photo Britta Dear You,
These days Berlin smells like a heavily perfumed woman - the lime trees flower and their honey-sweet smell comes into every room - wonderful!
I'm glad that I am here at this time!
"Frau Toni" is a perfume manufactory in Berlin as you know, because you once asked me which perfume I wear, and other than my friend Hildegard I do not keep that as "TOP SECRET". So you know that I use No. 37 - "Violet" - which was the perfume of Marlene Dietrich - and is not half as heavy as it sounds.
(By the way: this is in Germany the only perfume that contains violet - you have to travel to Paris to get one from Serge Lutens)
And this "Frau Toni" has also created an air freshener (perfume for a room - which I normally detest) that is called "Berlin" - and is limetree-flower smell in a bottle - heaven!
Outside I often see bees or bumble bees that lie on the ground - if you bend and listen carefully you'll here them bawl songs as
"Let's go for a drink, forget it from now,
Put it behind you, I think it's your round.
Put it behind you, I think it's your round.
Cause you're my mate and I will stand by you,
You're my mate and I will stand by you...."
You're my mate and I will stand by you...."
Right Said Fred - so help that little totally pissed little mate on a place where no-one might trod upon it...
Yours truly,
Britta
Wasn't he too sexy for his shirt?
ReplyDeleteYeah, I shake my little tush on the catwalk...
ReplyDeleteI'll bet the lime trees' smell is intoxicating. I also love the smell of violets. I will have to listen more carefully to the bees.
ReplyDeleteYou know, Emma, that there is a folkway in Germany and also in GB that one talks to the bees when one comes home or a person dies - the poem "Telling the Bees" by John Greenleaf Whittier 1807 - 1897 talks about that too.
DeleteI smile at the thought of you moving a bee to a safe place.
ReplyDeleteBut I do (if there are not too many).
DeleteAnd at the beginning of summer I have in my room a glass and a postcard which enable me to catch a wasp inside, on the windowpane - and set them free.
I wanted to put "I" into the blog-version, last sentence - but only get gobbledygook HTML-print in new blogger - no way to get inside that text...
DeleteI free any wasp silly enough to fly indoors. Bees seem to have more sense here.
DeleteWhen we open our conservatory doors on a hot Summer's Day, lots of bees and butterflies come in and can’t seem to find their way out ..... I rescue them so they can live another day !
ReplyDeleteOh to be in Berlin to smell the lime trees. XXXX
I see your conservatory in front of me, Jackie - so nice to have one's breakfast there in the morning! You do a good job saving the bees and butterflies! (In London I was in a huge conservatory with an exhibition of huge butterflies, fluttering around - near the Natural History Museum).
DeleteAnd yes: Berlin is wonderful at the moment. XXXX
The beautiful smell of Lime trees is indeed intoxicating, but just don't park your car beneath them!!!
ReplyDeleteI know that, Rosemary - the sugary drops of the lime are not easy to get rid off from your car. And sometimes when one runs under the trees you look up and think: is it starting to rain? No - it isn't... finest drops are coming down...
DeleteHey I didn't smell any lime trees in Hamburg, Rūgen or Lübeck. But maybe my smell is not so good any more. Btw: we liked Lūbeck also very much.
ReplyDeleteBerlin has huge, huge alleys of Lime trees (one of the finest boulevards is called "Unter den Linden" - which, by the way, is a very recommendable restaurant in Noordwijk too, Onder de Linden)
DeleteAnd yes: Lübeck is een schatje.
Yes I know Unter den Linden. I was there once but it was in December. No lime trees smell unfortunately. Onder de Linden in Noordwijk: I shall investigate that.
DeleteThe thing is, Guusje, that they chopped the Lime trees in order to build a new underground... I hope and think they will replace it.
DeleteThe restaurant in Noordwijk needs a reservation.
Lots of lime trees together can make me sneeze. The only pollen to do so. So I choose carefully when to walk beneath them Britta.x
ReplyDeleteThat is not good - so we'll choose another time when you come to Berlin! X
ReplyDeleteDear beautiful Britta, Your artwork is excellent! I am reminded of the subtle shading of Sumi paintings. As you may have surmised, I am a compulsive doodler. When Daughter left for study and work in Chicago, she gave a gift of a Sumi painting kit --brushes and ink-block-- which has been much used in my journals. I hope you post more artwork. It surely helps during this time of international lock-down.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Geo.! I know that you draw, and I like it very, very much! When I draw I forget things that normally pass through my head and am really in the "Now" - looking. Your Sumi painting kit sounds so alluring!
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