Tea for two

A few days without blogging? Is is possible. I have quite a bit of material I'm mulling over, so stay tuned for some long and rambling entries. Topics will surely include haute couture, celebrity, health care in America, and money.

For today, I have only this: I just received a package of seven perfume samples. I've got L'artisan's Tea for Two on my wrists at the moment, and fear that it will be gone in about an hour. I've heard, "Well, if it's weak, put it on your clothes." Not being one to wash my clothes after one wearing (unless I'm a sweaty mess), I don't want to do this.

Many of the scents I am loving right now, as the weather turns warmer, are so pale and short lived. I really can't see why the companies can't make them stronger, or at least offer "extreme" versions. There's something rather sad about scents being so pallid. Tea for Two is very nice. It's got an initial blast of smokey Lapsang Souchong that's captivating. Sadly, the smokiness disappears very quickly, leaving a scent that I can't put my finger on. It's neither here nor there (is that like saying it's six of one and half dozen of the other?)

A few of the other samples will challenge me to try them. I got a strong sense of nail polish remover from three of them. I can't remember which ones at the moment. It seems too coincidental that I thought that about three out of seven scents, so perhaps my nose is off today. I did wake up with a headache.

Painting note: Mary Cassatt "Five O'Clock Tea" 1880 I'm not a fan of Cassatt's work, as I find much of it too sweet and the subject matter uninteresting. I generally do not like paintings of children, or mothers with babies, unless they are very old (and these, for the most part, are of Mary with the baby Jesus). Nevertheless, I'm putting up this image.

One reason I believe I've always enjoyed paintings of people, whether they are of people going about their business or portraits, is the glimpse into the past. Current portraits interest me not at all. When I look at this painting, for instance, I wonder about the mindset of those women in their fancy dress and what they may have discussing while taking tea. How different was their conversation than those of two women today? I presume it was quite different, but for all we know they were gossiping and swearing like sailors. But somehow, I doubt it.