to spend more time sighing at the beauty of life as it is, rather than as it might be. That’s, if you like, an early new year’s resolution.

What are you loving right now?

(Image of bonfire night at Melford Hall from the BBC; image of Melford Village Green from beenthere-donethat.org.uk)

  • Lucy says:

    I am so happy so many of you love animals and have rescued and love them properly, as they deserve! It has really cheered me to know that so many perfumistas are animal-mad too. Maybe it’s the smelling thing, so similar to ourselves…

  • sariah says:

    How great of Matt to get you some nice boxes for you collection. I am having a tough time at work right now so the thing I’m enjoying the most is grumbling about it – I’m thankful for friends and family who are just there to listen and support me and attempt to make me laugh when times are tough.

  • Teri says:

    I’m loving:

    1. My new house. After 3 years of waffling as to whether or not I wanted to stay in Denver, I finally got off the fence and committed. I’m rediscovering the joy of tending to a yard, of decorating and of being a pet owner again.

    2. My art glass. It’s been crated so long that I’d forgotten which items I’d put in which crates, so each crate I go through provides me with a surprise or two. I love the look and feel of glass, so aesthetically pleasing to the touch and the eye. Deciding what to display where in my new home is a pleasure I look forward to every evening.

    3. My new canine friend. I visited the local humane organization and asked to see the animals that were on the short list to be destroyed. They had six adoptable dogs to show me, large and small, young and old, pure bred and Heinz 57. Most of them greeted me in that happy-go-lucky way dogs do, but one little fellow hung back, looking at me with sad eyes as though he somehow knew he couldn’t compete with the others. I asked the attendant about him, and was told I’d probably not want to adopt him as he was 10 years old and quite shy. On the contrary, that struck a chord with me…I’m not young and I tend to be reserved at first with strangers myself. So now he lives with me. I’m so glad I chose him. He’s responded overwhelmingly to my love and affection and is the nicest companion I could have hoped for.

    4. Long walks through crunchy leaves in the evenings, smelling the tinge of wood smoke from my neighbors’ fireplaces and breathing in the crisp, cold mountain air.

    5. Thai food. I’ve always liked it, but recently I’m craving it deeply.

    6. An inky blue full length leather coat that I paid far too much for but which makes me feel cosmopolitan and urban chic, so is worth every penny.

    7. Divine’s L’ame Soeur. I put some on the other day almost mindlessly and found that something about it suited me right now.

    I’ll leave at that. There are so many other things that bring such pleasure to my life that I’d be writing the entire day without hoping to capture them all. My life is good right now in so many ways, and as we enter the season of gratitude, I am most humbly grateful for all of my blessings.

    • Lee says:

      I’m heading out the door with a tear in my eye. You’re lovely Teri – I’m sure your beautiful canine friend will love you as much as you love the world…

      šŸ˜”

    • Dusan says:

      You should see me now – tearful with a Cheshire-cat grin. You really are the bestest, Teri, I could hug you! And the lucky fella too. šŸ™‚ Aw, you’ve made my day.

  • Carol says:

    I am loving…

    * that it’s finally fall
    * reading the entertaining perfume blogs in the evening (ok, and at work too)
    * Getting little perfume packages in the mail and trying to decide what FB I want for X-mas and/or b-day next month.
    * Tuesday nights – a short break for me while my darling son is in a class, I enjoy my latest food craving – authentic Neapolitan pizza (“Prosciutto e Rucola”, thin crust, Pizza Bianca with Provola, Prosciutto Di Parma, Arugula, Parmesan, Olive Oil), with some BYO wine, and a book for company. I am soooooo relaxed after that short break….ah. Sometimes hubby joins me, but I really like having that time by myself.

    • Lee says:

      See, I want a break like that. Gotta get my sweats on though…

      We never had summer here, just rain – I’m making do with the brilliant blue of autumn though. It IS lovely, isn’t it?

  • joan says:

    Lee, What a delight you are!

    What I am loving right now;

    Peak leaf season in the Hudson Valley

    Anything that makes me laugh (have you watched Japanese Human Tetris on YouTube?).

    The anticipation of receiving new decants and the thrill of the first sniff.

    Boxes.

    Breakfast any time of day/frozen bananas dipped in peanut better or tahini.

    The exotic symphony of aromas when I open my sample closet.

    Musc Ravageur/ Burr’s discription “it’s not just wearable, it is viscerally compulsive, druglike, if you recall the instant in which you inhaled, in a brush of rare and unintended proximity, the body odor of a beautiful stranger, you’ve experienced the effect of this purfume”.

    • Lee says:

      I’ll have to look at Japanese human tetris after I go and perform my own contortions in a minute – yoga class. In fact, yoga makes me laugh. It’s not supposed to I know, but I giggle when someone snores in relaxation, or lets out a parp less than discreetly when they’re overstretching themselves……

      Love your list. The gingko next door has just turned bright yellow. It amazes me every year.

  • Divalano says:

    I’m loving being back home from travel. No insult to anyone, but while I liked the Dallas folks we visited, Dallas isn’t my favorite place.
    Cats. Loving the kitty love. They’re so sweet to come home to.
    Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. Woof.
    Bois D’Argent keeps on being perfect, everywhere, all the time. Brought a handful of samps w me, that’s the only one that fit even when I wanted the others to be right.
    Black licorice. That post last week was timed perfectly. I’d just gotten a taste for the stuff the week before & now somehow I can’t quit eating it. Yum.
    My honey, my dad, my friends.

    • Lee says:

      I’m loving these comments.

      Neil Gaiman eh? He is very very good indeed. How does Stardust rework him on the big screen, I wonder…

  • Magpie says:

    What a wonderful way to start the day! Today I am loving:

    Crisp, grey fall weather–finally!

    My horse, who is in turn loving learning to jump.

    My friends and family, who have been so sweet about acknowledging my birthday today.

    Voting šŸ™‚

    Chanel Cuir de Russie.

    Tubereuse Criminelle (potent, amazing!).

    Reading everyone else’s comments here.

    Happy Tuesday everyone!

  • Catherine says:

    Brilliant!

    I love my hairdresser, who completely understands that I come in every six months and still manages to create masterpieces that last. She just digs in and cuts into this massive thickness without fear and shapes it to swing and curl. For years, no one would cut it–“too beautiful”–and so it fell to my buttocks and gave me a headache. She loves the fact that I let her do anything at all, including the punkish mullet last November. She is an artist!

    I love my new leaf blower that mulches! :x:x:x My beds are going to be so happy this winter.

    I love my husband. This morning we had no coffee.:( I tell him just as he comes downstairs, he smiles, and off he goes. He is an incredible man.

    Normally, fall is my favorite month (being born in November is probably the egotistical reason)–but this fall and failing light is hitting me hard. I need sunshine. And so my immense love for Mona di Orio is reaching religious levels that insist upon a choir erected in her honor. When dusk falls, I spray massive amounts of Lux upon my layers and layers of wool. I spray Nuit Noire upon the pillows. ^:)^

    I, too, love bottles. The aesthetic of enclosures matters. Few fragrances measure up to the need for a bottle (or even a decant), however, so I handmake boxes using images from my piles of rejected cyanotypes and vandykes. A box for each “collection” of samples, however I define a collection. Aesthetics reign. Right now, I struggle with the decision to get a decant of Orio while waiting for it to come across the pond, or just order through Les Senteurs. I love working with hands that smell mesmerizing.

    • Lee says:

      We need photos.

      And oh, Mona di Orio. I think if you love her scents, that love is intense like no other. I’m with you. There’s rarely a day that goes by where I don’t have to sniff them…

      Your husband sounds a dream… (I hate discovering the lack of beans first thing…)

  • Kim says:

    1) Living in a time when it is so easy to stay in touch with friends and family
    2) A perfume blog for which I have to take out my Oxford English dictionary! And all the great people there who teach me about perfume excellence/obsession.
    3)fall weather and amber/patchouli/incense, especially Lutens Ambre Sultan, Chanel Coromandel & No 22
    4) Glen Gould playing JS BachĆ¢ā‚¬ā„¢s Goldberg variations Ć¢ā‚¬ā€œ sigh
    5) Chanel No. 5 (perfume strength) Ć¢ā‚¬ā€œ sigh again.

    • Kim says:

      Also, the wish list option on Perfumed Court! šŸ˜”
      Just went there after reading the blog – it’s the only way to keep track of all the suggestions until my credit card can handle an order.

    • Lee says:

      Oh, Kim. I don’t want to be responsible for any financial dilemmas!

      And thanks for the lovely words.

      And the Goldberg variations are incredible, tis true.

    • Divalano says:

      My Glenn Gould Goldberg Variations cd went missing a few months ago. Still have the case, keep thinking the disc will turn up but it keeps not appearing. You’ve reminded me that I really must do something about that.

  • Helen T says:

    Hi Lee

    Must be something about being in the UK! I’m also on Bois D’Armanie today, I won it in a draw a little while back and today is the first time I thought it was right to wear. This comes after wearing Epices Noir to the bonfire on Sunday.

    I’m loving that it was properly autumn today, with frost and cold air and clear blue skies.

    And I’m also loving that I leave for NYC two weeks on Monday, and looking forward to some good fragrance shopping. If anyone has any suggestions on anywhere new to try other than the usual suspects then I will happily make some new detours! Once I get out of Takashimaya!

    Oh, and I nearly forgot, I love that A Quarter Of, the online sweet shop, are stocking Treacle Toffee flying saucer lollies. I think this is a Northern thing, I remember them from being a kid and they say “its bonfire night” like nothing else to me!

    Best regards

    H

    • Divalano says:

      Besides Takashimaya:
      Of course you must trot across the street to Bendel’s. And then come downtown to Aedes, then stroll east hitting L’Artisan, the Chanel boutique & then the Prada boutique & then Le Labo. From there, off to Brooklyn to CB I Hate Perfume. I’m jet lagged & have likely missed something but surely someone else will chime in šŸ˜‰

      • Helen T says:

        Thank you, just adding them to the map now. I bought Le Labo Rose last time I was there, and just gone to have another sniff. I remember why I love it, but its not quite right for dark cold nights, saving it for Spring. I’m liking the sound/smell of the patch though, might have to spring for that one.

    • Lee says:

      It’s the smoke in the air, I reckon. I used to live in the north, for a while anyway. I miss parkin. funny old stuff, but I like anything ginger spicy.

      Have fun in NY… I’m wondering if I need to visit that city soonish…

  • March says:

    Like Judith, I am loving fall — after an extended, way-too-warm summer it’s a pleasure to dig out the wool sweaters and the cool-weather scents.

    I’m also tackling the sample organization — mine is a lot less sexy than yours (a bunch of plastic boxes from The Container Store) but I’m loving the concept of being able to lay my hands on a sample when I want it, and redoing my samples has triggered some revisits of things I’d forgotten about, possibly with some new appreciation.\:d/

    • Lee says:

      Mine isn’t all that sexy really. Though the guy who bought me em? Damn sexy, straight up. Or slightly bent, depending on your perspective.

  • Dusan says:

    8. Pets and pet-people. My peevish Peke because he’s such a character. And Chaya, Maria, Ellen, Kevin NST and all of you furry fuzzy folk. And the two stray dogs near where I work that I keep wanting to bring home. šŸ™

    • Lee says:

      Two nights ago, I was looking at dogs online – a local rescue centre. Matt had to comment on my weepy eyes, didn’t he? I love dogs more than I can bear sometimes… Daft, innit?

    • Maria says:

      Norbu sends a few snores your way, Dusan. He’s curled up in his little bed in the study. He likes it a lot even though it’s not as big as his other bed, the one he deigns to share with the two people he lives with. šŸ˜‰

      • Dusan says:

        Maria, I’m afraid my Meda (bear cub) isn’t exactly well-mannered — he welcomed Norbu’s greetings with a stretch and a yawn and back to napping he went šŸ™‚ I suppose what he meant was “Norbu who? Whatever. No food? Oh well… *snort*” You must forgive him, he is after all 12 and cranky šŸ™‚ So instead I’m sending a scratch behind the ears back to Norbu, wishing him cute doggie dreams in his bed of choice.

  • Dusan says:

    Ooh, I’m loving posts like these. Ok, here’s my bulleted list:
    1. Rose and Iris. I can’t get through the day without a fix of either/or.
    2. Boudoir by WWestwood. A heavenly rose, dirty and so uberfeminine I dare not wear it out of the house. Erin at Emergency Backpack wrote a genius review.
    3. Iris Silver Mist. The warmest, butteriest iris to have ever nestled in my supersternal notch. Lulls me to a dreamful sleep.
    4. Lee. A generous Teddy Bear who’s shared his pot of honey. So Teddy Bear gets to have a taste of Boudoir. The scent, I mean.
    5. Roisin Murphy. You know that feeling you get listening to an upbeat song, you know, when it makes you so overwhelmed with joy you just want to cry. “Meh’, you’ll say, ‘Let Me Know is nothing more than a discopopelectronic tune.” Ah, but R’s husky-to-electric-to-mellow vocals tear through the cocoon of my autumnal despondency šŸ™‚ *and* she is chicgorgeoussexy!
    6. BjƃĀ¶rk from her Vespertine era.
    7. You, yes all of you my lovely scented freaks. My extended family, the wierd ones, of course. šŸ™‚ šŸ˜”

  • chayaruchama says:

    I’ll risk the maudlin.

    I’m loving:
    YOU
    my family
    my friends
    my pets
    this really cute 86 yo man I met this weekend, and spoke/sang in Yiddish with !
    my neighborhood
    hot tea
    cool nights/ compost smells
    warm socks
    DVDs of the first season of “Cracker” [Robbie Coltrane- that’s how I first fell in love with you !]
    licorice Scotty dogs [ I’m going to have to SEND you some !]
    exotic scents that make me feel all cozy and secure
    thick soups/ fresh breads
    anything with eggplant, olives, or cheese

    • Lee says:

      Hell, that’s a rockin’ list!

      And autumn’s designed for a little maudlin’ loving, isn’t it?

  • Divina says:

    Bags, shoes and perfume.
    But I would give it all up, every last drop of perfume, every expensive accessory, for my loved ones. They are always, what makes me happiest, what keeps me sane, what I love most in life.

  • Judith says:

    Great post! I am also a big Annick Menardo fan–and it’s just becoming Patch 24 time here (I also talked the guys into making up a lotion for me, which is wonderful in winter). I think I’m with you on #3, too, though I’m still trying to be frugal and buy decants sometimes. But I find that one of two things happens: either
    –I use up the decant as fast as possible to justify buying a bottle that I don’t use nearly as much (I should have bought it in the first place),
    or
    –I forget I own it/lose it.
    So it’s not always cost effective, even though it seems so.

    I am enjoying Fall in general: I like the scents and clothes I get to wear. And I am enjoying Stephen Carter’s new book, New England White (although I won’t know how much until the end); I really liked The Emperor of Ocean Park.

    • Lee says:

      *additions to my booklist* thank you!

      A lotion sounds excellent!

      And I love this time of year more and more (after being a dark’n’coldphobe for way too long).

  • ReneeM says:

    Great post and I agree with you on the full bottle versus decants, although I am grateful that I can purchase decants when I can’t afford to buy the whole kaboodle. I don’t think it’s greed per se…..at least for moi. I DO enjoy the bottles (the prettier the better).

    I am enjoying Shalimar, Mitsouko, Tea For Two, Amaze and White Aoud. I would love to try Le Labo Patchouli 24 (I adore Patchouli and could drink it straight up)!

    • Lee says:

      It’s a funny one Renee cos the patchouli is nigh on invisible. It’s more birch tar smoke and more smoke… But somehow soft and comforting at the same time.

  • Elle says:

    Wonderful post! Have to get my derriere off to an early morning meeting, so will just mention what is at the top of my list at the moment – Chinese plums. What would life be w/out them? Salt, licorice…happy sigh. Am also hugely grateful to the clerk who saves a box for me behind the counter when I come into their store needing a fix. And, despite a usually cynical front, I’m hugely and almost embarrassingly grateful for an enormous number of things – most involving nature (I belong in another century). I live to go on long hikes. Oh, and my Japanese acupuncturist – adore him. And love my husband’s ability to forgive. I’m *supposed* to be saving money, but accidentally (don’t ask) ended up buying a $25 interior design magazine the other day and he managed to not kvetch.

  • sweetlife says:

    Ah, blessings. It’s good to be reminded of these, in the middle of some autumnal nostalgia, doubt and restlessness… You know, my first thought when I saw the photo with your post was not “bonfire” but Santa Ana winds and wildfire.

    I am loving:

    1) My office. My first, whole room to myself, with windows and shelves and walls I can do anything I want to, and a protected view of the street and tree branches, and perfumes neatly arrayed in the closet. It took (is taking) me forever to move in, for many reasons, but I’ve reached a new state of settledness now.

    2) A (temporary?) feeling of perfume satiety. I actually own bottles or decants of almost everything on my not-very-long list. I still want samples, still want to learn (see 3, below), but that panicky lemming feeling is draining away. Um, for now.

    3) Absolutes and other raw perfume materials: about to embark on a Mandy Aftel course with some non-perfumista (but scent-mad) friends who have been collecting absolutes and making their own hydrosols for years, but haven’t made anything with them yet.

    4) Fall. Thank god it’s here. And the pollen seems to have settled down, too.

    5) New friends — thanks for the reminder, Louise! Perfume people are truly remarkable.

    6) The marriage after the marriage: after eleven years together and a year of being “engaged,” my partner and I had a wedding for all our friends and family this fall. I truly thought of it as something for others, so I’ve been surprised by the sweetness that ceremony has brought into our home.

    Thanks for the nudge, Lee!

  • Abigail says:

    I also am loving new boxes – or rather cloth cube things that fit on the bookshelf almost perfectly. I’ve filled them to the brim with junk and it still looks like a sane person lives here, due to heavy cloth being opaque.

    My orchids and the grow bench my husband built for me – my Dgmra. Winter Wonderland ‘White Fairy’ has finally bloomed and I’m smitten.

    Finally I’m feeling the love for Bulgari. Took me a few months.

    Also, I prefer decants to full size bottles. There’s just something about a bottle that makes me want to leave it pristine and untouched – but decants I’ll splash on with abandon.

    And I’m happy that after months of waiting the clock in my car is right again.

  • Marina says:

    I am with you re: 2 and 3.

    Current love…Byatt’s Possession. Thanks to the need to commute I can finally satisfy my need to read. šŸ™‚

    • sweetlife says:

      Hey, that’s one of my favorite books, too! Somehow it goes with all your dark rose loves, don’t you think?

    • Lee says:

      I’m going to reread (having been bookless for some weeks) Possession now. I loved it first time round, but my book memory is TERRIBLE (so much for my degree and postgrad and teaching career… Hmm)

  • Louise says:

    Current loves? Muscle-aching hikes in the woods. I’ve committed to working up to a wrenchingly tough, stunningly beautiful local hike in the next few weeks. The gain?-well, the stunning surrounds, time for meditatition, and the feeling of physical accomplishment. Nature has never failed me.

    Carrot cake is a fall delight for me. With a little pecan ice cream and untold calories.

    Mostly, new-found friends are a surprise delight. There was a time in college, and then again when my son was little, that I felt an abundance of new, very bright and lovely people to meet, and many turned into long-time dear friends. I am in such a fortunate time now, and mostly due to my perfume doings. And very grateful (*) to you all.

    Always love words. Encorcell, Exigous, Daedel, Sempiternal, Truckle, Latitudinarian, Atrabilious. And of course, scrabble.

    Finally, yielding to temptation. Mostly splits, filling the niche
    :)between decants and bottles. Today’s love-Coromandel.

    • Lee says:

      I feel the same about this lovely community of mad sniffing fiends…

      And well, you know how much I šŸ˜” you, doncha?

  • Mimmimmim says:

    I am currently enjoying a few things that I couldn’t bear to wear over the summer, Madame Rochas and Shalimar among them. I’ve also been wearing a few BPAL samples a friend sent me. Their hippiness seems to go with the season of swishy skirts and falling leaves.

    I am also loving Autumn food – stew and dumplings, big puddings, toad in the hole – but I think my waistline doesn’t love it quite as much!

    Finally, my husband, because he listened to me rattle on about scents I wanted full bottles of in order to be prepared for Christmas.

    • Lee says:

      Autumn puddings…

      I never think I have a sweet tooth, and then it gets dark and cold and I think of the yellow glow of custard.

      Good on your husband!

  • Maria says:

    I love where I live. Monday afternoon I was sitting in the dentist’s chair for a check-up and through the window I could see a hawk flying lazily. I felt so grateful to live here. In the evening my DH saw a mother raccoon and babies walk across our back yard. She hissed at him. A short time later he spotted a great horned owl at the top of a tree behind our place. A couple of mornings ago he found a big, messy wild turkey dropping on our front walk. A gaggle of turkeys lives in the neighborhood. Sometimes cars on our street must wait while the undecisive birds waddle from one side of the road to the other. I’m not as thrilled with skunks, but one has to take the bad with the good. I hope I never take this place for granted.

    I wonder if as someone who spent her formative years being Catholic I should boycott your Guy Fawkes Day. Okay, maybe in the spirit of transatlantic friendship I’ll put on some CB Burning Apples. Any excuse for a bonfire!

    Thanks for giving us the opportunity to write about what we love. šŸ˜”

    • Maria says:

      Oops! That should have been Burning Leaves. Mmm…Burning Apples–a pie that got left in the oven too long?

    • Lee says:

      I should’ve mentioned all the nature stuff. There’s more joy to be had in seeing a hare run ahead of me than in sniffing any perfume, y’know (that’s a secret, by the way).

  • Donna says:

    Lee,

    I always enjoy reading your posts. Your attempts to save money, confessions for preferring whole bottles vs. decants(me too :), and gentle reminders of appreciating beauty resonates with me. Some prose that I like:

    Happily may I walk….
    May it be beautiful before me,
    May it be beautiful behind me,
    May it be beautiful below me,
    May it be beautiful above me,
    May it be beautiful all around me.
    In beauty it is finished.
    N. Scott Momaday, House Made of Dawn

    Donna

  • Andy says:

    Love my iPod. This love is mutual and I was not deceived so far.
    Love my SAAB. This love is expensive and the older the car and me get the more I have to pay for its repair and the less is their to care for me. This love might come to an end in the coming years.
    Love my orchids and my little clementine tree. This love is a tricky one, always have to watch out not to spoil the orchids and not to forget watering the clementine tree now that it’s in house and thirsty.

    • Lee says:

      I love that you’re a technology geek and a nature boy all rolled into one perfumed package of goodness…

  • tmp00 says:

    I love little boxes to put stuff in. Ideally I would like to be like that
    famous Julian Shulman photo of Case Study house #21- you know the one.
    the glass house on the edge a Hollywood precipice, clean lines, glass coffee
    tables and Ladies in crinolines. I can’t. The best I can hope for are nice boxes to hide the crap.

    It’s not quite Patch 24 time here yet, that’s a couple weeks off yet. We still have the threat of Santa Anas yet.

    Yes, it’s greed. I still do it.

    Which means I am skipping to #5, if you think there’s something I’d like, ship away..

    It is Rousse weather here now. Yummy. Rousse is Hallowe’en in LA to me.

    KCRW. You can listen to it streaming at KCRW.com, it’s our local NPR station and is
    known for it’s music programming; I call it “I am not an old fart” station.
    I don’t listen to top 40 radio, I’ve never heard a Nelley Frittata or a fiddy sent
    that I know of, but I like She Wants Revenge and Koop and The Rakes, so I am discerning, not out of touch.

    Where I have lived, and where I live now. It was wonderful to go back to New England and visit the places I had grown up in, Western Mass and summers in Southeastern Connecticut. I felt more than a tug that I would have thought, and I suppose that when I am old and want to retire I guess that is what’s calling me. Then again, BH is doing it’s version of riotous fall, with the Maple trees on Alden Drive (don’t ask..) aflame with color, morning and evening fog that means bankie time and yet the daytime temps are in the 70’s. You know what? I’ve not been to Europe yet. So I may want to retire to Venice or something.

    My diet. I guess lack of wheat is no fun. The lack of migranes is nice though. The reappearance of cheekbones not seen for a few years is nice. I did this with a friend who was told that type “O” blood shouldn’t eat wheat. I think in general that we all eat too much processed food with wheat in them, and fat, and calories. Okay I know I am being a pedantic bore.

    And there are moments where I would kill for some penne al quattro fromaggi.

    Made by me, I am not wasting that migrane on some crap made by Patina group…

    • Lee says:

      I like Koop too, though I insist on pronouncing them as a bird resting place, rather than a co-op. And I wish they wouldn’t put on dresses. Scandinavian humour? (apologies to Solander and our other Scandinavian readers…)

      Seeing as I live with a wheat addict (a very buff wheat addict I might add), my diet is hardly ever going to be yours but I like hearing about it.

      and any time you’re heading Europe way, I’ll dust off the spare room for you…

  • Right now my life is frazzled, so this is a good question. I’m loving my iPhone because it helps a lot when I’m living in a friend’s bedroom, running a business and a life. We decided to move, but it has to be in stages. I’m the advance party, my husband stayed behind to sell the house. I like that we have a marriage strong enough to put up with this. I like that I finally decided that there is nothing wrong about not liking most of the Serge Lutens recent fragrances. I’ve tried, Lord, I’ve tried, but they just don’t work for me. Gris Clair? Urinal cake in deserted men’s room. Louve? Marzipan waving goodbye over a rose petal. Then, gone. And I’ve finally accepted that there are lots of fragrances that I can appreciate but wouldn’t wear to a rat fight. The ones I wear develop over time and I have to love every step along the way, out of the bottle to drydown. There aren’t many, but ahhhh, those who do. And finally, I appreciate perfume bloggers who consistently come up with interesting posts that keep me company late at night.

    • Lee says:

      QM – I do hope the difficult times are soon in the past. A consolation – you gave me a welcome chuckle reading your SL summaries after a looooooong day at work.