WINNER OF THE NOTHING IS FOREVER DRAWING AND ARTEMISIA TRIDENTATA

The winner of the latest drawing is CRYSTAL. 

To claim your box of samples, send me at e-mail at olympicorchids at gmail dot com or leave a comment on the Olympic Orchids Facebook page 

I will be away from the blog, traveling in Europe from September 4-17, so would like to get this drawing finished up and the prize sent off before I leave. 

There will be a new drawing once I’m back in Seattle, once again for a big box of samples and anything else related that will fit in the box. 

Several years ago I wrote about Artemisia, but have become newly fascinated with Artemisia tridentata, also called big sagebrush. You can read a little bit about it here. I have discovered that it grows everywhere east of the Cascades, and last month harvested some, thinking we might want to distill it. Life intervened and we waited too long, but I took the dried-out leaves and tinctured them, thinking it might be interesting. 

Much to my surprise, within a day the alcohol had turned a bright green, and within a week it was dark emerald green, so I removed the plant matter and filtered it. It is so dark now that it is hard to photograph. I think you can see it best when the bottle is turned on its side and the light shines through. The bright green color was surprising given that the plant itself looks grayish. Best of all, the tincture has quite a strong scent that really captures the fragrance of the fresh plant. I think this tincture would make a great perfume!

To enter the next drawing, leave a comment about where you would like to travel in Europe or some association you have with sagebrush.

[All photos are mine] 

AN UNINTENTIONAL EXPERIMENT AND A NEW DRAWING

For the past few months I have been posting on Facebook whenever there was a winner of one of the drawings, and the winner usually responds right away. This last time I got busy with a lot of things and didn’t put anything on Facebook. The winnings are unclaimed, and there were far fewer comments than usual on the post for the new drawing. It seems that a lot of people don’t see the blog unless I put an alert on Facebook. I’ll do it this time and will try to remember to do so in future. 

This week’s winner is TRINITI

Last drawing’s winner was PARROT. Parrot has one week to contact me, otherwise everything will go to Triniti as a jackpot. 

To claim your winnings send an e-mail to olympicorchids at gmail dot com or leave a message on the Olympic Orchids  Facebook page. I will need your complete shipping address. 

This week’s photo is Phalaenopsis bellina, which is blooming right now. The fragrance is amazing, kind of a citrusy floral, but unique. It diffuses its fragrance all day. 

To enter this week’s drawing for a big box of samples, just leave a comment about how your summer is going, or any other random thoughts that you have. 

[Photo is mine]

WINTER FLOWERS DRAWING WINNER, REDUNDANT PERFUME

The drawing has been done, and the winner of the winter flowers drawing is: 

LEAH

If you’re the winner, please contact me by e-mail at olympicorchids at gmail dot com or PM on Facebook with your full name and shipping address. 

This past week we’ve had nothing but beautiful blue skies and sunshine during the day, but the down side is that it’s been horribly cold at night, in the 20s F (below 0 C), well below freezing. We still have snow on the ground in shaded areas, and the typical ugly piles of snow and sand on the sides of the roads and in the parking lots. This is completely abnormal for March, and all the plants are about a month behind schedule. We are still cleaning up broken branches and beaten-down bamboo canes from the heavy snow. I hope things will warm up as we get into what should be spring. 

As should be obvious from the giveaways, I always have a huge number of perfume samples on hand. I view sampling other companies’ perfumes as part of my continuing education as a perfumer, partly to learn what is possible, and partly to avoid duplicating what’s already available. I don’t know about you, but the more I sample, the more everything seems the same. These days it is rare that I experience that beautiful flash of discovery when something really new and surprising comes along. It’s all déjà vu (or rather déjà senti) I think part of the problem is that a huge number of new perfumes are released every year in a futile attempt to keep brands in the public eye, and this number seems to increase almost exponentially every year. It’s easier just to recycle the standard scents and try to push them on the public through advertising and gimmicks than it is to be innovative in terms of the perfumes themselves. It’s actually depressing to think of how superficial all of the marketing is and what a glut of products are sloshing around.  

This week there’s another giveaway of 100 g of samples plus whatever goodies I have sitting around that will fit in the box. Just leave a comment about your experiences with perfume sampling. Do they all start to smell the same after you’ve sampled a lot? 

[Pics are mine, all types of flowers that are blooming now, but should have bloomed a month ago.] 

WINNER OF THE SNOWSTORM DRAWING + NEW SPRING FLOWERS THROUGH THE SNOW DRAWING

The winner of the snowstorm drawing is MIM.

Because the last prize was not claimed, you will win double the samples (200 g) plus some extra bonuses that depend on your shipping address. Please contact me with your full name and shipping address. You can e-mail olympicorchids at gmail dot com or leave a message on the Olympic Orchids Facebook page. 

After two weeks the snow is finally melting, and there are now patches of bare ground. They look so pretty after the solid white! I’m continually seeing new surprises from under the snow. Who would have thought that cyclamen flowers could stand having the weight of two feet of snow on top of them, let alone the cold temperatures? Yesterday, for the first time, I saw the cyclamen flowers that had been blooming before the snow started, slowly uncovered, apparently with no ill effects. Similarly, the crocuses, daffodils, and tulips that have been uncovered seem not to have minded the snow too much. The hellebores, which were in full bloom, got beaten down a little, but the bent stems make nice cut flowers for inside the house.

A week before the show we planted a sarcococca bush, seduced by the strong fragrance of the little flowers. It was completely buried in snow, with not a leaf showing, and I was worried about it. However, now that its covering has melted away, it looks perfectly healthy. The jasmine we planted last year didn't fare so well. It was completely covered, too, and now the leaves look brown. However, the leaves near the base are still green, so maybe there’s hope. Spring will reveal what’s left of it, if anything. 

We’ll have a new drawing for 100 g of samples, so leave a comment saying what surprises you have found when snow melted, or when other natural events changed the landscape. The winner of the new drawing will be announced in about a week.

[Photos are mine from this week]

WINNER OF THE FIRST OCTOBER DRAWING

When I don’t post the drawing on Facebook, not many people enter, but that’s OK. 

The winner of the first October drawing is TRINITI. 

Just e-mail me at olympicorchids at gmail dot com with your current correct address to claim your winnings. 

It looks like the majority of people who commented want to hear about how I get inspiration or ideas for perfumes, so I’ll write about that later this week. Other topics were materials, so I’ll continue that series, and the effect of weather (or more broadly, context) on perfume perception. All of those topics are coming up soon! Thanks to those who commented with suggestions that will help keep me from writing about sociology and politics. 

[Photo is our woods, taken a little later in the season last year, but representative of our autumn  foggy mornings and sunny afternoons]

WINNER OF THE COSMETICS DRAWING AND THE NEW GIVEAWAY

After running in place for several weeks just to keep from falling behind, I've finally gotten around to doing the drawing for the perfume and cosmetics samples.

The winner is: MARY.

Please contact me by e-mail at olympicorchids at gmail dot com or leave a PM on our Facebook page. If the winnings are not claimed they will go into the jackpot for next time.

Even after packing a big box of cosmetic samples, there's still enough for another drawing of the same, plus the usual 100 g of samples.

To enter the new drawing, just leave a comment about what you're looking forward to this spring. I know I'm looking forward to spring break!

[The webcam photo from the local ski area in the rain looks like the invasion of the alien bubbles]

FINALLY A WINNER!

I've been negligent about keeping up with the random drawings, but finally got around to doing it today. The previous batch of samples was unclaimed, so the winner gets a double portion plus some carded samples.

This Monday's winner is NELLE 25.

To claim your big jackpot, just send me an e-mail at olympicorchids at gmail dot com or PM me on the Olympic Orchids Facebook page.

Look for a new drawing next Monday.

MONDAY MADNESS: CARDED SAMPLES AND WINNER OF LAST WEEK’S DRAWING

The winner of last week’s drawing is: JAMES WEAVER

To claim your winnings, please e-mail olympicorchids at gmail dot com or leave a PM on our Facebook page.

Today is another opportunity to continue the clearing of my stashes of samples. A lot of them are loose, so they don’t take up much room, at least not individually. However, a lot of them are also on cards of various types. Most of the cards are the classic “book”- type, with the sample hooked over holes or inserted between folded cardboard protrusions along the spine of the “book”. Others are just a card with a hole punched in it so that the sample often falls out. That’s OK if the vial is labeled, but not good if it isn’t. A few are in their own little organza bags with the name on a big card tied with a ribbon around the top of the bag. These vials usually aren’t labeled. As a consumer of samples, my plea would be, “please label the vial itself”.

This week’s giveaway will be a mix of 100 g of “normal” samples and a handful of carded samples. To enter the drawing, all you have to do is leave a comment about your opinion of carded samples.

[photo is from a vendor's pic that showed up in a basic Google search]

WINNER OF BAD BIRDS DRAWING, VACATION AND DOUBLE TAXATION

First things first. The winner of the Bad Birds drawing is YUKI.

Please contact me with your complete shipping address at olympicorchids at gmail dot com or by PM on Facebook. 

The announcement of the latest random drawing winner was delayed due to my old car breaking down beyond repair and the scramble to find a replacement before I have to start commuting to the university again. One of these days, in the far distant future, we are supposed to have functional public transportation where we live (assuming all goes well), but for now I have to drive.

The outcome of the process was a nice “new” car, but the search for one and the bureaucratic paperwork associated with the sale took a lot of time. The whole transaction brought up a question that I’ve had for a long time. In addition to the cost of the car, the cost of the title transfer and registration paperwork, there was sales tax. I was not the first owner of the car. In fact, there had been two owners before me, each of whom presumably paid sales tax when they purchased it. This means that the state has collected tax on the same item three times.  Somehow the triple-dipping seems illogical, if not unethical. On a smaller scale, our local thrift store also charges sales tax on used items. Taxing of used clothing and household goods seems like the ultimate regressive tax on people who have minimal resources.

Now that the car problem is solved from a practical point of view, we will be taking off soon for a two-week vacation in Aruba. This will be the third year that we have actually taken a real vacation, going somewhere far away from home and spending an extended time without our laptops and phones. That’s not quite true – if I can get wi-fi, I check e-mail on my phone once a day and deal with anything urgent, but that’s it. I’m putting up notices on my websites saying that orders placed before 13 August will not ship right away, and giving a small discount to compensate for the delay, and have already set up my automatic “out of the office” messages to start at the end of the week. Needless to say, I won’t be posting here while I’m gone. 

Nevertheless, I will start a new contest, with the usual goodies – 100 grams of random perfume samples and a few miscellaneous larger fragrant items. To enter, just say what you think about charging sales tax on used items - justified or not?. The winner will be chosen by random drawing.

[Photos taken as is or adapted from Wikimedia]