I've talked about the Astier de Villatte scented erasers before, and reader Nozknoz kindly let me know that they're now at Aedes for $6.50 a pop: "Astier de Villatte's perfumed eraser. An elegant accessory for your office desk, stationery or a perfect little gift." Available in 7 fragrances; shown is Grand Chalet — Kevin says "Grand Chalet starts with a beautiful, realistic linden blossom aroma: lush and honeyed, but still having an air of innocence."
1946: French writer Colette went to Switzerland, where she would undergo treatment for severe and painful arthritis. She was delighted to find that the sparrows around her lodgings in Geneva were tame. They flew into her room from the balcony, slept under her bed, ate from her hands. They would even chirp protests when she would lock them out of the bathroom as she bathed. One day she found a pair of sparrows snuggling in a fold of her bedspread. She startled them and they flew away. Colette wrote:
This gave me fair warning that the time was not far off when I should discover one individual among their small, indefinite band, the particular one, the one who preferred me and was mine by preference. With the animal world, we are subject to the same perils every time. To choose, to be chosen, to love: the very next moment we are beset by anxiety, the danger of loss, and the fear of spreading regret. What an array of big words when the subject is but a sparrow! Yes, a sparrow. In love, there is never a question of smallness. 1
A perfect segue to the love for, and smallness of…perfumes…
Of all the stupid things I find to *want* during my travels through the perfume internet, this might be one of the stupidest, but that does not stop me from wanting it. Yes, it’s a ceramic Snoopy candle lid to fit an Astier de Villatte candle, and I actually have an Astier de Villatte candle — coincidence? I think not. Anyway, it costs €97 (at Nose in France; candle sold separately!) and I won’t be getting one. I also won’t be getting the matching ceramic Charlie Brown or Woodstock lids, much less the soup tureen with Snoopy AND Charlie Brown on the lid…
Part two in our eight-part series on fragrance related holiday gifts features home fragrance items, all sorts. Do add any of your own recommendations in the comments!
From Byredo, the Saints candle collection (“For Holiday 2016 Byredo presents three new fragrant candles inspired by veladoras, prayer candles or seven-day candles”), with Rosewater (rose and geranium), Incense (incense, eucalyptus, guaiac, labdanum, amber and patchouli) and Altar (clove, carnation, ylang, papyrus and vetiver). 400g, $140 each…
I didn’t realize how much I missed summer bugs (animals, not diseases) till I left Virginia as a teenager. Living on Manhattan, then Los Angeles and now Seattle doesn’t compare to the South when it comes to insect life. My childhood summers were filled with the sounds of crickets and cicadas. Butterflies put on a non-stop show in the flower gardens. Nighttime was when my grandmother and I would sit on the front porch (swatting mosquitoes, one bug I do NOT love) and watch the fireflies as we took in the heady scent of gardenias — whose white blossoms also lit up the darkness. I’d love to see a grasshopper or praying mantis, a big black-and-yellow garden spider shimmering in the sun, or a dragonfly flitting about my yard.
Here in Seattle I do get to see some beautiful moths, living their brief moments on earth holding fast to my deck screens or circling a light bulb. Tiny spiders are everywhere, inside and out, and I would never think to kill one — they work so long and hard to live and make a living. Right now in Seattle it’s the season for ten-lined June beetles (a type of scarab beetle); my cats (to my chagrin) love to chase, torment and kill June beetles, who, as they fight for their lives, raise up their antlers (yes, antlers) and make puffing sounds to ward off attacks. Here’s to bugs! (AND summer perfumes!)
Coqui Coqui Rosas Secas ~ This wonderful rose perfume smells of dried rosebuds mixing with a fresh rose bouquet; there’s also a pinch of tobacco leaf. Rosas Secas is a great rose perfume for men…