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I've been burning natural incense again. It makes me want to include incense with each bottle of perfume. In fact, the company I bought it from included a small sample of neat, tidy short incense sticks, which would be perfect for including with a perfume bottle. The best thing about them is that they're very stout. I'll let you know as I get closer to including incense sticks. I think it's a grand idea to include incense, and it completes the olfactory experience.

*Lord's-Jester*

All of my perfumes are available at Lord's Jester. This week I received a couple of reviews that I think it's fair to say are raves. Regarding a set of samples I sent him, writer for the LA Times and blogger (Perfume-Smellin' Things) Tom Pease had this to say:

"Selene is iris and violet with the lovely simple sweetness to it. It gets lusher and more dense as it wears, but not so much that I wouldn't wear it myself. The iris and violet are beautifully balanced and are very French in that there's no post-modern trickery in here. This is a bouquet, not a bulb. That's a good thing here.

"Heracles starts off with bright citrus peel, then becomes smokier and herbaceous (which must be the boronia) the longer you wear it. I suppose this is the one that would be considered the most "masculine" of the five, but if you're the sort of lady who will buy her fellah Derby and filch it at every chance, I think you've found his Father's Day gift.

"Demeter is tobacco and hay and I think a touch of cool mint; making perfect sense for a scent devoted to the goddess of the harvest. It actually reminds me a little of Chergui, although I think that Demeter might be (I know, strike me with lightning) be more all-around wearable. Chergui sometimes makes me feel like I'm being buffeted by it; Demeter feels like an embrace.

"Ares starts all citronella-spicy, befitting the god of manly strength. A deliciously dry yet warm amber drops in later, melding to the spices and adding quite a bit of smoky zing. It also has great lasting power, especially considering that it's an Eau de Cologne

"Anthea, the solid, is an ode to jasmine, I think with orange and lemon flower. It surprised me by being my favorite of the group: the jasmine is silky-smooth and whispers, somewhat like the jasmine we have here in Southern California. It plays an olfactory hide-and-seek: stick your nose in it and you smell the orange and lemon blossoms but draw back and the jasmine peeps out and winks.

"All of these are lovely; you all know that I love some of the more outre scents out there and the sometime carnival-ride-in-a-bottle they might produce. But sometimes you might want to get off the merry-go-round. These are beautifully balanced, elegant creations that I think are going to make a lot of people very happy. They certainly did me."

Having smelled my samples at Sniffapalooza, regarding my perfume Demeter, Rodney Hughes has this to say:

"At the recent Sniffapalooza Spring Fling it was Adam Gottshalk's "Demeter" that captivated my senses. This gorgeous petit-elixir named after the Goddess symbolized by red poppies among the barley (is both sweet and savory). This fragrance opens to notes of fermented honey; sun burnt sheaves (hay) and roasted leaves moist and full of earth’s nutrients. Its middle is filled with the subdued smoke of incense settling down into the heart of this fragrance. It is warm, without overwhelming you with heat; it has a sense of restraint and allows a savoring experience. It is a nicely grounded fragrance that is comfort food and nectar for the soul."

--Rodney Hughes, Natural Fragrance Editor, owner of Therapeutate

It pleases me that both these reviews are from men, though I have a strong following among women too (other natural perfumers, perfumistas, bloggers, etc.). Unisex is my game.

*Taiwan*

One of the facets of my time in Taiwan that I often take for granted is the phenomenon of betel nuts. I'm not too sure about the details; while I was there, I had a distinct don't-ask-don't-know attitude towards all things. It might be that those betel nuts are laced with something toxic; they do have a pronounced little ball of red stuff in the center. To this day, I'm not sure if the red stuff wasn't what turned your mouth all red; it seems likely. These occupied much of your time on the island though, depending on what sort of person you were of course. This was a sit-down-next-to-your-brother and bond on all things nasty sort of a venture. Betel-nut chewing men (they were all men) had a nasty, bloody color to their mouths. Actually chewing them is a bear; it's hard enough just to get them into your mouth, the nut being stringy and undigestible.

The two types most likely to enjoy betel nuts were mafiosos and coolies. Mafia men were oh-so-cool about it, like they were in no danger because they had seen _some shit_; for the coolies, it was more a matter of survival, like they needed a pack of smokes. Both were likely to, on hearing one speak perfect Chinese, break in and offer you betel nuts, cigarettes, Kao Liang (a foul concoction distilled from sorghum on a nearby military island), etc. Freely offer them they would; in the one case (mafia men) with a highly qualitative air ("If you take this, you _will_ be my friend."), the other was all rootsy and translucent ("The gods intended that we should meet on this day, in this place."). I never did get into any trouble with the mafia; I suppose it's because I followed one simple rule: don't mess with them and they won't mess with you.

*Quotations*

If you don't embarrass yourself everyday, at least once, you are not growing, or learning, or risking, or alive!

--Adam Gilad

Come to me without you; I will come to you without me.

--Rumi

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

--Anais Nin

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.

--Helen Keller

The poets and philosophers before me discovered the unconscious; what I discovered was the scientific method by which the unconscious can be studied.

--Sigmund Freud

When I grow up, I want to be a little boy.

--Joseph Heller

If boyhood and youth are but vanity, must it not be our ambition to become men?

--Vincent van Gogh

One of the hardest conditions of boyhood is the almost continuous strain put upon the powers of invention by the constant and harassing necessity for explanations of every natural act.

--Booth Tarkington

His English education at one of the great public schools had preserved his intellect perfectly and permanently at the stage of boyhood.

--GK Chesterton

There is a crisis in boyhood in America today.

--William Pollack

Peace love and ATOM jazz