Another weekend gone! A very happy 80th to Bob Dylan. What fragrance are you wearing?
I’m in Lush 25:43 for what looks to be a chilly, cloudy day.
Reminder: 5/28 will be Summer Vacation Friday...wear a fragrance that reminds you of a favorite vacation, that fits an upcoming vacation, or that would work for a vacation you wish you could take. (If it's winter where you are, adjust accordingly.)
And for those of you who like to plan ahead, see Scent of the day ~ Friday community projects 2021, where I'll try to always have the next five or six weeks mapped out in advance.
Note: top image is The times they are a-changin' [cropped] by Chris Sloan at flickr; some rights reserved. (You can read more about this mural in Minneapolis here.)
Bright and sunny but cool for the end of May, about 9°C right now, so I am in a big blast of the surprisingly sunshiny Hermès Bel Ami, with a bucketload of citrus on top. I tried it repeatedly when it was new but I wasn’t ready for its sophisticated take on leather, and it wasn’t until a couple of decades later that I finally *got* it. Luckily I have a big decant of the vintage. Sure wish I had bought that tortoiseshell cocktail-shaker bottle back in the day, though.
This week’s cp is a good excuse for me to break out the beachy perfume sampler set I got at Sephora a few weeks ago.
Today I’m in Replica’s Beach Walk. Right now it’s overcast and cool, but I’m hoping the sun will come out.
We rewatched Almost Famous over the weekend. I’d forgotten how good that movie is. Hard to believe my college daughter was only one month old when that movie came out. Time flies.
We watched that a few months ago, and same, had forgotten how much I liked it, and had totally forgotten how great Frances McDormand was in that role…probably 20 years ago I was paying attention to totally different aspects of the movie!
Yes! As the mother of young adults I can now totally relate. “Don’t do drugs!”😂 I just love her as an actress and have yet to see her give a bad performance in anything. Have you seen Nomadland?
I have not yet, but I will!
We’re actually just back from a wonderful 10 day vacation in Colorado filled with friends, hiking and good food. I mostly wore Nirvana Black.
Today I’m in Theorema to celebrate being reunited with my perfumes!
We will be camping in the San Juan Islands for Memorial Day weekend; I will think about what I can wear this week in honor of the first camping trip of 2021!
You smell marvelous!
Yay for Your vacation!! And yay for You reunification with Your perfumes!!
Oh my gosh, that all sounds so wonderful! Have fun camping!
I love Theorema. It’s always a great thing to be reunited with a collection.
That is such a fun thing to associate perfumes with your trips. I hope that whenever you smell Nirvana Black, happy memories come flooding back to you
Welcome back and you smell divine in Theorema!
Glad to hear that you enjoyed your trip and that you are looking forward to camping in the San Juans. There’s no place quite like it. Enjoy!
Thanks – crazy week ahead! But looking forward to the camping.
Thanks, all. I am still torn about living here (Seattle) and living in Colorado where we lived for 25 years…both great places. It helped that Mr. SP and I could work remotely a few days to give us 10 whole days on our trip!
Welcome back!
Morning all! I love beachy scents! I’ll have to plan ahead for Friday. My SOTD is Coriandre EdT – I’m in the mood for a chypre today. I’ll spritz Aromatics Elixir later this afternoon.
I’m headed to the gym! The Stair Master is calling my name! After a weekend of overindulgence, I need to get down to business! We had loads of fun with friends celebrating a birthday yesterday. Loads of giggles all around. It felt good to relax with a coffee in the sunshine.
Loads of fun and loads of giggles is just what we all need right about now. Sounds great!
Happy Birthday Bob!
More Chanel perfume elixir from the found bottle today.
You smell amazing! It’s like finding the lost Vermeer…
imagine finding a lost Vermeer.
My husband does every time we go to a garage sale.
Beautiful cool, sunny day in the lower 60’s after a hot, humid weekend in the 90’s. This drastic changes in temperatures are really crazy!
I have been assigned new projects in the office and starting in June I will be spending several days a week in the construction field, besides my time in the office. My working from home is coming to an end soon. I will barely have time to breathe, but I am ok with it.
Wearing Amouage Beach Hut Woman and having a mango smoothie. My second cup of coffee have to wait until later.
Happy Monday! 🌞
I hope your transition back to the office and field go smoothly for you pl67. My mom always says “busy hands are happy hands”…..?🤞
Thank you! I totally agree with your mom! 😀
It’s seems like it’s been a long time since you’ve been in the field. I wish you the best with the transition.
Thank you, Lillyjo! If I remember well, it has been a year and a half since I was at a construction site. I hope everything goes fine.
I hope the transition goes well and as smoothly as possible!
Thank you SmokeyToes!
Feeling the chill here, too after the heat yesterday.
Wish you had it easier. That’s more days than you were prepared for.
We will be basically back to normal at work next month. It will take time to adjust to our 5 days a week schedule again, but there is no option. I hope everything goes fine.
Ooooooof. Good luck with your back to the office/field transition.
Thank you, Jalapeno!
I’m wearing Dior Leather Oud, because I found an unopened mini in a box.
That’s the perfume equivalent of finding an unexpected twenty dollar bill in your sock drawer!
Nice find!!
Okay, you and apsara are making me consider cleaning out my perfume cabinets!
Woke up to vintage Chamade. Now I remember why I don’t wear this often. The dry down Musk isn’t quite my thing. Not all is lost, my mother is in love with it and took it off my hands. Wearing Coco Mademoiselle Intense right now and not looking forward to tomorrow’s heat.
Chanel No 5 EDP and drinking a cup of Wild Pu’erh tea.
I am so sad this morning. We had to put our dog to sleep this past Saturday. I wrote on nst about him having his surgery last week. I was prepared to lose him that day, being that he is fifteen years old. Saturday, he took a turn for the worse, and now I longer have my boy. His name was Barqs, that is where I got my name for nst, and I miss him so much that I am sobbing as I type this.
I am so sorry and sad to hear about Barqs. Sending you comforting hugs. 🌻
Oh no. My condolences, Barqs.
I am so sorry for your loss and very moved to hear about the great love you shared with this sweet pup of yours.
So sorry for your loss. Sending you hugs.
Oh Barqs, I am so sorry. I had to put my dear Nima to sleep in January. My heart is aching for you.
I am so sorry for your loss. Never gets any easier when you lose a pet.
I’m so sorry Barqs.
I’m so sorry to hear that
The last time I had to out down a pet I cried like a baby. It’s always tough.
Oh honey.
Your boy was the best, I just know it. I am so sorry.
*hugs*
Sending hugs
I’m so sorry. Sending you hugs and comforting thoughts.
I am so sorry. I know how hard it is to lose a beloved furbaby.
I am so sorry about your Barqs. Sending you virtual hugs.
Barqs, I am so, so sorry to hear about your beloved dog. Hugs, and more hugs.
So sorry to hear this, Barqs. I know that pain well and it is so hard. Thinking of you and sending hugs.
I’m so sorry to read this, losing a long-time pet is hard.
I am so sorry for your loss. It’s hard to let them go.
Oh, I’m so sorry Barqs.😢It is so hard to say goodbye to a beloved pet.
We never have enough time with our furry babies. I am so sorry for your loss, may Barqs live forever in your heart. ((HUGS)) to you.
My deepest condolences. Those 🐾 on your heart are forever there. You took great care of Barqs and did him a great service by ending his suffering when he declined so quickly.
Wiping tears with you.
Very sorry for your loss.
Thank you for your kind words. They mean so much and give comfort. I know this will get easier with time. But for now I really miss my little buddy.
My sympathies on having to say that Final Farewell to your beloved dog. It always hurts like hell. Hugs.
Awww I am so sorry to hear this. Our dog, chihuahua named Gito passed away from natural causes 2 weeks and a day ago. We were devastated. Last Tuesday our other dog, a tiny chihuahua and poodle mix (Gito was her father) had a surgery to remove a granular lump that was sent into biopsy. We should hear whether it was malignant or not this week so we are walking around on egg shells right now…
I am sorry about your sweet Gito. I hope you get some good news about your other little one.
Oh Barqs, I am so sorry. Of course that is your NST name, very very special.
Hugs and condolences. Barqs knew you loved him.
I’m so sorry you had to say goodbye to your sweet boydog. If only their lifespans matched ours!
I’m so sorry to hear that. It’s just awful to lose a beloved pet. I still cry when I think of my sweet beagle mix who died last year, even though I have a new dog now (which does help, but we don’t have the same kind of bond (yet)).
i am wearing L’Heure Blue in honor of my favorite Dylan Song: Tangled Up in Blue.
And now I’d like to go into a non-fragrance ramp:
WHY DYLAN DESERVED THE NOBEL PRIZE
When Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, the announcement was greeted with puzzlement and derision. Dylan, characteristically tried to dodge the event while shrewdly sending another literary/musician to appear on his behalf.
“Official” keepers of highbrow compared his song lyrics to the poetry of prior winners and found that he did not meet the standards of W.B. Yeats or Seamus Heaney.
One song “Just Like a Woman” in particular was derided for its one syllable rhyme scheme and untidy meter : “She Takes Just Like A Woman. She Fakes Just Like a Woman She Makes Loves Just Like a Woman. But She Breaks Just Like a Little Girl.”
Dylan’s genus, however is not in writing books of literature. It was in creating a new space for literature in the most unlikely of spaces, the pop song.
Before Dylan, you can name two pop songs that did not come from a play which had any claim to literary quality: “Strange Fruit” which shockingly compared lynching to fruit trees, and “Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?”, a 1930’s song about how a generation of workers had become beggars. Strange Fruit, however, had actually started out as a poem before being set to music. So that leaves the 1930’s tune “Brother Can You Spare A Dime. ”
Other than that, pop songs were, (often quite superficial) love songs.
Dylan changed all that. He writes fabulous love songs, but he also introduced a wide range of topics into his song; the racial bias of the justice system (The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carrol – about a waitress murdered by a wealthy customer); Corporate Cluelessness (Mr. Jones); the decline of American industry and competitiveness (North Country Blues) (written long before anyone else clued into this trend); the industrial military complex (Masters of War) are just a few examples.
After Dylan, it became possible for a wide range of artists to have hits about a range of topics; Elvis Costello could sing about his mother’s fondness for tv procedurals and about senility (Watching the Detectives and Veronica); Dolly Parton could sing about wearing patched clothing to school (Coat of Many Colors); Henly could sing about the cocaine trade’s impact on south Florida. After Dylan, Beyonce could warn us to “Free Our Minds” and rap could “Fight the Power” on the charts.
But Dylan’s song are not “merely” “protest” or socially relevant; they use complex “literary” techniques. North Country Blues is a brilliant biography of a working class housewife, who over the years loses her family to a local mine, which ultimately closes in favor of South America ore “Where the miners work virtually for nothing” stranding her in a dying town where even her children will leave her seeking work elsewhere. This song, I should add dates from the early 1960’s well before politicians and labor organizers notices the decline of American industry.
Other songs shift away from the specific and personal to use allegory (E.g. All Along the Watchtower) a single metaphor (Political World) or compilations of metaphors (Blowin’ in the Wind).
Tangled Up in Blue is a complex epic which repeatedly shifts narrators and points of view. Sure, you can argue that Joyce did the same thing decades earlier in Ulysess, but Dylan did it a song.
I could go on and on with other examples. but let’s just go back to the derided Just Like a Woman. Is this really a simple song with a cheap rhyme scheme.? Listen again.
It’s a break up song in which the singer sneers at the woman he is leaving-she’s a poser wealthy, popular and immature, with her “amphetamines and pearls” and hair bows. But then the mood breaks-he describes an earlier point in their relationship. He can’t bear the thought that he was emotionally and literally hungry when they met, that she took him, and introduced him to her circle of cool friends. Now that he has achieved some sort of success. Now, as he is ready to leave her he is worried that she will let the world know that he was once desperate and she is generous. So who is really immature here? He is the one who “takes” and he is the one who “fakes” and he is one who is behaving like a child.
Quite a neat trick- the singer is actually projecting his own flaws onto the woman he is deserting to justify the break up -a use of irony so sophisticated that the literature professors who ridiculed the song failed to grasp it. And need I mention the song has a great melody.
So yes Dylan deserved the Noble Prize for Literature.
Also true that I have never heard of a Nobel Prize winner (or a Booker prize winner, or an Oscar winner, etc) that made everybody happy. Arguing over who won a prize goes with the territory, right? But this time it brought a whole new population into the argument.
YES to all of this.
That was a really great rant. Do you sing?
I’m an extraordinarily bad singer.
lol. I was just remembering this show called Rockstar Supernova. There was this contestant named Dilana. She was really good.
well, of course he does. He is Bob.
I’m in Nicolai Musc Intense today, which I love in the winter but am not feeling so much right now.
3 weeks of school left…
And one more Monday down!
It’s a drizzly morning, I have to go to the hardware store, and I’m wearing Lolita Lempicka. I might make cookies later.
A good scent to lighten a grey day.
Ohh, you smell great and I’m envious you’re headed to the hardware store! I love snooping around at all the gadgets…
You smell wonderful!
Only 2 more work days until covid shot and holidays after it.
Today I’m in Prada Infusion de Mandarine.
You smell GLORIOUS. I love that Prada Infusion!
Thank you! It is perfection when the weather gets warm enough
We got our new furniture delivered (our stuff from Boston won’t arrive for another month) and my back is so thrilled to have a sofabed with a memory foam mattress and a glider recliner compared to an air mattress and sitting on the floor.
Also got my first haircut since Oct 2019. Managed to get fit in as a walk-in at one of the cheap haircut chains. Between the furniture and the haircut, I feel like I have an official new beginning here.
Random sample of the day is Dub from Chris Rusak which is a warm cozy scent that is probably too heavy for the nice weather
Sounds like an official new beginning to me! Enjoy both the new furniture and the new haircut!🤩
Huzzah for new furniture and a haircut!
Haircut twins
I got 10+ inches chopped (I was waaaaay overdo even before COVID), and I feel so much lighter.
Trying Goldfield & Banks Silky Woods today…quite nice. Getting sweet, powdery suede woods so far.
My sister got in to see the oncologist on Friday due to a cancellation and he is recommending 6 months of chemo.
The kind they removed during her surgery is colloid carcinoma via a tumor which is actually pretty rare for pancreatic cancer…about 2% of all cases found and has a much better prognosis than the main type (adenocarcinoma) which my mother had and is about 90% of diagnoses. Her doc will review her case w/ other oncologists during their review meeting this week. B/c it is a rare type there is not as much protocol and research for it I guess.
She was surprised and quite devastated contemplating 6 months of chemotherapy…I think she thought b/c they got it via surgery and there was no spread there would be nothing further maybe. They said they don’t want to over treat or under treat her. Took a bit for me to digest all this and then it really hit me and I felt very sad this weekend.
I have your sister and you all around her in my prayers. I hope everything goes fine with her. Sending hugs.
I’m sorry She-ra. Hugs to both of you.
Sigh.
Usually with cancer surgery there is a suggestion of further chemo. It still sucks.
Hugs and prayers for you and your sister.
Oh, She-ra, it seems like this has been an emotional roller coaster for your sister and you, and that can create its own stress. I’m sorry she didn’t get the news she was hoping for. Sending you both virtual hugs.
Chemo will be tough, but as I read it, your sister’s prognosis is promising.
I’m glad for her good prognosis, but 6 months of chemo is still a lot to go through. I’m wishing the best to you and to her.
That is a lot to digest She-ra. Continued good thoughts to both of you!!
I’m so sorry to hear this She-ra. Sending you and your family healing and comforting thoughts…
Prayers to you and your sister. Sorry for all of your pain and sadness.
So sorry to hear this. Any consideration for radio-therapy? My dad had liver lesions and that actually gave him another 7+ years; he probably would have said no to chemo but of course his circumstances were different from your sister’s. And my dad was already way older than anyone in this blog.
Hugs and thoughts of strength for both you and your sister, She-ra.
Awww I have You and Your sister in my prayers. But the good news is that today’s medicine has progressed. Even though it is rare I am sure her doctors know what they are doing.
Sorry to hear this but did you say “better prognosis?” My coworker did very well with her chemo: would have worked like normal except for COVID. Keep us posted.
Six months of chemo sounds very daunting. You and your family will be in my prayers.
It’s supposed to rain all week so the summer vacation theme isn’t fitting, but I’m going with it anyway.
Mure et Musc Extreme today!
I think it makes the theme even more important!
I’m accidentally cp appropriate in Joop Le Bain. It brings to mind a country club resort type of vacation.
I am wearing my new glasses today. I can see much better!
Ooh, new glasses!🤓
I’ve never belonged to a country club. We did have our wedding reception at one though. A country club that did not lock up their golf carts at night, AND left the keys in them…Well….get a bunch of twenty somethings together and throw in a fair amount of alcohol and you can imagine how this story ends.😂 Needless to say, the CC was none too pleased and I remember my dad doing some damage control the next morning. We have not been back. Lol. And I bet they lock them up now.😉
What a fun story! Lol!
And shocker… reminds me of a song
https://youtu.be/XmIqUc7BMVA
Woo hoo for new eyeglasses!
Yay for new glasses! What color are they? 👓
They are black stainless steel. It was really picking out a pair while having to keep the mask on, but I think it is a good look.
That sounds pretty darn kewl!
How fun to get new glasses!
Congrats on the new glasses! 🤓
Slight chilly and drizzly morning here in PDX.
1) SOTD: Am wearing LM Creme Brulee. I would have LOVED a vacation in France last year *and* this year, and a genuine creme brulee served with a perfect coffee in Lyon while chatting with friends would be so lovely.
2) Operation Kitchen has begun! My house is a right mess now: I am staging all the boxes so that after work I can go ahead and get Sektion assembly done. I am missing a few pieces and I let IKEA know- ooof! Then there is the tile/countertop pick up, which double ooof!
Please give an update on the cabinet assembly when you have done some–I’m thinking of Ikea cabinets too, and I would have to put them together.
Good luck with your kitchen assembly! What color did you decide on?
Late!
I decided on cream for the pantry and wall facing cabinets, and blue for the utility island. Backsplash will be white beveled tile. The countertops will be walnut butcher block. Brass fixtures.
The effect- I HOPE- will be clean, warm, and sturdy but sleek at the same time.
Rooting for you, it is going to look so lovely after all the ooof is over!
I’m wearing Parle moi de parfum Gardens of India which is a lovely white floral. I still prefer Totally White, but this seems a close second sofar.
They both sound good to me.
In a cloud of Indochine on this chilly, misty morning.
Love Indochine!
Me too! It’s in my sweater cuff now and I keep bringing wrist to nose and inhaling deeply. 🥰
In a sample of Night Flyer. I never tried the Zoologist version, but I assume they are essentially the same. I quite like it, and comparing it to description that EC says she was trying to achieve, I am very impressed at how well it conveys those elements and how good those elements smell together. Mr. Vee is busting my chops and saying that I’m going to attract more bats into the house with this, and so next time I’ll have to be the one to keep an eye on the intruder and assist animal control while he gets to hide in a bedroom with our cats.
Did a massive stock up of tea from my favorite tea shop this weekend and enjoying their malty, peaty Chipper Ship Gold Coast black tea today.
Ack. You tell Mr. Vee that bats are not a joking matter
I bought a cheap thrill and man does it not smell good. Now I know what people mean when they complain about aquatic perfumes. It’s called Halloween and smells like an Irish spring coated urinal pill.
That sounds horrid!🤢Your description makes me lol, though.
That’s really evocative. Yuck!
To make it less evocative, it’s like that awful cotton blossom mess from BBW and that Midori liqueur no one actually drinks made into a urinal pill. Here I thought the 90s were the golden age, but if this is what we smelled like, NO. It even made me mad, which I’m pretty perfume isn’t supposed to do. Next time I see 90s aquatic, I will run.
The last few Muglers made me angry.
Errr, lillyjo: do you mean Aura? Let’s get this out there, I thought Aura (in its two versions and a flanker) was quite nice! :O
Gak, I can almost smell that from your description. And I don’t like it either.
It’s surprisingly awful. Like no note that smells like perfume, just a bunch of cleaning products stirred together. I mean I love the smell of bleach and phosphoric acid for example, but not as a perfume.
Wet and cold here today, definitely not a summer vacation kind of day. I’ve decided on the warming Chambre Noir.
Not a summer vacation day here at the beach either!
Greetings from Michigan! Wearing Basilico and Fellini, and really loving it today. In the past, I thought it was OK, but nothing special. Today it is hitting the spot!
Bleah, Monday.
SOTD = Passage d’Enfer Edt, from the sample stash and one of you Fine Folks. I’m back to wearing perfume, at least.
Yay for wearing perfume! How’s your weather? It’s hot here, but looks like I will be in the 50’s by Friday.
Today was cloudy and in the 60’s. It’s supposed to be in the 90’s again on Wednesday. Back on the crazy weather roller coaster here!
How are you hanging in there?
I have airline tickets for later on this week to go out and see my Mom, and help my brother deal with the aftermath of her hospitalization. Mom’s back at her assisted living facility now.
Thanks for asking.
Sprayed on At the Beach 1966. It smells like the old-school Coppertone sun-tan lotion (before they called it sunscreen). Makes me think of those carefree days in the summertime!
Speaking of sunscreen, does anyone have recommendations for a good face sunscreen that doesn’t somehow migrate into your eyes? My usual one let me down this weekend (and I didn’t overapply it).
My current favorite sunscreen for the face is Supergoop’s Unseen Sunscreen, SPF 40. It is a clear product that feels a little weird going on, but stays put on my mug.
Thank you Jalapeno!
Today I’m in Bee. And when I say I’m in – I mean I’m really in Bee!! Sprayed 3 times five and a half hours ago and it smells like I sprayed it just an hour ago. I really like it. A very happy fragrance. As for Zoologist longetivity is 10 out of 10.
It IS gorgeous! You smell wonderful.
I’m wearing Robert Piguet’s Calypso today, from a rehabbed decant. I have no idea how I came to have this, but I like it. It’s a very pretty rose that I wish lasted longer than it does.
Had PT this morning, and I’ve made some progress. I’m not where I want to be yet, but getting there. The therapist wants to concentrate more on the gait issues and my shoulder, but I’m not sure I’m done with the finger yet. Will sleep on it, but I think I’ll have to be assertive and see if I can come in one more day a week to have her continue to work on the finger. Time for big girl britches. 😳
Can you call your doctor to get your script renewed?
Just checked, and the referral allows for more PT sessions. So, I’ll have to have a conversation with the physical therapist about continuing, or get an explanation for why she’s wanting to taper off.
Wonder if Dylan wears fragrance.
I really like that it’s near impossible to find out that sort of detail about Dylan. The music is more meaningful to me when I don’t really have to worry about him as a person, if that makes sense, or about what he thinks about anything, including his own music.
SotD was the sweet delight Gucci Bloom profumo di fiori from a generous NST’s sample bonanza! Office friendly and FB worth-of-consideration for honeysuckle lovers like me! Happy Monday, all.
Replying to the Mugler question here. I did not mean Aura, which I have and love. I meant Alien Mirage which does not contain enough Alien in it to be a flanker, imo. Also the 2019 version of Angel edt, for the same reason. Angel Nova, because after 12 seconds of smelling like a nice raspberry tamer Angel, it turns into an ambroxan bomb, and gave me a headache. I really enjoy both the Angel eau Crosiere, and am hoping the new Iced Star is good. I haven’t seen it yet though. If I ever see the Aura edt again, I might get it because I like that one too.
Going to test out this flanker, next time I am at Ulta. I am a honeysuckle fan.