Musings on flowers...

Yesterday, after turning a midterm and stumbling through two classes, I somehow limped my way into the bi-annual Ikebana class taught by a visiting Ikenobo professor from Japan. Now, for about two years, Ikebana's been one of my chief joys. I started it before collecting kimono, before starting tea ceremony lessons, before my last job...and before school. When I started working full-time at the firm, I couldn't go to every monthly meeting anymore. But still, I tried...every time we had a visiting professor from out of town (usually it was Ueda-sensei, who does the Ikebana arrangements for the Japanese embassy in Washington D.C.), I was there. And whenever a professor came in from Japan, I would take all the days off I could to make sure I was there for the whole two day workshop.

But you know, I scared myself yesterday. I was watching our visiting professor, a young man with a sunny, open disposition who couldn't possibly have been much older than myself (but had probably studied flower arranging his entire life) arranging a 'freestyle' arrangement--that is, an arrangement without any real traditional rules. He was discussing concepts of artistic expression in a particularly Japanese fashion...for example, that we must express our true hearts in our arrangements, that we must 'talk' to our flowers, never force them in positions they didn't want.

And I sat there and I thought "I need to read torts. I don't have time for this. Why is this taking so long?"

Has it come to this, then? Have I finally started becoming insensate to beauty? Is it inevitable to become so as the world passes by?

Well, perhaps not. And I know how important it is to study, and keep up, and I know that this schooling is probably the foundation for the rest of my career (a career which, I hope, will finance future forays into perfume and kimono, by the way). But as I caught myself tapping my fingers in impatience, I decided that I wouldn't let myself think that way. I made a trek out to the garden center because I wanted to make time for something that was important to me. No, it wasn't more important than school, but it served to remind me of how easy it was to forget things like quiet grace, and elegance, and beauty. And as time goes on, and I get a job, it'll be even easier. But I think we all have to try and make time, you know?

So if you catch me thinking this way again, smack me. Please?

If you had a million dollars....

what would you buy? I've trimmed down my wishlist to TEN! I feel optimistic. Perhaps at some point I can stop lusting after new scents altogether?

(when you stop pointing and laughing, here are my ten....what're yours?)

1. Frapin 1270
2. Guerlain Bois d'Armenie (nope, not gettin' that one anytime soon)
3. Aftelier Cepes et Tuberose
4. Comme des Garcons Incense: Kyoto
5. Serge Lutens Arabie
6. Serge Lutens Iris Silver Mist
7. L'Artisan Parfumeur Timbuktu
8. L'Artisan Parfumeur Premier Figuier Extreme
9. Frederic Malle Musc Ravageur
10. Kingsbury Twilight Rose Parfum

L'Occitane's Notre Fleurs

The Notre Fleurs scents are L'Occitane's interpretations of Mediterranean flora.

MYRTLE: Boring. Citrusy, lightish floral. Disappears in moments. Will probably be the most popular of the bunch. (Read this as: "this is the one that smells most like Light Blue"). Salesperson seemed to think that it was orange flower...someone please tell me if I'm wrong, but isn't the myrtle a different plant from the tree that produces orange flowers and neroli? I've just smelled this and somehow, I think I've already forgotten it.

NEROLI: A more sheer, transparent, somewhat more synthetic-smelling version of the now discontinued Neroli. Somehow, the original seemed to have a better, truer 'neroli' smell in its top notes before it all faded into that glorious amber. This one is a pale ghost. Fades quickly. Ah well.

IRIS: Umm, what iris? This is iris the way lavender-scented cheapo fabric softener is lavender--which is to say, not at all. I had high hopes for it, which is why I'm probably a little bitter. (In my head, there was a little parade of perfume that went something like this: No. 19, Le Labo Iris 39, Bois d'Iris, Iris Silver Mist, Iris Pallida, 28 La Pausa...and L'Occitane Iris! Came crashing down kinda fast.)

CEDAR: THE ONLY ONE I CONSIDER A SUCCESS. Very nice, green, fresh, woody. This ain't Andy Tauer's Atlas Cedar, though, more like a nice cedar closet in the pine woods. Not groundbreaking, but very likable.

Sigh.

L'Occitane's newer releases have utterly and totally underwhelmed me. I was very fond of their original, now discontinued, heavily-amber-laden Neroli, passing fond of Eau de 4 Reines. And who could fail to like their Honey Gentle Water? There've been others, certainly, that I've been fond of, Eau d'Iparie, The Vert au Jasmin, etc. This year, though, the L'Occitane releases have been...disappointing. Fleurs de Cerisier was as vapid as its pale pink color. Utterly forgettable, synthetic to the core, and with the longevity of a suicidal mayfly.

I could be nice, but I'd rather be honest: If you're not going to do it well, why do it at all? I know, I know. L'Occitane is BIG and they can't be pumping out perfume that only appeals to the snobby few. Perhaps Iris-lite is ok. Yes, unfortunately, I've not been testing as much as I used to, but when I test, I test. (Also: fair warning to you all...I'm a little cranky today).

Aaaaahhhh! The scents of fall!

A cold, gray, dreary, chill day today in Pittsburgh. Those 90-degree temperatures I wrote about in the last post? GONE! It feels like the depths of November. Somehow, I fear we'll be cheated out of an autumn this year. I feel like I'm getting back into the groove of things. Verizon's informed me that I will have active DSL on the 18th of October. The apartment, while still sporting the 'luxe landfill' look, is beginning to look habitable. The shower's draining, the kitchen sink's been fixed. There's a rug over the slashes in the kitchen linoleum. School is going into overdrive.

But all-in-all, I think life's calming down. There's time enough for beauty again.

The fall season does bring out its share of fall cravings for me. These are the scents that are revolting in the summertime, the scents that are heavy, and dense--scents that look forward to snow, and bare trees, and deep thoughts as we watch the year slowly dying. I tend not to differentiate between fall scents and winter scents, the way I do between spring and summer scents.

My cravings, some owned, some wished for:

1. CB I Hate Perfume: Burning Leaves

Otherwise known as "l'essence d'automne." For me, this is fall bottled. Bought during the Spring Sniffapalooza, it seemed incongruous as the time. Why buy a smokey, sweetish bottle of fallen leaves when the trees were just beginning to come alive again? But I wasn't wrong. Burning Leaves in its oil form is somewhat fleeting on my skin--but its smoke is so evocative I can't say I care.

2. Frapin 1270

Frapin 1270 distills that tang, that languor, the golden quality of fall days fading into night into manageable, sniffable quantities. It's lush, heady, heavy--like a cognac spiced and steeped with amber. I own but a decant of 1270 (but a bottle is very high indeed on the 'To Be Purchased' list). I wear it as the leaves fall and into the winter time...and put it away when spring comes.

3. Andy Tauer Orris
In truth, Orris is probably a year-round scent. But I think it's 'home state' is Fall. It's inherently dark and kinda broody...and Fall gives it a perfect background. But alas! TRAGEDY! Oh tragedy!! How I gasped! and whimpered! I had a precious vial of this, very small, given to me by a very generous, very special someone. IT BROKE DURING THE MOVE. Orris scented a mass of wrapping paper, those precious few drops spilling away onto trash. I had separated it from all the other sample vials because I wanted to keep it safe. Oh cruel fate!!! The Orris is gone, but all the normal samples are just fine. Now I've got the plastic vial and sprayer that still smell of Orris. Andy, Andy, ANDY!!! I KNOW YOU READ ME SOMETIMES!!! please, have you got a reserve?!? I'll send you pieces of my soul!!!!

(ahem. now back to regularly scheduled programming.)

4. Fendi Theorema

I almost wore Theorema today. It is particularly suited to dark, rainy days...a bastion of warmth in an otherwise chill world. Theorema is one of Those Comfort scents, one of those scents capable of building walls and lighting fires on the inside when the world's simply started seeping into gray (how's THAT for alliteration? heh. heh. heh.) On me, the pepper simply bursts, while the citruses slink away into nothing.

5. Bond no. 9 Chinatown

Spicy, sweet, dense. Suffocating in heat, cozy in the winter, with a longevity and sillage unmatched by many other fragrances.

6. Guerlain Bois d'Armenie

Bois d'Armenie is quite possibly the only Guerlain in the L'Art et le Matiere collection that I crave. On my skin, it's understated and slightly mysterious, but utterly, unspeakably elegant. I do not tend to think of incense scents as elegant--usually they are dark, brooding, spiritual confections. But Bois d'Armenie manages to be both smoky and refined. I don't know if I'll ever have a bottle, but its hold on me is quite established.

7. JAR Shadow

I spent my last overtime pay to get a bottle of Shadow. It's by far the most affordable of the JAR fragrances, by the way, about $300 for the ounce. I haven't worn it yet. But its clove-heavy spice, the murky earthiness of its core speaks of autumn to me--almost like waking up in a pile of slightly decomposed leaves and earth as someone bakes with cloves in the far distance.

8. Serge Lutens Rousse

CINNAMON! Cinnamon mellowing into perfectly woodsy drydown! How much more fall can you pack into the bottle?!? And utterly preferable to the 'spiced pumpkin' confections Bath and Body Works is selling right now...

9. Caron Nuit de Noel

So what else would you really want to wear during the autumn equinox? hmm? HMM? The lengthening nights...that inherent darkness in Nuit de Noel...

10. L'Artisan Parfumeur Saffran Troublant

Though heartbreakingly short-lived, still a cozy, wonderful scent for colder days.

I ain't dead--but the move has been completed!

And all my stuff...the accumulated detritus of two years...has been moved out of one house and into my apartment. I had *thought* my apartment was large, but, upon seeing the mountain of my stuff, I stand corrected. I guess my hobbies take space. In addition to several boxes of books, there was the wall of boxes containing kimono, several containers of Ikebana vases and supplies, calligraphy stuff, blank canvas, music books...and three boxes full of perfume.

I wonder--if we were all forced to move every year, would we have so much stuff? Or would we choose instead to live more uncluttered lives?

It took me almost a month to move everything from my former residence to my current one, and still everything is a huge mess. I've made a vow not to buy any more "stuff." I certainly don't need it. I have packratting tendencies, and goodness knows how much stuff I would accumulate by the age of 40 if left unfettered. I'm half afraid I've got some kind of shopping compulsion.

Nevertheless, I finally have access to my perfume again, my bottles...my samples. After a month going more or less scentless, I'm happily wearing Goutal's Chevrefeuille. Much as I want to segue into my fall scents, the current spate of 90-degree temperatures on the East Coast has kept the summer staples out in full force.