"Leaves will soon grow from the bareness of trees"

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Overt abuse of power and transgressive leadership are tolerated by supporters who assume that such behaviour is justified for the sake of group or identity advancement (interesting link to a scientific paper here). People identify themselves as belonging to a particular coordinate within the left-right political spectrum and/or cardinal directions (north, south, east, west). And once the decision has been made, it becomes a package deal. It doesn't matter that the figurehead is morally corrupt, as long as the group or platform that this figurehead represents wins. Dishonorable. Unfortunately, non-support for this group is assumed to be support for the opposite extreme, where one may also find similar kinds of moral corruption.

I think the drastic difference between the present time and earlier periods in human history is driven by access to information. The caveat is its overabundance, a substantial amount of which are non-informative noise--primarily aimed at provoking human emotion. Because when the stimulus is strong enough and the emotions are unleashed, the source of the non-informative noise wins by creating a chain reaction. Either geared towards magnifying a particular sentiment or by just creating chaos. 

We are in the process of an election and I'm glad to have been able to vote early. Hoping for good results for my country (my province)--my country that is not the topic of my rant above about another young country that is a jigsaw puzzle of little countries. I have to admit to being silently amused by the interwebs. I get basic facts from AM radio then I go online for both facts and entertainment. Like snorkeling in the ocean where I find a variety of interesting stuff including beautiful coral reefs of things that have always inspired me and made me happy (thank you) or schools of fish that educate me (I learn something new all the time), including encounters with suspicious looking open water creatures with grotesque features that want to either scare me away or lure me (no thanks).

But these dismal, wintery circumstances will be replaced by longer days soon. Here's a nice song by the band Ben & Ben...

Fruity, floral, sweet, and savory

I made these delicious stuff.

I have re-fixated on fragrances again; a rekindling of what I had during this post https://annaswhatnots.blogspot.com/2022/06/olfaction-reprise.html. Interestingly, I still have some of the Fico di Amalfi cologne by Acqua di Parma, which is more appropriate during warmer weather. Not wearing it today. Today is literally a snow day and the roads have only been plowed in the past few hours. 
I am just about to wrap up my day and thought that it would be nice to write something on the topic of scents, tastes...the senses. So I grabbed my copy of Diane Ackerman's "A Natural History of the Senses" and tried to find nice little passages that I can share with you. 

On Smell (p. 62): This scent obsession started long before. The first gift to the Christ Child was incense and, in the eleventh century, Edward the Confessor presented Westminster Abbey with a sacred and surprisingly imperishable relic--some of the original frankincense carried by the Magi...Perfumes have obsessed every culture and religion...

On Taste (p. 127): The other senses may be enjoyed in all their beauty when one is alone, but taste is largely social. Humans rarely choose to dine in solitude, and food has a powerful social component...Throughout the world, the stratagems of business take place over meals; weddings end with a feast; friends reunite at celebratory dinners; children herald their birthdays with ice cream and cake; religious ceremonies offer food in fear, homage, and sacrifice; wayfarers are welcomed with a meal.

On Vision (p. 278) Unbeautiful things often delight our eyes, too. Gargoyles, glitz, intense slabs of color, organized tricks of light. Sparklers and fireworks are almost painful to watch, but we call them beautiful...Our sense of wonder ignites... 

I haven't read this book from cover to cover yet I like it a lot when I discover and learn new things each time I grab it and read a brief section. That's one thing I've decided to do--relieve myself of the pressure of having to finish a book for leisure in one go and allow myself to pause and read something else when the mood strikes. 

Circling back to fragrance, this fascination was jumpstarted during the recent holidays when my younger sister gifted me with a really nice smelling vanilla and musky perfume called Angham by the brand Lattafa and this large bottle of Vanilla Cashmere lotion by EOS. At the moment, I am wearing this perfume called Skin by the brand Clean Reserve that has notes of musk, salt, praline, tonka bean, and leather (according to the internet). The only note I know is salt and not as a smell, but a taste. I just know that it's an at-home-just-took-a-shower-and-I'm-in-my-pajamas type of scent. I like the uniqueness and silence of it. Silence, meaning, it's inoffensive. 

I also found an old fragrance that I used to wear a lot that my husband likes called Eclat d'Arpege by Lanvin. It's much more affordable now compared to years ago when it was just released. I also just found out that the woman who designed the scent is still making perfumes for other fragrance houses. It's a fruity floral perfume with lilac. I think the lilac is the smell that stands out, but it is also inoffensive. I enjoy fruity and floral perfumes that enhance my mood like Nectarine Blossom and Honey by Jo Malone, Seville Orange by Nest New York, or Miss Dior Blooming Bouquet. The folks around me aren't very impressed with those scents--but I find myself feeling uplifted when I smell my wrist or the crook of my elbow. A great little sensory break during the day when I'm toiling away at work. I think that's why I gravitate towards certain scents. If a smell makes me feel great  (like a café, bakery, or freshly baked homemade bread), then I like it. And before you start thinking that I splurged serious cash on perfumes recently, I only got a full bottle of Eclat--the rest are either samples or travel sized.

So what smells, whether natural or synthetic, enhance your mood? If something comes to mind, I say smell it now and be momentarily uplifted. Your brain will thank you for the little TLC.