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, August 5, and I have family on my mind. This is mostly because we have gone to New Hampshire with our young adult children for the specific purpose of seeing my elderly father-in-law, who is their only remaining grandparent. We’re having a great time! We have had some fabulous weather, although today is overcast after some heavy rain last night. As hoped, we have seen and heard several loons. Their calls are so distinctive, and instantly bring back memories of past vacations in New England.
The other reason family is on my mind is that the “Scent Semantics” blogging crew, of which I am one thanks to Portia, posted this week about the word “family.” I wrote about the family of fragrances launched by one of my favorite perfumers, Liz Moores, and her independent brand Papillon Artisan Perfumes. Please check it out, as well as the other Scent Semantics blog posts!
It feels as if summer is coming to a close, and I’m not quite ready for that. How about you?
Serenity Now Scents and Sensibilities 
Today has been “one of those days” when despite being more that 10 years post menopause, I’ve been clumsy, forgetful & needed a pee every two hours overnight!
DH gave me a lie in bless him.
The sourdough I had put in the fridge to rise slowly overnight had both stuck to the linen, despite flouring & had developed a skin on it despite having covered it! Managed to rescue something from it but both are largely crust! I’ll be asking the small God of Teeth to protect my front crown!
Wishing everyone a trouble free weekend
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I have plenty of days like that, too! That’s a bummer about the sourdough, since it’s so much effort to make it. I haven’t done any yeast breads in a while. I have coeliac disease so I have to bake with gluten free flour and it’s a rather tricky process sometimes. I tend to stick with quick breads that I can stir up in one bowl and pop into the oven.
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You have my sympathy! I was screened for coeliac but was negative. Turns out I can’t tolerate modern wheat, fast acting yeasts & their processing. So I eat gluten free other than my home made sourdough, made with stoneground, unbleached, organic wheat flour that contains no “improvers”. It takes 2-3 days to make each batch. So it’s a long process but the difference it has made to my well being is worth it.
Do you make GF soda bread? How is the result? My experiments were largely dismal.
So called “bread” perfumes must be due a comeback soon!
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I have not tried to make soda bread with GF flour, but I do have a recipe that was created by someone who experiments with GF recipes and everything I’ve tried has been good so far. I’ll have to give it a try.
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I didn’t realise many baking powders contain wheat until I started checking ingredient lists carefully. As you’ll know the gluten free baking powder is so expensive
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I use a US brand that is gluten free, but as you say, one has to be careful and read the labels. I’m in a support group for coeliacs because sometimes it’s just too much to think about and you need someone to vent to!
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It’s a lot! I have a young relative who has it, and she does well but it’s a challenge for sure.
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Wishing you luck with bread and teeth!
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I had to google the loon calls, wow they sound so eerie and mournful. It would be nice to be relaxing by a lake shore listening to their chatter. You’re not the only one who doesn’t want summer to come to a close. Autumn I can cope with but winter I despise. I hate the darkness. I could happily live in a perpetual summer with some rain during the night and sunny days. Anyone know where I’d find that?😉
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Camelot!
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🤣 booking a flight
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I hit send by mistake – i was just going to tell you to really enjoy your days with your f-i-l. I had mine here for a couple of days earlier in the week and was sad to see a major decline since I last saw him in June. He had some sort of mild seizure a month ago and has not gotten back to himself at all. Umpteen medical tests haven’t provided any answers.
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Thanks! I’m sorry about your FIL. Mine is in pretty good shape for a man in his 90s, but we’ve noticed he tires faster than he did last summer. It’s so great to be here for several days, so we can have short visits but more often.
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I can’t believe it’s August already! I mean, I do not like or miss summer (leaving in the area where we have almost no bad weather), but it’s amazing how the time flies once you get older!
I’ve been soooo overwhelmed with everything happening in my life (nothing dramatic – everyone is alive, relatively healthy and employed, but the war in Ukraine resulted in massive problems for us, both personally and at work) that I don’t even wear perfume every day. The reason is not because I don’t want or find it destructing, but I have no time or energy to figure out what I want to wear that day (I often have time just to brush my teeth before the first online meeting). I hate that, and I hope to at least try to slow down at some point, but now I just can’t.
My comment here signifies the end of my work week: I just told myself that 60 hours that I’ve already put in (not that anyone but me counts 😉 ) should be fine for me to call it a day at 1 PM.
Enjoy your time with the family! (Sorry, I haven’t read yet your post because I’m still struggling to finish mine – and then I’ll go through the others’ posts).
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Yes, after 60 hours (!!) you should end your week. I’m sorry the war in Ukraine continues to affect you so directly (and sorry it continues at all). I hope you can enjoy your weekend!
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Enjoy family time. We (sort of) have 3 more days with our son before dropping him off; tomorrow he and I will drive a few hours to pick up his girlfriend (coming back early from her family trip), so we won’t actually have that much time with him. But it’s time for him to start this next chapter, so it’s all good. This morning I wore 4711, nice and refreshing but lasted 5 minutes. Will probably give January Scent Project Smolderose a wearing this evening.
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Good luck with the drop off! I recommend doing something nice with your husband afterward.
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Ah, Smolderose is nice!
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I am visiting my elderly mother, now doing some cleaning, shopping and cooking for her. I love her, but a visit is no fun at all
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I understand. I hope you can get out for walks or some down time on your own.
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I love the photo of the loons. I absolutely adore loons. They are such amazing birds. We actually had a loon in our little pond near our house about 5 years ago. He must have gotten lost from his fellow loons somehow. He/she stayed about a week and then moved one. I loved hearing the loon calls and they’re so sleek and beautiful.
As far as fragrance families, I tend to think of fragrances made by a small perfume house as a ‘family,’ as you mentioned. I was quite fond of the original Teo Cabanel family of scents, not so fond of their most recent offerings- rather boring. But I’m loving the Eau d’Italie family of scents more and more.
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Good choice RR, Teo Cabanel is fabulous.
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“The loons! The loons!” remembered from On Golden Pond. I remember crying my heart out in that movie when Katharine is saying “Don’t die on me Norman.” It seems so hard that they lose each other, so unfair.
Enjoy your holiday and I hope it has ZERO drama.
Portia xx
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We are staying very close to the lake where the movie was filmed, and we spent a few summer vacations on that lake when our kids were little. It is truly beautiful, very unspoiled.
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