The Scent of Heaven

I'll admit it. I love perfume. I wear it everyday. I put in on my bedding (hoping for sweet dreams to come). I must have been a French woman in another life. Yes, I know some people don't like to smell perfume, so they can plug their noses and hurry by. That is, unless I smell a certain scent on someone else and then ugggggg! Nerve gas must smell the same. Nevertheless, I used to wear Chanel 5 in junior high school. Then Shalimar in high school and no, I'm not proud that I wore these, there just weren't very many options in my town. I have tried so many different kinds - read about different essences and perfumers. Alas, the same thing always happens. I shell out the money for a bottle, get home and gag. I can't even let my daughters have it because I don't ever want to smell it again. Then, so many years ago that I can't remember when, I read about Antonia's Flowers in a magazine. A few years passed and I found it in a Texas store. It is my all time favorite. It comes in absoluto, parfum, shower gel, lotion and the most beautiful soap I have ever seen. When I place my yearly order, I have to call the Hampton's store (factory?) and they always say, Oklahoma? Antonia Bellannca (I can't remember how to spell her last name) has been making it and selling it from the Hampton's for a long time. The top note is freesia. She also makes two or three other scents now. One, Tiempe Passatt, is a love song her grandfather wrote for her grandmother. She appears regularly on the Barefoot Contessa, with Ina Garten, on the Food Network. Ina has even showcased her products in her own home. I wish you could smell it. Perfume Nirvana. Oh, yes, the other scent I wear, is a lotion. Every time I wear it, men and women stop me and ask what fragrance I am wearing. It is Clinique's Aromatics lotion. The perfume is much too strong.

IRIS

I've photographed some of my iris, which are stunning, but fade much too fast. The second one is strongly scented. Iris comes from the Greek word for rainbow and is grown on many continents mainly in northern temperate zones. There are about 300 species of iris. The fleur-de-lis is a stylized iris. Orris root comes from irides and its essential oils are used in perfumes and medicines. Bombay gin contains orris root and flavoring from species of bearded iris. Like an old friend, the plants come back year after year and spread through rhizomes and though mine are on the wane, I'll see them again next year. The still life painting of lemons and iris came from a flea market. I heard this story once about seeing stands of iris in fields and roadsides. Supposedly, they mark where old homesteads once stood. Sure enough, I found rock foundations of two old homesteads in the mountains, and where the front of the house would have been, were beds of iris.