I ordered some samples in the hope of doing a perfume post today, but no go. The shop hasn’t even communicated whether the little pack has been dispatched.
So, you’re getting a mish-mash of my musings today.
On Friday evening, during the dog walk, I noticed that the honey-house was once again offering a few jars of home-bee’d honey (which I don’t need as we have a jar already); yesterday morning, a house had succulents for sale. I’ve no reason at the moment to buy succulents, so I let those go too.
I am, however, planning to try to root from the beautiful candy pink climbing rose that is next to the front window here, and yesterday morning my small bag of soil arrived (I have no use for a big bag and was finally able to find a very small one). The rose has black fly, so I’m going to have to be careful about cleaning off the stem when I do the rooting. It’s also a true old climber, so has really sharp, closely spaced thorns. It was a fairly late bloomer vs others here and I had to wait a month once the buds appeared to actually see the colour. I have two roses in the house-house garden (both climbers) – one deep red, one bright yellow. I have no need for another rose. But, hey. If I am able to root this one, I will find a space for it.
I was meant to get a haircut yesterday, but clearly that didn’t happen. I’m now developing a tiered colour formation, with darker horizontal stripes and more grey at the top, lighter below, where it’s still got the last round of colour. I’ve trimmed my fringe/bangs, but I’ve decided I’m not interested in doing home colour and I’m certainly not going to have a distracted 18 year old cut my hair (I do his, but I just buzz it with clippers so it’s very short).
I miss the idea of the haircut and the salon, and all the associated sense of luxury. But it’s fine and I’m certainly not stamping my feet and shaking my fists that someone should have to cut my hair.
I have noticed that while I’m ok in lockdown (and will pretty much continue as I have for the past few month going forward), the fantasy yearnings that used to pop into my head for a spur-of-the-moment weekend visit to Paris or Amsterdam (which never happened anyway) have contracted to ‘maybe I should buy an ice cream maker’ or ‘oooh, shall we have takeaway wood oven pizza from the local van on Wednesday or get something from the local pub this weekend, which is offering Sunday roast and burgers’?
I spend a fair amount of time containing the desire for rambling, unnecessary online shopping. My big expenditure (besides paying bills related to the house refurb) is food shopping (though I decided, after braking a cheap glass, I could replace it with a far more pricey and beautiful one from Anthropologie and, of course, I couldn’t pass up a lovely large tea cup and a large flat bowl [see pic]).
I do allow myself visits to the local farm shop for ‘fill-in’ shops (local asparagus; yellow and red striped peppers; fancy nuts; the best yoghurt ever; deeply overpriced dark chocolate with coffee beans). And on the days when I visit the house-house to see if it’s less of a shell I generally stop before-hand at the farm shop to get a decent Latte (I don’t have coffee at home, so it’s a serious treat; everyone carefully social distances in line for the coffee shed).
Otherwise, I spend time on and off over days assembling the online food shop (it’s usually two weeks from one shop to the next as it takes that long to bag a delivery slot, so there’s a lot of time to add, delete, etc). How much protein do we need? Will the weird blueberry cereal my son wants to try be available this time? Why are they always out of washing-up gloves? Can I justify two different types of strawberries?
So, my world has clearly contracted, but I’m ok. How about you? Hoping I’ll have samples for next week’s post.
I started out the pandemic being very good about spending. The middle was pretty pear-shaped in the worst way, buying really stupid things. now I’m back to something more reasonable. I did go out to eat for the first time a week ago, and it was lovely! Spend my days outside in the sun, stocking up on Vitamin D.
BTW – really like your stuff from Anthropologie!
My indulgences have been sugarfree dark chocolate and some cheap nostalgia perfumes from ebay. I suddenly want to smell the perfumes my sister had when I was a kid. She was 11 years older than me and had all these beautiful and mysterious possessions that I was always trying to get into – I must have been sooo annoying. So I have ordered myself some Je Reviens, some Arden Blue Grass and I’m currently bidding on an Apple Blossom cologne. It’s obviously an attempt to recapture a time when I was safe and had her to look after me (she died several years ago and I miss her more than our mother) but in these days I think it’s ok to reach for anything that makes you feel just a little bit better.
I don’t think I’ve ever tried Blue Grass. My drug store staple was Love’s Fresh Lemon body mist. What does BG smell like? Perfume is so helpful for memory/nostalgia — not the same as having that person with you, but something of them to sort of tuck away in your pocket, so to speak. I’m sorry for your loss.
Sadly I did not get the time travel thing I wanted from BG but it’s nice enough. Quite a lot of carnation in it so it has spice as well as flowers. I don’t think I’ll be wearing it much. Luckily I still have Patou’s Sublime to really bring her presence to me.
I’ve still got to feed the family, but there’ve been interesting changes. For one thing, since I’m working from home now I’m willing to expend more time and effort on individual meals, which is nice. The groceries themselves have been trickier to come by, and some of my shopping has gotten very strategic.
I recall you talking about expending more time and energy in cooking. My son and I seem to be dividing the cooking up fairly equally. He is much more creative than I am at this point. Most of my cooking days consist of things I’ve done before and can do fairly easily. He checks recipes and insisted we stock up on things so he can make sauces. I don’t do sauces much. I wonder if shopping is easier here as delivery is more of a thing. Even the two local farm shops deliver.
I’ve been going to the supermarket once a week, and Costco once every couple of weeks. We get takeaway once or twice per week because I’m so tired of my own home cooking. I’ve bought a few clothing items this spring: eyelet blouse, pr of jeans, raincoat with a hood, new sandals & sneakers. But none of them was a splurge, and all were things I actually needed. The area where I’ve indulged has been my makeup stash. I’ve cleaned out a bunch of really old blushes and eyeshadows and replaced them with some nice new things. I’m not a high-end shopper person, so none of the items is “fancy,” but I’m happy with them. I like those new kitchen items in the photo, Cinnamon. Very pretty colors! My daughter is 3/4 of the way through cosmetology school to become a hair stylist, and she’s begun to color & cut her friends’ hair in our kitchen, carefully sanitizing everything, washing all surfaces in alcohol, and of course she and the client are both wearing masks. She’s doing a great job — I’m really proud of her.
I remember when our daughter was in cosmetology school too, she did a great job cutting our hair and half the people in our congregation. I miss having an in house stylist right now! Glad your daughter is doing well with it.
I need to do some weeding out regarding my makeup. But, given I’m wearing very little currently I don’t think I get to replace what goes. That sounds like so much fun — the cut and colour practice. But also that she really gets what is necessary to do all this safely. Congrats to her and you.
I enjoy your musings, Cinnamon. Your roses sound beautiful. I had an old red rambler rose by my front steps that we enjoyed so much but a couple winters ago our neighbor’s pet rabbits escaped and made a burrow right under the steps, uprooting the roses. We were able to tuck them back in the dirt come spring but they are only a few inches tall now.
Thank you. Rabbits are sometimes not the most helpful creatures.
Hey Cinnamon,
Of all that lovely rambling I am most surprised that you use washing up gloves. I didn’t even know they still made them.
Also, how do you do the rose? Does it grow roots in the vase? Do you splice it into another rose? Will you buy rootstock? I’m agog.
Portia xx
Def use washing up gloves. My hands get very dry and then itchy (I’m sure you needed to know that). The rose … after this morning’s dog walk I’m also going to look into rooting Philadelphus which grows wild in this village. On the rose, the directions I’ve seen are choose a stem on which the bloom has finished, cut right below a set of leaves and remove them, scrape away some of the stem, stick in a mixture of soil and grit (I am using small stones from the rental garden that I washed). Then hope. I’ve also rooted clematis just in a vase with water. (Where is Musette when you need her????)
Whenever I am trying to grow from a cutting I put a thin film of honey on the parts I’ve played with that are going into the soil. It’s antiseptic and a good food source in the initial days.
Old wives tale that I think works: Always do it as the moon is growing.
Portia xx
Yes, isn’t it funny how food shopping has become the focus of our lives…it seems it’s one of the only situations where we have some choice, although many times that’s limited, too. Not complaining, though, as I realize choices in food…what to buy and even if one can afford to buy….is limited in many households these days. Hang in there!
I signed up for so many CSAs (for those unfamiliar: Community Supported Agriculture, which means getting a share of a farmer’s harvest) this year. It felt like a good way to ensure my money went to local labor and solved the problem of trying to shop with a small child during a pandemic. I usually plan meals and then shop, but now I will plan meals around what I have…which is a delightful challenge. Feeling lucky, but missing preschool. My poor kid is so lonely.
I find it interesting (and I guess unsurprising) that the local farm shop here (which is quite large) was very quick to update its circumstances to support safer shopping. I think they did it not only for commercial reasons, but because they are very much a part of the community.
oh, lord, food shopping. another thing about the local farm shop was it started very early (and was vocal) in support of people who had to self-isolate (eg, the elderly), offering free delivery (the rest of us have to pay) and order by phone, so people who aren’t used to using computers didn’t feel more stressed than needs be.
I love it when folks are aware of digital divides in a non-shaming way.
My life has become fairly monastic. It is an interesting exercise in discovering how little I really need or even want after nearly three months of lockdown. I do miss get-togethers with friends, but that’s pretty much it. No restaurants, no recreational shopping, no travel. I look forward to eventually going camping and being out in the woods, away from the concrete jungle I live in.
I hope you get to see the stars soon.
That is exactly what I want most, to lie on my back in the woods and gaze up at the incredible night sky.
I miss restaurants, but I’ve realised I miss simple unpretentious places with good food.
I love the simplicity. I never want to go back.
It’s become much quieter here and people tend to be very careful on social distancing, which is really pleasant. I wonder if that will change come autumn, with children back to school, universities opened up, more people back to working from offices vs work from home — or, if things will remain the same with only some segments of society opening up more.
Oh good! I hope you don’t have to.