THE FIRST OCTOBER DRAWING

The seasons march on and we are on the dark side of the fall equinox. Halloween and the US midterm elections are only about a month away, so it’s time to … have another drawing. No matter how much excess stuff I give away, it seems like more accumulates. 

This giveaway includes the usual 100 g of samples plus an assortment of miscellaneous cosmetics, all in pristine (i.e., unused) condition. Just leave a comment. 

I will be writing some regular posts this month, so the question you should answer to be entered in the drawing is what general topics you would like to read about.  


[Photo was grabbed from the webcam feed of the local ski area.]

WHERE DID SUMMER GO? A GIANT GIVEAWAY

I have no idea what happened to summer. As soon as school was out, we had major construction projects going on. Then in July we went to the Big Island of Hawaii for a much-needed vacation in the vog, and then spent several weeks at home while the sky and air was filled with wildfire smoke, trying to downsize my huge collection of cacti and succulents so that I don’t have to figure out where to put them all when the weather gets cold. On top of it, there was our summer sale, with frenzied packing and shipping for a month. Now I’m one week back into teaching the intensive 4-week course that I do each year. So much for summer. 

As I type this, I see that the leaves on the maple tree outside my window are turning yellow. I don’t know if it is because the weather was warmer and drier than usual (I don’t think so), or whether it is an effect of the smoke. This tree normally doesn’t lose its leaves until the middle of November, so I don’t know what’s going on with it. 

Yesterday was the first mostly smoke-free day we’ve had, and it was good to see blue sky. This morning it looks like the smoke may be coming back. Smoke in summer seems to be the new normal. 

I’ve been trying to upgrade my perfume studio with new shelving and storage for bottles, stock, and labels. It’s an ongoing process. To celebrate the fact that I now have storage space with easy access to printed bottles, I’m offering a huge end of summer giveaway. Leave any sort of comment about your summer or anything else that strikes your fancy, and be entered in a drawing for 100 g of perfume samples along with other random things including creams and lotions, facial cleansers, cosmetics, and who knows what else. 

[Photos are mine, taken on the Big Island] 

WHY CAN WE NEVER CATCH UP? (AND A PERFUME GIVEAWAY)

Saturday a week ago  was commencement at the university – the usual herding of students, threat of rain alternating with sunshine (both prompting umbrellas to be hauled out), thousands (or millions?) of dendrobium flowers sacrificed for leis, the usual speeches complete with exhortations to conserve resources, and after it all, mounds of plastic trash littering the stadium. 

I was ecstatically happy to have another academic year over with, looking forward to getting caught up on deferred tasks related to orchid husbandry and perfume-making, but the following Monday the friend/contractor who is rebuilding the whole back deck area and floor and support structure for the warm grow area showed up to start demolition. We have been helping with the project, so spent most of last week removing rotted decking, replacing some bad joists, and replacing the surface of the deck. It’s finished, and it’s beautiful. 

This past week the really nasty job started. The back of the house has a semi-attached solarium that we use to grow Phalaenopsis and other warm-loving orchids, and that also serves as a work room and family gathering room. Last winter someone’s foot almost went through the floor, and at that time we discovered that the entire wooden structure under the tile was nearly destroyed by rot. We did an emergency fix and scheduled the real repair at that time, but it was a shock to actually have June roll around and to have to evacuate the plants and other items from the space so that it could happen. To my relief, it was not the plants that had caused the rot, but rather leaks in the outside flashing that allowed rain water to seep between the untreated wood base and the tile. 

The first bit of tear-out revealed that the entire structure had become a giant ant colony, so as a biologist, I was the only one other than the contractor who could deal with mass quantities of insects. I was told that I moved 1000 pounds of debris from the demolition site to the truck that would take it to the dump (they weigh material to be dumped). The flooring has all been replaced correctly, and the tile goes in tomorrow. The poor plants have been scattered outdoors where they’re getting too much light, and indoors where they get none. I expect to lose some – that’s just life. But at least we do not have ants any more. 

It seems that there’s always some crisis begging for our attention, so we can never get caught up on the things we want to do. I’m still plugging away on clearing out things that get in my way, giving away another batch of 100g of excess perfume samples, so please leave a comment on how you catch up on daily life and find time to do fun things and be entered in the drawing.

The winner will be posted at the end of next week. 

[Dendrobium photo from a retailer's website, deck corner and wood damage photos are mine, ant photos are from Wikimedia, but show ants that are half red and half black like the ones we had] 

THE FIRST MONDAY OF SPRING GIVEAWAY

It’s sunny! It’s warm!  The crocuses, cyclamens, hellebores, and camellias are in full bloom after a ridiculous cold spell that slowed them down. The purple crocuses have reproduced so much that there are huge purple patches in the garden. The jasmine survived the winter. The fruit trees have huge buds and the birds are going crazy. It must be spring cleaning time.

This week my cleaning will consist of another 100 g of miscellaneous perfume samples, plus a mint condition 28-color lipstick palette. If you like lipstick and don’t mind applying it with your finger or a brush, this should be fun to play with. It’s an extra because I ordered one and they sent me two (maybe it was a buy-one-get-one free deal) – it was a while ago so I don’t recall how I ended up with a duplicate.

This week’s question to answer if you want to be entered in the drawing is one or more of the following: Do you (or someone you know well) like to wear lipstick or other form of lip color? If so, how long does it typically stay on? Have you/they found one that lasts a decent amount of time?

[Crocus photo is mine from last year - there are way more purple crocuses this year. Lipstick photo from Wikimedia] 

MONDAY GIVEAWAY: PERFUME AND COSMETICS SAMPLES

OK, it's a day late, but at least here it is - the periodic giveaway.

I’m not only a perfume sample junkie, I’m also a cosmetics sample junkie. I love those little packets, tubes, and bottles, and will buy full sized things, usually things that I actually want, to get more of them even though I have enough. My cosmetics collection rivals my perfume collection, and I actually use both of these collections so little that it doesn’t make a lot of sense to keep them at their current size. I would like, at the very least, to create some sort of homeostasis so that things move out at the same rate they move in. 

This week’s exercise in elimination will include the usual 100 g of assorted fragrance samples, but it will also include a variety of mint-condition skin-care and skin-enhancement samples. I’m pretty particular (and lazy) about what I put on my face. I don’t use any sort of sunscreen product, and I never use any sort of foundation unless I’m going to engage in a major photo shoot. I won’t use lotions, moisturizers, serums, and other such things if I don’t like the smell, or if they’re strongly perfumed, even if it’s a scent that I might like in another context. I don’t use face primers, highlighters, contourers (is that a word?), or face powders. Nevertheless, I’m always receiving unsolicited samples of these things, and they just sit gathering dust. If you like face products, you’re in luck this week because the giveaway includes a goodie bag full of these things.

To enter the drawing, leave a comment about whether you use face products of any sort and, if so, what you like and/or dislike.

[Upper photo is mine, from our December trip to Vancouver Island. Lower photo is modified from a vendor's image]

HAPPY WINTER SOLSTICE 2017 AND A GIVEAWAY

A phenomenon we're all happy about, especially here in the far-north parts of the world like Seattle, is the fact that the days will start getting longer now. At least a few things are still predictable and worthy of hope.

The weather report predicts snow (yeah, right - I'll believe it when I see it), but the sky does have that matte beige-grey look to it. More to the point, I'm on holiday from the university for another week, catching up on shipping packages from our winter sale, which runs through December 26, preparing for winter quarter teaching, updating my websites as best I can, and spending some time with family and friends.

The break also means that I've got time to sort through my possessions and get rid of things I don't use (yeah, right - I'll believe that when it happens). As a hopeful first step, I'm going to offer another 100 g package of miscellaneous perfume samples, to be awarded to the winner of a random drawing.

All you have to do is leave a comment letting me know that you're still alive and reading this blog. The drawing will take place on December 31. If no one claims the prize, it will go back into a jackpot that will increase every time there's an unclaimed prize.

[The photo is of a winter sunset, not a fire.]

SUMMER SLIPPING AWAY AND BAD ROBINS GIVEAWAY

It seems like summer has just started, but in less than two weeks we go on our now-traditional August vacation, with a break from phone and other tech time sinks. Once we come back, there’s a week to catch up, then I start teaching again. Where does the time go?

The last couple of weeks were spent trying to keep up with the summer sale and special promotion, as well as wholesale orders. I think today’s industrial-size run to the post office must be the culmination of the summer madness! It’s been a scramble, but it’s great to have so much business from long-time customers and new ones.

Today’s drama was the attack of the robins on our blueberry bushes. They have been eyeing them for the past couple of weeks waiting for the berries to ripen, and today they were all over the bushes, ripping and tearing at the clusters as they stuffed their greedy mouths. Some people like robins, but I have developed an intense dislike of them. It started when I put some baby orchid compots outside to water and went away to do something else for half an hour. When I came back, I found several robins gobbling down baby orchid plants! Of course they chose to eat the rarest and most expensive plants, not the ordinary ones. I recently discovered that robins are responsible for the pre-dawn bird-screaming that wakes me up way too early in the morning. Another bad mark. For years they have eaten our blueberries. One year we tried putting bird-netting over the bushes, but the robins just lifted up a corner, crawled under it, and ate the blueberries anyway. These robins are the fattest, greediest, most aggressive birds I’ve ever seen.

As I try to clear my shelves of excess items, I continue with the Monday giveaways. This week it will be another 100 g of random perfume samples worldwide; for a US winner, the samples will be accompanied by some larger items up to the 1-pound limit for first-class shipping. To enter the drawing, leave a comment about which bird you most dislike. If you don’t dislike any birds, answer the ridiculous corporate interview question of which bird you would like to be and why.

The drawing will be held next Sunday so that I have time to ship your prize before leaving for vacation.

[The blueberry pic is mine. The others are from Wikimedia. The robins appear to have been photographed east of the Rockies, and are much slimmer, cuter, and more benign-looking than than the Seattle variety.]