Perfumes of Yesterday

Was on a forum earlier today and we got to talking about perfumes of yesterday. What did we wear when we were young. Oh my gosh did it bring back memories. What is it about fragrances? Someone would mention one and I could instantly recall what it spelled like. Why are scents so easy to remember? I can remember how my grandmother's house smelled even though she passed away when I was in my teens. I can remember the scent of my mother's Merle Norman makeup. The store had that same fragrance as you walked in. Do you know Merle Norman is still around? There is a store in a town near me. I have always been tempted to walk in and see if it smells the same as the one in my home town from my youth.

But I was a teenager in the 60's. And all those drugstore fragrances we had to have. Ambush and Emeraude. I had Ambush in a push up stick/sold cologne form that Coty sold. Heaven Scent, Windsong. Ciara came out sometime around then and everyone had to have it. O de London. Lair du'Temps - I thought they had the prettiest bottles with the two birds on the top.
Charlie. Oh yes, when Charlie came out. It featured a model that later took a turn as one of Charlie's Angels the final year it was on. I loved Canoe for the guys. Was even tempted to buy it for myself. I didn't but we girls did buy one fragrance intended for men. English Leather by Yardley. Oh Yardley was hot in those days. Anything Yardley. Yardly Slickers - which were lip gloss basically. I even remember the jingle. "Slicker over, slicker under, slicker alone...."

Sweet Honesty from Avon. And Tabu was around although I think my mother thought that one was too mature for me. Moon Drops, Jean Nate - very lemony I recall. Intimate.

When I was in my twenties, I discovered Zen. I can't remember the company name. It will come to me. This wasn't a drugstore cologne but from a department store. Sheseido. It came to me. It came in these flat black bottles with a small gold flower design and I thought it was so understated and elegant. I wonder if they still sell it. I used to love it.

Then I got into an Estee Lauder kick. Estee Lauder only had Youth Dew for the longest time and I thought that was an old lady fragrance. But then they came out with Estee and I wore it for the longest time.

But not in my teens. I liked another Avon fragrance - Topaz, although it wasn't aimed for teens like the Sweet Honesty was. Muguet was another I remember.

Then everyone got into Musk. Everything was Musk. Every line brought out a Musk version. I didn't like it at all.

But gosh, all those fragrances from long ago. And I can still recall the scent of all of them.

Garden and Yellow Jackets

We live on a hill in Orinda, California. Have about an acre property. It is a lovely area, however when we moved in the yard was an overgrown mess. I have spent years cutting, trimming, pulling trying to re-claim the yard. Our yard is full of sticker bushes, old long viney vinca, and poison oak. There were grapes, but the vines were so high you couldn't reach any grapes. They were growing high to find some sun. The vines actually reached across to other trees and we had HALLWAYS to walk under. When we finally had the grapevines pulled down, we discovered fir trees - one a blue spruce! under the grapes that we didn't even know were there. That is how overgrown it was. There was an area of blackberries about 20 ft by 12 ft. I clipped those vines back bit by bit until I got rid of them. We had/have trees of poison oak. I have had poison oak so many times I can't count. I am highly allergic to it. But not as allergic as my husband who seems to internalize it.

I have a war against poison oak every year. I have cut it out and sprayed killer on it. But our property is up against other who don't clear the wooded area between our houses. So while I am trying to clean out the poison oak, it still is hanging over our yards from the houses next door. I have been known to go clip theirs back as well - only to protect ours.

Our dirt is clay, clay, clay. Deep cracks every summer. I plant things and it is like the ground makes a clay pot around it. Plants seldom grow larger. When we re-modeled the house before moving in, we had top soil brought in. The first winter of rain all of it ended up on the patio as the water just drug it down over the top of the clay. It is a gardener's nightmare.

Did I mention the live oak trees? We live under 5 huge live oak trees which constantly rain little leaves down everywhere all year long. No change of a water element to the yard - it would be filled with leaves.

The nice side of it is that we have a wooded view and deer travel through the yard all the time. I don't have to have curtains at my windows. In fact, 3 deer (one a fawn) just went through the yard as I was typing this. Of course, I have to watch my flowers on the patio. But I discovered a product called "Liquid Fence" that works well.

Did I mention the rocks? Rocks everywhere. We have ruined more lawn mowers as the ground is uneven and rocks are hidden in the weeds everywhere. We have taken to weedwhacking the entire yard - an acre! in order to keep the sticker plants down. My husband recently saw the new weedwhackers that are on wheels and decided we should get one. He tried it out this morning and had me come out and try it myself. I did - and while I was pushing it along under the trees, he ran something down the hill to the driveway. I suddenly felt something hit my jaw and thought the machine had thrown out a small rock at me. But then I felt another, and another, and then saw the yellow jackets heading my way. I screamed for Dale and started to run, but had to run back and turn off the machine. My husband run up as I was running down and saw at once the bees all over me. He helped me into the house and into the bathroom where we stripped off my clothes, him trying to kill the bees as they were all over. One flew up his shorts and stung him on this thigh. I got quite a few stings on my jaw and neck and scalp.

Dead bees on the floor of the shower when I got out. He killed them out of my clothes and shoes. I am lucky that I didn't have more stings.

We just hired a gardener to put in a sprinkler system and to landscape the yard nearest the patio and bedroom - the area you can see in the pictures attached. After my latest bout with poison oak, my husband said, "That's it - we are getting a gardener." 10 years of poison oak and finally a gardener. But it didn't save me today.

Not a great day. But Dale did bring me a glass of wine to mellow me out after my shower. Benadryl gel, ibuprofen and a glass of wine.

Musings to Begin -- June 22, 2008

Hi, I'm Marni and I am going to try blogging to record thoughts and feelings, happenings whether good or bad, diets both good and bad, my attempts at art, piano, gardening and cooking. My life at home and traveling. It should be fun. I think it will be fun.

I was going to attempt to cook again today. Let me state here that I am not a cook. I can set a gorgeous table. I can pick a gorgeous wine. But I can't cook. I love cookbooks - to have them, not necessarily to read them. I have a wonderful shelf in my kitchen that holds cookbooks. I keep filling that shelf but it doesn't help the cooking. I never could cook. My mother always claimed to be a bad cook - although in comparison to me, she is a gourmet! She always said she was the youngest daughter of three and so while the other two helped their mother in the kitchen, she was always sent to set the table. See a trend here? Before I got married when I was young, my mother suggested I invite my fiance over once a week and fix him dinner. It lasted 2 weeks. Then as a young newlywed, when most women master the art of cooking - we ate out. His family loved to eat out. His mother could cook but she was an officer in a bank and didn't want to bother after work. So we ate out with them. They loved it. We loved it. But I never learned to cook.

When divorced, we were on our own. If 7/11 didn't have it, I didn't cook it. Easter dinner - Safeway chinese takeout.

My friends could cook. One friend came over to visit and decided to cook for us and teach me how. She opened my cabinets and commented, "Marni, I've seen garage sales with better pots and pans." I hadn't ever bothered to buy many. So I bought a set of Caphalon for when she came to visit. She got so excited she sent me a year's subscription to Gourmet magazine. I read every issue. I clipped some recipes. I never once tried any. My daughter loved this friend's visits. She would stand at her elbow and watch her. I swear she absorbed the friend's ability just by watching.

By the time my daughter, Kara, was a teenager - she could cook. She had to. She made her own spaghetti sauce. I never used any spaghetti sauce that didn't come out of a can or jar.

One time I started to grill a chicken. My daughter came running and said, "Wait Mom, Let me mix up a little sauce to marinade it in first." Marinade? Sauce? That you made yourself? Where did she learn to do this? I never made a sauce to marinade or grill with in my life. How did she learn this? Where did she come up with this stuff?

I married again and moved to California. I warned him up front. He still doesn't mind after 14 years. But if I took out a pot and put it on the stove, my daughter would run up. "What are you doing?" She then took over whatever cooking I had planned.

We went to San Diego a year or two ago and ate at Croce's. Wonderful place. Started by the late Jim Croce's wife. It's a wonderful restaurant. She has a couple cookbooks and our dinner companions bought one for me since it happened to be my birthday. The owner was there dining herself and signed the book for me. I have never opened it. Not once. I plan to. Someday.

We like to cruise and met and made some new friends, especially a great couple who live in Sacramento (Lincoln, to be exact). Diane sounds like she is a terrific cook. Makes wonderful sounding dishes. Just hearing her talk about cooking gets me enthused. She bought the Princess cookbook "Courses" I believe the name is. and said she has made many dishes out of it.

I bought one. Have never opened it.

She described a simple easy dish she does. Just broiling vegetables with olive oil and sea salt. "I can do that" I thought. And tried it. Oily mushy mess. "How much oil did you use?" she asked me. Not much. I drizzled. I love to watch Giada DeLaurenti and I pretended to be her and drizzled and sprinkled those vegies with sea salt. Had a glass of wine. I felt elegant. Until I tried to eat them. OILY, mushy mess. I tossed them out. I promised my friend, Diane, to try and cook something again next month.

So last night I bought some potatoes and some ribs to barbeque. I have my husband and my son living here so thought the men would like something on the grill. We have a huge lovely grill that costs over $1k. Hasn't been used yet this year and it is June 22nd. I have salad makings and potatoes and lovely ribs. My husband announced that HE will be doing the cooking.

So it is time for me to set the table. I'm good at that.