I don’t even know how to begin this. I can’t remember when I
last wrote a blog post. I think it was last summer sometime, and now it’s the
winter solstice. First things first, here’s wishing you a happy lengthening of
the days! I know I and the orchids are looking forward to gradually seeing more
light over the next few months.
Fall quarter went by in a blur as I frantically tried to
balance my life at the university with running two businesses. It’s been a continuous
mad scramble to keep up with everything, so much so that I haven’t had time to
release any new fragrances this past year, nor the time to update websites,
keep up with making stock and ordering supplies, and all of the other things
that I’m now trying to catch up on in between the demands of people who say,
“oh, you have this nice long vacation, so let’s …. ”. I love socializing, don’t
get me wrong, but it can quickly become a time sink. This is especially true
when the first week of my “vacation” is spent cleaning up teaching and
administrative stuff from fall quarter and the rest of the time is spent
preparing for winter quarter.
I don’t want to make this a depressing post (the political
scene notwithstanding), so want to observe that day before yesterday I looked
out my work area window and saw a brightly colored full rainbow in the west, an
unusual occurrence because they’re usually on the east side as rain showers
move away.
Yesterday the sun was shining, temperatures were moderate
for this time of year, and I made time to go on a run. Exercising always feels
great. Then I finally planted the spring bulbs that have been sitting on our
front porch since September. They were alive and well, with the crocuses
sprouting significantly. I realized that this is a good time to plant bulbs
because the old ones are starting to poke up through the ground and I can see
where I need to fill in.
I’m working on my own (non-science) writing projects again,
plays and blog posts, and I’m going to start working intensively on all of my
new perfumes this week and next, which makes me extremely happy.
Look for a post here from time to time as we move forward
into “winter”, which I see as the beginning of spring!
[All photos are adapted from webcam shots from our local ski area, which
I hope to get to at least once this year]