Lilies of the Valley, May Wine, Mick Jagger and Me...
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Lilies of the Valley, May Wine, Mick Jagger and Me...
A Truly Fluffy & Silly Love Story.
“Then he began plucking the pins from her hair, carefully, without touching her anywhere else, and Eve began to wonder if 'hair' could possibly be erotic.
She found herself holding her breath, listening to his deep, even exhalations as he worked, her hair loosening and beginning to slide.
It fell all at once, uncoiling heavily over her shoulders. She turned her head to look at him, suddenly shy.
He was staring at her hair.
"It's beautiful," he murmured, burying his fingers in the long tresses, gently working apart the strands, lifting and spreading them. "Like liquid gold." He suddenly lifted the mass to his face. "And perfumed. Like flowers."
"Lily of the valley." He made her feel exotic, still dressed in her sensible gray frock, only her hair loose about her shoulders.
"Lily of the valley," he murmured. "I'll remember that scent forever now, and whenever I smell it again I'll think of you, Eve Dinwoody. You'll be haunting my tomorrows evermore."
She gasped and turned, looking up at him. She'd thought that he'd be smiling teasingly at his words, but he looked quite serious and she stared at him in wonder. Had he always carried this part of himself inside? This wild poetic lover? If so, he'd hidden it well underneath the aggressive, foulmouthed theater manager. She had a secret fondness for the crass theater manager, but the poet...
She swallowed, suddenly nervous.
She might come to love a wild poet.”
― Elizabeth Hoyt, Sweetest Scoundrel
Finally, finally it is becoming spring! This is the time of year you will find me in the garden singing Nick Drake folky songs with my hands happily buried in the dirt, talking to my plants and laughing at all of the baby bunnies!
I buy flats of flowers way too early, plant huge pots of herbs and take as many long walks in the woods as I can. I just love that smell, when the last bits of winter are gone and the air is fresh and green. I love the long walks I take this time of year when I’m out foraging for ramps, nettles and fiddleheads, because the winds in the spring are an almost narcotic combination of fragrances, floral, balsam, humus and quite often, spring onions.
Certain times of the year live powerfully in my imagination and never disappoint me. I fall in love with everything and everyone in the spring, I kick up my heels, I play, I dance and make love with abandon. I fantasize about Beltane and summer solstice fires, I dream of picnics in the park with my friends! I make May wine with Sweet Woodruff, Honey, Viognier and Sweet Strawberries all macerated together in the way my father taught me to so long ago.
My husband accuses me of being an incurable romantic and I’m quite sure that he’s right about that but doesn’t spring do that to almost everyone?
The arrival of spring also means that I begin to wear as little as possible, with the exception of Diorissimo, that classic fragrance by the House of Dior that hardly needs any introduction at all, especially this time of year! It is my favorite springtime perfume, an absolute classic and for me once May arrives nothing else will do. Of all of the lily of the valley fragrances, I believe that Diorissimo is truly the most beautiful and evocative, the only one that truly captures that fleeting few weeks of bloom in May! Sometimes in the dead of a Northeast Ohio winter, I’ll spray a bit of it just to remember that spring WILL once again appear!
I now need to blush a wee bit and admit that I tried this fragrance for the very first time at age 16 when I discovered that it was Mick Jagger's favorite. It was the early 70’s and I spent many a day in front of the mirror styling my hair, lining my lips and eyes like Marianne Faithful and trying to become as witchy, trippy and mod as possible.
Before Diorissimo I had been in love with Coty’s Muguet du Bois, but once I bought my first bottle of Diorissimo I was smitten. Alas, even though I spent many a summer following the Rolling Stones , Mick never discovered that I was alive, but my husband who also lives large in my imagination (and even larger in real life!) did and he adores this beautiful scent! Every time I spray myself with Diorissimo, he buries his head in my hair and sighs. My son told me once when he was a wee boy, that if he ever found a girl that smelled like it that he would marry her on the spot. It’s pretty intoxicating stuff.
Lily of the Valley is such a lovely flower and every spring I bury my head in my bunches of it. I am lucky enough to have grown up with a gorgeous patch of it that I have loved since childhood, that lived in a quiet corner in my fathers garden. It is such a fleeting moment of time, that brief two week period in May when they bloom, so very magical. No wonder so many great perfumes try to capture that moment.
Diorissimo captures that moment for me perfectly. It is innocent yet incredibly sensual, modern and at the same time very traditional, a truly iconic fragrance. It is very dressy, totally classic with black crepe and pearls, yet completely playful worn with slouchy hemp and linen. It is restrained yet sensual by nature and totally chic. This perfume is to me what Chanel Number 5 is to so many others..it’s my classic go to, the fragrance I wear when I need a bit of panache. Although I adore wearing it for elegant dinners, I love wearing it when I go trail riding and it smells even better mixed with the scents of saddle and the wild ramps of the springtime forest. Yes I know, it’s all part of my Pre-Raphaelite fantasy life, but I can hardly help myself. I can hear my mother now…”Beth Ann. Your head is always in the clouds.” Fortunately, my husband thinks it’s one of my better virtues.
What special fragrance says springtime to you? What favorite ritual?
Please let me know in the comments below!
I hope that you enjoy this lovely video about planting the Lily of the Valley. Even if you only have a small apartment balcony, you can still enjoy this beautiful flower every spring.
Thymeless Quotes:
“I would far rather have two or three lilies of the valley gathered for me by a person I like, than the most expensive bouquet that could be bought!”
― Elizabeth Gaskell, Wives and Daughters
What is your favorite springtime scent or scents? Favorite early garden memories? I’d love to know about them. By expressing your ideas in the comments you make my writing better while giving other readers an outside perspective on the relevance and value of this post.
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