This is the traditional Day of the Dead, and I have to
reflect on how appropriate that is given the number of people who were killed
as a result of Sandy’s progress from the Caribbean up through Canada. The first
order of business is to remember them and all of the living people who were
affected by the storm. Things will get back to “normal” sooner or later, but
for some it may take a long time. For
some it will probably change their lives in ways that they could not have
imagined a week ago. 
We in the Pacific Northwest are lucky to have just had some
mild rain this week, as the leaves finally start their descent into fall. As I
look out my window, the big leaf maples, hazelnuts, and cottonwoods have mostly
turned a bright gold, creating a sunny-hued curtain over the grey of the sky.
It’s definitely the time of death – for the leaves, for the tops of the
deciduous orchids that will spend the winter as bulbs underground,
proliferating and gaining strength for their emergence a few months from now,
for the bracken ferns that grow by the path to the woods. From the other
window, the grape and blueberry leaves are turning yellow and red, but the
rains have stimulated the marigolds to bloom again and the brown turkey fig
tree to produce a bumper crop of huge, sweet, juicy, ripe fruit – the second
crop this year! Way to go, fig tree!
The rain has also stimulated the cyclamens to bloom early
this year, so the ground under the fig tree is a mass of pink flowers. There’s
death in some corners, and new life in others. The eternal cycle.
[Photos from Wikimedia]
I wear my Genda Attar (marigold and sandalwood) from India for the Days of the Dead, or Niki de St. Phalle, as it contains a lot of marigold/tagetes. It's one of my favorite notes, pungent and invigorating. Wish it were used more often, but it is a strange one, that's true.
ReplyDeleteAn end and a new beginning? I was reminded today by Coifan's blog that the end is near for the old world, parisian perfumes and a new day and a new opportunity is dawning for perfumers not subject to EU regulations. Does this mean that the good intentions of IRFA and EU are triumphing over the evils of nature? If so are we ready for the end of the perfume word as we know it?
ReplyDeleteOn a lighter note, Blake Gopnik's Daily Beast article "NY Museum Stages First 'Scent' Exhibit" targets Chandler Burr's notion of true art vs. "artisanal products". I find this idea of art much too exclusive. An all natural perfume can certainly be true art as your Dev#3 proves.
Does the new perfume order mean to exclude the natural? I suppose it doesn't really matter to me. My perfume shelter is stocked with the old, the vintage and the natural. I'm ready for the Perfume Apocalypse! Gail
Marla, I need to dig out my genda attar, too, and wear it. I really like tagetes, and used it in Gujarat (not that you could really pick it out from among all the other stuff!)
ReplyDeleteGail, If the EU continues in the same way they're going, the final result will be a complete ban of all fragrance. They're not only banning naturals, they're apparently banning (or severely restricting) many commonly used and innocuous synthetics, too. Coifan is a little hard to follow, since he doesn't seem to like to come out and say anything in a straightforward way, but it sounds as if some of the big European perfume manufacturers might plan to move their operations elsewhere to avoid all of the ridiculous bureaucratic restrictions. I wouldn't blame them.
ReplyDeleteOf course Chandler Burr's idea that art has to be synthetic is silly, and I think Gopnik did a pretty good job of debunking it. A sculpture made from marble is every bit as much art as one made from plastic.
Yes, this was sure the week of people saying silly things! Gopnik and Burr just cracked me up, I didn't even know how to respond, they were so pretentious and goofy. And I have a degree in Art History! And I wish Octavian would just spit it out sometimes, you know? All that mystery and enigma, when I just want the facts of the case. All I can say is, thank goodness for talented indies like you-- To my favorite indie perfumes, my nose says, "Art? Heck yeah!" Burr and Gopnik can stay in New York....
ReplyDeleteYes, this was the week of saying silly, pretentious, goofy things. Just makes you want to go spend some quality time with the succulents.
ReplyDelete