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Perfume Chat Room, May 13

Welcome to the weekly Perfume Chat Room, perfumistas! I envision this chat room as a weekly drop-in spot online, where readers may ask questions, suggest fragrances, tell others their SOTD, comment on new releases or old favorites, and respond to each other. The perennial theme is fragrance, but we can interpret that broadly. This is meant to be a kind space, so please try not to give or take offense, and let’s all agree to disagree when opinions differ. In fragrance as in life, your mileage may vary! YMMV.

Today is Friday, May 13, and my nose is full of the fragrance of rose gardens. Plus many other choice blossoms and plants such as wisteria, osmanthus, even eucalyptus. What a wonderful month May is, for garden flowers and fragrance! I have many new photos of flowers, mostly roses, which I’ll share soon on my Instagram account once I’ve tidied them up a bit.

We’ve had a sad loss since my post last Friday — a close friend of my son’s from high school died last weekend after two months of surgery and intensive care following an abdominal injury. My son and his friends have handled this pretty well, though they are very sad. They have really rallied around the bereaved family and supported them as well as each other. I’m very proud of the maturity my son has shown, but I still have concerns about how he and his friends will feel the impact of this grief. However, they all have great families and overlapping communities to help them. Most of them will be home for the summer, having returned from college, and they will be a comfort to each other as well as to the family of their friend.

I’m glad the semester is over at the university where I work, and the summer will be much quieter, so I can focus on my son, and his sisters who have been remarkable in how they have come forward to support him. I spend much of the academic year tending to the needs of other people’s young adult children, aka my students; I’ll be glad to put that aside for a while and tend to my own.

Will your summer be busy or quiet?

Bouquet of garden roses by David Austin, including Teasing Georgia, Lady of Shalott, Carding Mill, Olivia Rose Austin, Munstead Wood.
An assortment of David Austin’s English Roses, including the dark crimson “Munstead Wood.”

23 thoughts on “Perfume Chat Room, May 13”

  1. I remember losing a friend as a 13yo. Fortunately I had friend who was also a friend of the girl who died. We supported each other as well as having support from this friends parents. Sadly, my own parents had no empathy with me. My father carried on drinking & beating, my mother continued to deny how dysfunctional our family dynamics were & continued to tell me what a little drama queen I was demanding attention after all it was only a friend not family! Well that’s a relief, never shared that with anyone before!
    I’m sure your son & his friendship group will support each other & your son has support from his whole family. It makes such a difference long term.
    I haven’t worn scent for days. Mum is in hospital.

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  2. I am sorry for your son’s loss. It’s tragic when someone dies so young.
    Not sure yet what summer will be like as I haven’t planned anything yet due to being in a bit of a holding pattern. Instead, I’ve been taking more short breaks like the occasional Friday off.

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      • I’m more like a Guerlain old girl now !!!!
        I’ve been having mobility problems so Can’t be out and about like I used to . This gets me down because I’ve always gone out a lot. Before the pandemic of course which kept us all locked in for months. My daughter and grown up grandaughters all live nearby so they all help. One of them did my Friday big shop this morning. I shoudn’t moan as I lost 2 very dear friends to Covid. On t he plus side I had a new baby great grandson last November and another new baby to look forward to in August. I haven’t really bought any perfume for ages. The last purchase was off a friend of my friend. Jimmi Choo Fevr for £15 so I can’t grumble at that.

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        • New babies! How nice that your daughters and granddaughters live nearby and will help out. I’m sorry about your friends, they become even more precious as we get older. I was thinking earlier today how happy I am that all three of my children finished high school having made some friends I think they will keep for life.

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        • That’s not so great for you that you can’t be as active as you’d like. You are very fortunate to have your family nearby. They’ll keep you young😉

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  4. So sad for young people to depart this earth. Your son and his friends will support each other as well as the boy’s family. And it’s great that you will have time for him too. Losing a friend is also losing a part of yourself. I have been very lucky in that I have never lost a friend. It’s something I think about occasionally as we are all getting older and the odd medical niggle rears its head. Your flowers are truly splendid, and your garden must smell fabulous. There isn’t one single flower around my temporary rental home, apart from some gorse bushes across the road. After clearing some weeds from all along the kerbs last week (they were really grating on my nerves) Im thinking that I need to plant some boxes to liven up the place.

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  5. Oh, just remembered, following up on your post about Shalimar Philtre – my curiosity got the better of me and I jumped in and blind bought. Glad I did, it’s really lovely. On me it wears very lightly, just like a cologne, despite my 15 or so sprays, but it lasts a few hours. I can see myself powering through this bottle over the summer.

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  6. when i was 18, my neighbours son, who was my age died of leukemia. i visited him in hospital, it was so sad to see him. we were no close friends, but it was no nice way to die.
    we hope to do a bike tour in july for a week, our big holidays are in september. but we have our balcony and our alottment, so we there is enough to do.

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  7. I’m sorry that your son had to experience that loss so early in his life. Hopefully, he’ll get all the support he needs. It’s great that you’re done with the semester and can concentrate on your family.

    The summer will be busy for me, both at work and with my MIL affairs. But I’m so used to all that already that it almost doesn’t bother me. I’ll try though to get at least some rest in between spikes of activity.

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