Joy in January - A Natural Perfumers Guild project and Three-day Giveaway - Day 3 of 3

If you're reading this on the third day of the three-day blog event, you can read my initial post about SAD and natural aromatics on day one here and day two here.  There is still time to leave a comment on  day one and day two to increase your chances of getting some joy this January with a naturally-fragranced win ;-)


Here's the second story of a move I made to an overcast, cloudy town, and besides some joy, there's some gratitude mixed in with this, a story of small town manners.

Corvallis Oregon was the northern locale my then-husband was relocating to for a post-doctoral position.  I knew very little about Oregon, less about Corvallis.  In November, 1978, we packed up Roxy the Rastapoodle and Bootsy the cat and drove nonstop to Corvallis.  The professor who had hired my husband had rented a townhouse for us and we moved in the night we arrived.

Corvallis Oregon - courtesy of gardengrumblesandcrossstitchfumbles

The next morning we awoke and I was driving him to his job so I could have the car and shop.  When we walked outside, what looked like snow was falling, but when I went to clean it off the car, it didn't feel like snow, and there was a smell of smoke in the air, lots of smoke.  Rain had fallen, and it was freezing, so we began the drive, and I spun out on some "black" (invisible) ice over a bridge.  Luckily, there were no other cars nearby, and I was able to keep driving.  We didn't have a TV (hippies!) and so I went back to the townhouse wondering what was going on.  Gray, rain, fake snow, smoke.  Not a good welcome to this little town.

We found out later in the day that a tire dump had caught on fire, and the "snow" was ash from it, blanketing the region, accompanied by the strong smoke smell. I spent many days indoors through December, until I got a job in January, but I didn't suffer from SAD, which is good, because in a new town, no friends, the holidays, no job, gray skies and rain, I could have been a really bad case.

In January or February, we had made some new friends, so we invited them over for some of my homecooked Chinese food and a "human scent strip" party.  I had held many of these in various cities in California, and they were always a lot of fun.  I'd dip a toothpick in oils and dab all of the fingers of the friends with 10 different scents, and when the fingers were done, I'd start on the wrists, top side first, then underside, and up the arms I'd go.  Everyone was engaged with the oils and chatting about them, and off they'd go, into the night, back to their homes, smelling like a fragrant garden.

Corvallis is a small town, somewhat isolated, and has a down-to-earth vibe.  Imagine my surprise when, the next day after the party, four of the six guests called to thank me for the party and talk about the aromatics.  Nobody in California had ever called to thank me.  I know they enjoyed themselves, but maybe the bigger city folks were lacking in the small town manners.

That always stayed with me.  Small town folks may be more appreciative and show gratitude easier than those in fast-paced places.

Nichols' homespun images had me fooled, but they were totally forgiven because...see below..

Oh, one other thing stays with me, off-topic for Joy in January, but interesting about images.  For years, I had gotten the Nichols Herb Nursery catalogue.  The cover was usually a pen and ink drawing of a little homey cottage, supposedly their shop, set in a bucolic setting.  Nichols was located in the next town over from Corvallis, so I made a pilgrimage there soon after I settled in.  I remember the day was gray and gloomy, and I *really* remember a stench filing the air as I neared Nichols.  They were smack up against a paper pulp mill!  No bucolic setting, for sure, and I had to hold my hand over my mouth and nose as I went from my car to the nursery building.

My biggest discovery there, totally unexpected (well, besides the unexpected paper pulp mill) - dill weed oil.  I had been collecting essential oils and absolutes for years, but never saw dill weed.  I got it, and started cooking with it, making spanakopita and chicken soup and potato salad.  Love those essential oils, yum, yum!  That's why Nichols' is totally forgiven for the image/reality disconnect - they introduced me to the art of cooking with essential oils! ;-)

Today's giveaway - Samples of all 12 of my perfumes

Showing the Anya's Garden perfume love :-)  Next month the Guild will have a "Love" event, so make sure you subscribe to this blog and check back then!

Leave a comment today to be in the drawing for samples for all 12 of my perfumes, and you can make yourself a "human scent strip"!  I've actually never done this with perfumes, and I'm going to play with them this way, too!  You'll receive a card with instructions on how to sample them, from the lightest to the deepest, much like you would sample wines, light whites to full-bodied reds.  Enjoy! 

Prizes will be mailed to winners in the USA, Canada and the EU only.  You will find bloggers in Australia, Canada, South Africa and Vietnam, so please check their mailing policies.

1.  You, the poster can post as anonymous, but that will make you ineligible for the drawing.

2.  I'd love it if you sign up for my newsletter, or "like" my page on Facebook, but that isn't a requirement of this blog. Please just leave a comment that shares your difficulty with SAD.  We need to get the word out there so others reading this may recognize the disorder has aromatherapy and natural perfumery as an alternative healing modality.

3  I do want you to leave your first name or a nickname, ISP (eg., gmail) and location.  That way, when I announce the win, and you reply, I'll be sure I have the right person. 

Be sure to check out the other Guild participants that are taking part in the Joy in January project and leave a comment on their blogs to be entered in their giveaway, and leave a comment below to be entered in my Light drawing.  Winners of the three-days of drawings will be announced here on Thursday, the 19th. You will have until the 21st to claim your prize, or it will be awarded to the second chosen by random.org. 

* DISCLAIMER:  The opinions of Anya McCoy and Anya's Garden Perfumes should not be taken as medical advice.  SAD can be a precursor or trigger for other, more serious mental illnesses, so severely depressed or suicidal individuals should seek the care of a physician.  Never dismiss or self-treat massive depressive disorders yourself or encourage anyone to discontinue medication when being treated by a physician.

Ambrosia Jones http://perfumebynature.blogspot.com
Charna Ethier http://www.providenceperfume.com/blogs/news
Christi Meshell http://www.matriarch.biz/blog.html
Clemence Barbier http://www.dameclemence.blogspot.com
Elise Pearlstine http://bellyflowers.blogspot.com
Emily Pienaar http://www.roseenbos.com/category/blog
JoAnne Bassett http://www.joannebassett.com/natural_perfumes
Joyce Noerr http://sororiaorganics.blogspot.com/
Karen Williams http://www.aromaticsinternational.com/blog/
Liz Cook  http://oneseedperfumes.wordpress.com
Noelle Smith http://ellenoire.blogspot.com/
Stephanie Vinson http://www.stephanieknaturals.com/blog/
Susan Stype http://www.aromatherapycontessa.com