My darling Posse,
You know… for such a beautiful fruit (and gorgeous tree) lemons get a shockingly bad rap. ‘When life hands you lemons’ ‘_____ is a lemon’, etc, etc . I thought about the fruit/the rap/the smell when I went down to KY to clean my sister’s house and bring her back up here, following the death of her husband ( that was a (mercifully) short row to hoe for him – and, I’m hoping, for her as well). Never a housekeeper at the best of times*, the stress of his sudden descent into real illness and even suddener (is that a word? should be) death plunged her into a paralysis that was …. well, the house was a disaster. I took the train down and the first thing we did was stop at Kroger to pick up coffee, rubber gloves…and lemon-scented cleaners. Then I brewed a cup (or 3), strapped on the gloves, and began to scrub the miasma away.
*not dragging her – she would be the absolute first to say she’s kind of a slob. A lovable slob, though.
What is it about lemon? I love other citrus cleaners (Orange furniture polish is. mah. JAM!) but to convey Absolute Cleanliness, nothing beats lemon – at least for me. Lime? It’s astringent, but it has that darker connotation that unbalances the astringency. Margaritas, mojitos…that’s what I think of when I think of lime. Lemons? Sparkling water. And there ya have it. Other than the furniture polish, orange cleaner has an oilier richness that doesn’t quite convey ‘clean’ – at least not to me (gorgeous – but not ‘sparkling clean’). So lemon it is.
The laundry room houses the cat boxes. Ew. And on the shelf above? A bottle of lemon essential oil. Yay! I scrubbed everything in that room, then rinsed with a lemon EO solution. Instantly the room smelled fresher/cleaner, in a way bleach couldn’t achieve. Perhaps it’s because the lemon smelled…healthy? Bleach smells like bleach.
Train down… driving back. So. On the trip down I wore an attar. It (along with most rose-based scents) did not sit well with my sister (one hysterical episode involved Aromatherapy Associates first perfume, which she shriekingly likened to metal degreaser, thinking it was on her husband’s work gloves. Sigh). The idea of driving for 10 hours with her banging on about my perfume was more than either of us needed, so I looked on her dresser for inspiration. LOL! She has every lemon/citrus perfume ever made. Even more LOL? I gave them all to her. Marc Jacobs. June Jacobs (the original spa perfume), Fresh Lemon Sugar… etc etc etc
some of the Marc J splashes
All very pretty. Bright. Fresh. Sparkling. Garnering tons of compliments (especially from men – what is it with them and citrus? ). All… well, ‘boring’ isn’t quite the word I’m looking for… okay. Yes. Yes it is. I love them all – and I wear them – but they are not intriguing. Then I thought about it: sometimes ‘intriguing’ isn’t a great choice. Driving 10 hrs might be one of those times where ‘pretty’ and ‘fresh’ might be the way to go. So I chose Marc Jacobs and layered it with the FLS, which has a touch more sweetness.. it was a perfect combo, even if it vanished about 23 seconds after application. I wish I’d brought Guerlain AA Lemon Fresca, which has a bit more staying power, though the anise can be a bit headachy. Her preference is for lemon – straight up, with a dash of lemon. The Marc Jacobs has a teeny bit of amber in the base, which helps anchor it… almost. Anchoring lemon, while letting it remain lemony, is like anchoring a cloud. If you could hold it down it would no longer be what you define as ‘cloud’.
We got back here with no fussing about attars. Laughed about some of her husband’s weirdness (he was a lovable weirdo). And we even stopped at Culver’s for (wait for it)…LEMON ICE! Which I wait for all season, like a mongoose at a cobra’s nest. I matched the Lemon Cooler! So. I can’t really complain. Lemon is LOVELY!
And tasty, too!
What’s your take on lemon? Citrus in general? Love them? Hate them? ‘Citrus…what’s that?’ Let me know – I’ll have M. Jacques poke a pawnail! We’ll send you some Fun Citrus scents. They won’t be Perfumista-level intriguing…but they sho’ are pretty!!! 
Comments are closed