Blogging the Madinis: Marrakech and Baraka

I can't believe it's 8:25 pm. Where did the day go? I'm about to turn into a pumpkin any second, so I just have time for a couple of lightning-fast reviews:

Marrakech: Go to your spice rack. Open the jars of ginger and cardamom. Wave them under your nose. Mentally add a whiff of jasmine and Madini's signature sweet amber. Now you know what Marrakech smells like. It's fairly unisex, but not suitable for manly men. Personally, I like it. It's a nice scent for a cool, crisp fall day.

Baraka: A sugary musk layered with a heavy dose of the best head shop strawberry incense. If you are of a certain age, Baraka will remind you of getting high and making out while listening to Todd Rundgren records. Whether you wish to take that particular trip down memory lane is a matter of personal taste. I only enjoy it at long intervals.

Illustration of cardamom plant from Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen, 1887.

My to-do list for early autumn

1. Take time to admire the fabulous spiderwebs that appear everywhere. If the opportunity presents itself, sit on the porch and watch an orb weaver at work as the evening comes on.

2. Keep an eye out for the last of the Dickcissels and Orchard Orioles as they pass through on their way south.

3. Search the Nashville markets for the perfect pomegranate to use in Mabon observance. Try to find time for a visit to the Cane Creek Market in Lobelville, TN, to stock up on spices and splurge on some useless piece of speckleware.

4. Put black walnuts in everything. Make pumpkin custard.

5. Unpack my cool weather clothes, and marvel yet again at all the stuff I have that I don't need. Be pleasantly surprised by all the nice things I had forgotten I owned. Wonder why so many of my winter socks seem to disappear over the summer.

6. Fish my garnet and amber jewelry out of the tangle in the jewelry chest.

7. Re-read A Word Child and The End of the Affair.




8.Remember our good feline friend Binx, who moved all over the country with Dave and me. October 2 is the anniversary of her passing.



9. Eye the persimmons that have fallen prematurely and resist the urge to taste one.

10. Break out the fall perfumes! Vintage Scandal and Toujours Moi, AG Sables, Sikkim (a new fave), DSH Firefly and Kyphi, Chamade, Hove Flame, etc, etc. I love my summer florals, but it's a pleasure to put them away for a while.


Autumn, Frederic Edwin Church, 1875

"Aw'd without virtue, without beauty charm'd"

Twas thus Calypso once each heart alarm'd,
Aw'd without virtue, without beauty charm'd;
Her tongue bewitch'd as oddly as her eyes,
Less wit than mimic, more a wit than wise;
Strange graces still, and stranger flights she had,
Was just not ugly, and was just not mad;
Yet ne'er so sure our passion to create,
As when she touch'd the brink of all we hate.

From "Epistles to Several Persons" by Alexander Pope.


A Fantastic Cave Landscape with Odysseus and Calypso, Jan Brueghel the Elder, c. 1616 (Click the image to enlarge)

Quote of the day

“...nature cares nothing for logic, our human logic: she has her own, which we do not recognize and do not acknowledge until we are crushed under its wheel”

Ivan Turgenev

From Smoke (1867)


Arachne or Dialectics, Paolo Veronese, 1575-77

One Sentence Perfume Review (and then some): Voeu de Noël, Caron

"Voeu de Noël is rich and somber as dark velvet, and despite its name, it's more a scent of memories than dreams."

That was going to be my One Sentence Review for Caron's long lost beauty, but I decided it deserved a whole paragraph. Voeu de Noël--an Ernest Daltroff creation--was introduced in 1939, and according to several sources I've seen, was also marketed as Rose de Noël. By any name, it's a Caron's Caron, with those unmistakable notes of musty rose and Mousse de Saxe that perfume connoisseurs either love or hate. I love them, of course, and it's hard to imagine a Caron I could love more than this one. I don't know the age of the stuff I sampled, but if the fresh juice had any fleeting top notes, they fled long ago. There was no suggestion of turned or "crushed" flowers to get past--just a rush of deep red rose, followed by hints of violet and carnation. The heart of Voeu de Noël echoes N'Aimez que Moi one moment, En Avion the next. Slowly but surely the flowers give way to a base that suggests Nuit de Noël grown more demure. The drydown has the same irresistible combination of Mousse de Saxe, sweet woods and spice, but the effect is lighter and smoother. I can imagine a very serious young girl wearing wearing Voeu de Noël.

If you are a Caron lover and have never tried Voeu de Noël, I'd say it's worth what they're charging for a sample at The Perfumed Court. Or you could just pray for a generous perfume friend to gift you with a drop. (Many thanks!)


Magdalene, Caravaggio, 1596-97

I'm feeling a little stressed

Many distractions here, so a real post will have to wait a day or two, when things should be calmer. Best wishes for a safe and relaxing Labor Day to the American contingent, and happy Monday to the rest of y'all.

Head of Medusa, Peter Paul Rubens, c. 1618

"...a sun god crooning desire"

This lord of storm clouds
Is also a sun god crooning desire
& dalliance in a garden of nymphs.

From "Infidelity" by Yusef Komunyakaa


Jupiter and Io, John Hoppner, 1785

I haven't done many political posts lately...

but this is just too good not to share--plus, it continues the August monster series. (A blogger curtsy to David Dark for posting the link on Facebook.)

Blogging the Madinis: Nile

It's a little after 6 am here, and a thunderstorm has been rumbling for hours. The first flashes of lightning woke me up, and as I tried to get back to sleep I began to think about Madini Nile. Other people may count sheep. I catalog my perfumes.

Nile is a light, spicy oriental with a fleeting rose note in the heart. It has a hint of green (probably galbanum) that gives it a contradictory quality I love. The warm, soothing spice converses with the fresh, grassy note, so the scent never goes flat, as oils so often do. Nile is wild and cozy at once--a little like curling up in bed during a thunderstorm.


Evening, or Lost Illusions, Charles-Gabriel Gleyre, 1843. (This painting was supposedly inspired by a vision Gleyre had on the bank of the Nile.)

No fight zone

As I type this, a brown thrasher, a cardinal and a goldfinch are hanging out together atop the chain link fence in my back yard. I've been watching them for a few minutes now, and they have been perfectly serene companions. Normally, the thrasher would make it his business to chase away any bird within chasing range, but he's just looking at the other two as if he's curious about what they might do....(Click here to read the rest.)