February 10

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We went to Zingerman's Bakehouse for lunch.  Potato leek soup, with baguette.  Mmmmmmmm.

I don't like to venture out when it's getting dark, especially when it's COLD.  I tried walking downtown on the 10th, but there was so much ice on the sidewalk that I decided after walking half a block that I would go home and get the car.

The car and I went downtown and parked next to the library.  Looking south at the sky over downtown.......

There was another Smell and Tell on the 9th.  You knew it would take something significant to get me out, on a cold winter night...............

If you live in or near Ann Arbor, and you see on the library's website (or in the library's ad in the Observer) that Michelle is going to do another talk (April 8!), I bet you'd enjoy it.  She is full of energy and enthusiasm and stories and knowledge.  She is "the only trained nose in Ann Arbor," and she perceives the world in a different way than I do.  Her knowledge of scent is only rivaled by the pleasure she takes in sharing that knowledge with the rest of us...........

I just love hearing about the world from a perspective so different from mine.  It's like going on vacation.....

On the 10th, Michelle told us about Chanel No. 5 -- how it came to be, what the design intent was ("the scent of a woman's freshly scrubbed skin"), what the ingredients are (and how they are made)....  Chanel has its own proprietary roses and jasmine, grown on their own land in France (terroir).....

As was true the last time I listened to Michelle (patchouli!) she brought all sorts of interesting things for us to smell.  This time it was mostly the ingredients of Chanel No. 5, including the absolute of Chanel's roses, and the absolute of their jasmine. 

Did you know that Johnson & Johnson's baby soap's scent is a based on the top notes of Chanel No. 5?

It was another fascinating evening with Michelle.  I am looking forward to another mini vacation on April 8!

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