Remember the excitement of going back to school? Summer — days of climbing trees, building forts, and coming to the table with clean hands but dirty everything else — was over and now a new year of possibilities lay ahead. Armed with a few carefully selected outfits from the Montgomery Ward catalog and a fresh notebook, I dreamed of the coming year: this year I’d be in the school play, or I’d be a smash in band with my flute, or that cute boy in 8th grade would finally notice me.

Fall is on the doorstep now. I still have dreams about what might happen as the leaves turn color, and my imaginings have become more outlandish. I’ll lay out a few choice scenarios here, along with their accompanying perfumes.

Week at an English manor: Let’s jump right in with a big one. What could be better than riding horses and sleeping in antique beds in the English countryside? Stella McCartney, Sting, or minor British aristocracy might drop in for dinner, and we’ll spend evenings in a room with worn oriental carpets, elaborate moldings, and vases crammed with dahlias…

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