A Scent-sitive Girl

Two botched nosebobs and raging allergies have left me without much sense of smell, but what little I have is very "scent-sitive." There are few man-made scents I enjoy, and only in small doses. I've never understood the strategy of drowning oneself in perfume or cologne. If I can smell you from across the room, that's not alluring or sexy. To me, you've crossed right back over into stinky again. My philosophy is that no one should smell your perfume unless they are close enough to kiss you – and presumably, they that close with your consent.

So I usually use unscented shampoo, hairspray, moisturizer, etc. I recently discovered a Bath & Body Works scent called Sea Island Cotton, that really does just smell fresh and clean; heavenly! The shower gel usually provides more than enough fragrance for me, thank you. In the cold months, I might wear just a tiny dot or two of "Isadora" (a French perfume that may not even be made anymore) behind the ears.

There are some lovely smells in the garden; however, there are also some flowers that just smell stinky to me: treacly and noxious. Iris and daffodils come to mind. Lovely in a vase... but I want the windows open. There are quite a few flowers that don't have a scent. I'm always amused when someone sticks their nose in a bouquet of daisies and takes a big whiff.

The Billy Collins poem about wisteria (below) got me thinking about flowers that take my breath away. My two favorite flower scents are Lilacs and Lily of the Valley. They bloom within a couple weeks of each other, so my house is filled with heavenly scents for a month or so. Lilacs are sweet and delicate; a light scent that almost everyone associates with certain memories. Lilies of the Valley are also sweet and yet bold; three tiny stems will fill a room with fragrance. It is another old-fashioned favorite. It's also the May birth-month flower. There are a few other flowers whose scents I enjoy - freesias and roses, for example; but not nearly as much as Lilacs, or Lilies of the Valley.

Speaking of windows open, it's supposed to be in the 80s here this weekend! I'm a little disappointed, though. I don't want to get cheated out of my Open Window season. My favorite, favorite time of year is whenever the furnace is OFF, the air conditioning is OFF, and the windows are open. It's anything within the 50º-75º range. That's usually 3-4 weeks in the spring and again in the fall. I hate it when we skip that and go right to summer.