Today was a grey day, but rather than being cold it was just on the edge of chilly – the kind of winter day when the thick cloud cover softens the light and warms the temperature, and a storm threatens at the periphery of the sky, but never quite reaches the boiling point.

It didn’t rain, but it was a lovely day anyway. Physically, I was in my studio a lot, writing about cars. Mentally, I was in a garret in Paris, or a beach house on a cliff, and the wind through the trees only enhanced the mood. Outside my bedroom window, earlier, the pool water was choppy, much like the ocean gets on such a blustery day. I amused myself pretending I was on the esplanade of a cold-water beach, and even bundled myself into a cotton blanket and took tea poolside.

The fresh air was what I needed after being sick for a week and a day, though I’m edging into wellness, finally. I’m not yet up to walking round the block – kind of need to breathe for that – but for sitting in the balmy, breezy air, and sipping spicy chai, and watching the dogs root around in the ivy-covered corners of the yard, I was fine. I sat near enough the edge of the pool that my feet were just touching the water – it was cold, but I didn’t care – and had a lovely hour of quiet, even closing my eyes at one point.

I was strongly reminded of all the times I visited the beach in winter with my mother, and all the times we sat at the yacht harbor, after walking to the end of the pier and back. For a moment, the sense memory was strong enough that I could smell sea-salt.

And speaking of scents, the one I’m wearing today is another Black Phoenix offering called Alone.

Here’s what their description says:

From childhood’s hour I have not been
As others were; I have not seen
As others saw; I could not bring
My passions from a common spring.
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow; I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone;
And all I loved, I loved alone.
Then – in my childhood, in the dawn
Of a most stormy life – was drawn
From every depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still:
From the torrent, or the fountain,
From the red cliff of the mountain,
From the sun that round me rolled
In its autumn tint of gold,
From the lightning in the sky
As it passed me flying by,
From the thunder and the storm,
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view.

A hectic, frenzied pinpoint in desolation: booming, bleak, and dark with the horror of loneliness and reluctant solitude. Patchouli and cardamom with bright mandarin, labdanum, muguet, red sandalwood, angelica and gardenia.

.

Here’s my review:

In the Imp:
Chai tea with something darker, that’s the patchouli, and something citrussy – the mandarin.

Wet, on Skin:
Patchouli mostly, with the mandarin and generic spiciness coming through.

Dry, on Skin:
Oh, lovely cardamom, and flowers I can’t identify, and the mandarin is softening a bit, but the patchouli’s backed off, and is a sort of grounding note.

Overall:
Add this to my “I want a bottle” list, or rather I would, but this was a treat – the last third of an imp as a freebie with a forum order, and the actual scent’s discontinued.

If you play in the Potter-verse at all, you probably know that today is the birthday of one Severus Snape – the character, not the actor behind him. In honor of the day, I’ve snarked at the dogs, worn black, and swabbed my friend Janet‘s self blended Snape perfume on each wrist. I’m too congested to actually review it and pick out notes, so go bug her about it, but I do like it.

I’d hoped to update some of my SnapeFic but instead I’ve been trying to beat strep throat (throat is no longer sore, just dry and scratchy to the point where I sound like the bastard love child of Rod Stewart and Kim Carnes), and writing car reviews for my new job. I’m sort of intrigued by the Honda Fit just now, especially as we’ll be seeking a second car sometime this year.

I’m currently on a quest for new stationery, so if you have any you want to get rid of, or any that you love and want to recommend, do let me know. I’ve joined the Letter Writing Team at Soldiers’ Angels so in addition to sending mail to my two officials each week, I’m also sending letters or cards to at least one unofficial and sometimes to people who’ve requested TLC (or had it requested for them). That’s a lot of letter writing, but it makes me happy, and it’s kind of fun.

And on that note: I have a mug of chai waiting to be sipped and cold chai is pretty gross.

Received an imp of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s KALI as part of a mystery pack of imps I bought on the forum. Here’s my review.

Kali, the Black One, is the fearless Goddess of Destruction, Creation, Energy [in her Shakti aspect] and Dissolution. Also named Kaliratri [Black Night] and Kalikamata [Black Earth-Mother], she is the fiercest aspect of Devi, the supreme mother goddess. Kali is a protector Goddess, the destroyer of evil spirits and guardian of the faithful. She, along with her consort Shiva, represent the unending cycle of death and birth, sexual union, creation and destruction. Kali annihilates ignorance, maintains the natural order of the world, and blesses those who strive for spiritual awareness and knowledge of true holiness with infinite tenderness and motherly love. The constant, unending Work of Creation is called the “The Play of Kali”. This perfume is a blend of the sacred blooms of cassia, hibiscus, musk rose, Himalayan wild tulip, lotus and osmanthus swirled with offertory dark chocolate, red wine, tobacco, balsam and honey. — Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

In the imp: Chocolate, pipe tobacco, and something sweet.

Wet: Oh, there’s the wine, and the sweet seems honey-ish now.

Drydown: I can’t pick out individual floral notes, but I can tell they’re there, and the chocolate and tobacco have softened a lot.

Overall: This imp had leaked a bit in the package despite being taped. As I was opening everything, I was trying to figure out that enticing smell, and it was this. I’m still brand new to bpal, but I’m thinking this will be a favorite. I really like it – it’s a very grown-up scent, but can still be either feisty or flirty

…seem an unlikely form of medication for a condition that involves a sore throat, but horse pills are what I have, nevertheless. It’s only been two days of medicine taking, and I still feel blechy. My ears don’t hurt quite as much, but swallowing is still really painful, and I just feel achy and off-kilter. I’ve slept more in the last two days than I ever do in a week, normally.

The dogs keep guarding me, pressing their small furry bodies as close to me as they can, and growling if I sneeze or cough. They’re not accustomed to me being horizontal for this long. Fuzzy, of course, relishes any excuse not to have to be awake.

The bright spot in the weekend was the arrival in the mail of the DVD of Superman Returns, accompanied by a “mystery pack” of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab imps purchased from a delightful member of the BPAL Madness forum. I think they smell good, but until I can actually breathe, I won’t be certain.

Nothing much else to say tonight. Gonna go eat something soft and soothing, and then go back to sleep.

Shh! Yes, I know it’s Saturday.

Filched from Janet.

1. Sea urchin is the grossest thing I ever ate.
2. I like to put peanut butter or brie on my crackers.
3. I crave cheesy salty snacks at night.
4. I always add apples to my pancake batter.
5. When I think of comfort food, I think of Stouffer’s Macaroni and Cheese, baked til there’s a thin crust of cheese over the top and everything’s all bubbly underneath.

It’s official. I DO have strep. I blame Fuzzy for bringing it home (his co-worker caught it from his wife, who had scarlet fever), and giving it to me, though he doesn’t seem symptomatic at all. Spent the morning getting the back of my throat prodded, buying drugs and mushy sore throat-friendly food, and had a croaky chat with my mother.

Am now going to go back to sleep, as I’m confined to quarters til Monday.

And I have nothing to read.

Argh!

Have been nursing a sore throat (again) for two days – determined however that this time it’s most likely strep. Oh, joy. Being sick sort of makes everything around me feel surreal and disconnected, as if I’m looking at someone else’s picture book, or seeing someone else’s movie. Everything exists in a sort of watery haze.

It was, therefore, appropriate that Fuzzy and I watched Lady in the Water tonight. We’d missed it in theatres, and so brought it home with a free coupon from Blockbuster. I expected a weak thriller. I got a beautiful, haunting, moody, fairy tale. Shyamalan calls the tale a bedtime story and explains that he based it on made-up bedtime stories he shared with his children. As always, he’s crafted a wonderful mood, a delightful modern fable. If I had kids of my own, I’d totally buy the book for them.

My brain isn’t functioning enough to add more to this. Have a good weekend everyone.

I mean, I like them, but close proximity to them makes me all sneezy, which is never good. Nevertheless, I love watching big cats – you know lions and tigers and panthers, and such – so when I saw the latest shapeshifter scent at Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, I had to order it:

From the BPAL website:

BAKENEKO
In sharp contrast to the stark sterility of Hunger Moon, we present a carnivorous chaotic charmer: the bakeneko. The Monster Cat is a shapeshifter, and is empowered to take the form of a beautiful woman (to entice lonely gentlemen) or a winsome young maiden (to the peril of childless couples). Though some bakeneko are benevolent, and only wish to find someone to care for them, or to show gratitude to a mortal that has done them a great service, others are furry balls of malevolent mayhem. Their mischief ranges from simply destructive — knocking over lamps and destroying property, tossing ghostly, freezing fireballs from their hands — to horrifying acts of carnage.

(Warm amber musk, Satsuma tangerine, black tea leaf, cardamom, cherry blossom and cinnamon.)

And speaking of watching cats…

My friend Rana is an amazingly caring cat-mom. So much so, that in an effort to both save cash and not torment a recently-ill kitty, she’s trying to do a natural capture of a urine specimen. I know this because our relationship is generally limited to online exchanges and the occasional sharing of coffee and conversation in person, but today she actually called me. Why? Because she had errands to run, and needed someone to watch the kitty cam and see if the cat used the litterbox. I was happy to help.

She made me promise to not make her seem like a moron. I don’t think there’s anything moronic in caring for your pet that much – I mean, I learned how to give Zorro rectal injections of valium when he was seizing, so HE wouldn’t have to sleep in a cage.

Of course, that wasn’t televised.

I didn’t sleep well last night. I woke around three from a nightmare in which my decades-deceased uncle was partially transformed into a panther, and was being interrogated, while I and someone I couldn’t identify held paperbacks, and argued about whether the pages flying around were loose because of a ghost or because spilled vinegar had melted the glue in the binding. I was on the side of vinegar. The dream sounds funny, now, I know, but in the dark, in the night, it was creepy and left me awake with my skin tingling, and while the details faded, the terror lingered. Poor Fuzzy tried to soothe me but the only solution was to be awake, so I pulled the laptop in bed with me, and left the lights out so he could sleep, and finally went to sleep again around five, waking when Fuzzy nudged me to tell me that he was leaving.

Only after I’d worked for an hour from bed did I realize that it was cold, and grey and damp outside. I looked out to the mailbox to see if mail had come, and couldn’t tell, but a very pale golden retriever was hovering around the mailbox (not surprising, as it’s Zorro and Cleo’s favorite spot to leave messages) and it saw me and wagged its tail. I went out an hour or so later to check the mail, and it was across the street. It sat and wagged at me, and I decided that if it was still out and the damp turned to rain, I would bring it into the garage and give it water and a blanket and see if its collar held id tags that were of any use. But when I checked again when the rain started, there was no sign of the dog.

I’ve seen it before, in the neighborhood, but can’t remember where it lives. Poor thing. I could tell it wanted to be home.

My throat is all raw again today, and I feel kind of blechy. Not sick exactly, just…blechy. As if the grey damp day has settled into my mood in a bad way.

This afternoon I wrote about 300 words about Honda Accords. My first official work. Still don’t have the manual I was told about. Must remember to check on that. I like these little 250-ish word reviews. They’re quick and snappy and since it’s just content there are no funky keywords to embed. Also, it’s informative.

Had pumpkin I had to use, so made pie this afternoon. We hadn’t made it over Christmas because I forgot to get the evaporated milk. As it is, Fuzzy brought me back a can each of evaporated and condensed, so I used them both (recipe calls for two cans of evaporated), and used the dregs of the condensed milk to sweeten my mug of chicory-laced coffee from Cafe du Monde, a present from my cousin Stacie in Louisiana, whose birthday is TOMORROW. (Must remember to call her.) She’s got this gentle Southern accent and as sharp a tongue as I have, though her humor is kinder than mine. We’re just getting to know each other after a lifetime of really being just names to one another, and it’s been a great experience.

And now? Now Fuzzy is home, and I made his favorite vegetables, and I’m going to putter and do laundry and maybe be in bed by one.

I’ve had a reprieve of sorts from my first day of work, as the manual that we were supposed to receive before Christmas is not yet here. Boss says I should have it tomorrow. My plan is to bring the laptop out by the fire and read in comfort.

Granted another vacation day, I spent it revamping my blog. I do this from time to time, anyway, but today’s revamp includes the addition of a second column, mostly to hold adsense and amazon links, a completely new color scheme, and oh, yes, I changed all my various IM id’s as well (so if I’m on any of your lists, you probably got a re-auth request).

My archives and category listings now appear on the archive page, and eventually other links will go live. In the meantime, pardon the dust – it generally takes me a couple days to do all the tweaking I want to accomplish.