Britta's Letters from her life divided between city-life in German's capital Berlin and life in a Bavarian village

Thursday 2 July 2020

Intoxicated by the smell of limes

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.
                       Cause 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









20 comments:

  1. Wasn't he too sexy for his shirt?

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  2. Yeah, I shake my little tush on the catwalk...

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  3. I'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.

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    1. You 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.

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  4. I smile at the thought of you moving a bee to a safe place.

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    1. But I do (if there are not too many).
      And 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.

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    2. 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...

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    3. I free any wasp silly enough to fly indoors. Bees seem to have more sense here.

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  5. When 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 !
    Oh to be in Berlin to smell the lime trees. XXXX

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    1. 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).
      And yes: Berlin is wonderful at the moment. XXXX

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  6. The beautiful smell of Lime trees is indeed intoxicating, but just don't park your car beneath them!!!

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    1. I 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...

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  7. Hey 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.

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    1. Berlin 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)
      And yes: Lübeck is een schatje.

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    2. 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.

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    3. The thing is, Guusje, that they chopped the Lime trees in order to build a new underground... I hope and think they will replace it.
      The restaurant in Noordwijk needs a reservation.

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  8. 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

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  9. That is not good - so we'll choose another time when you come to Berlin! X

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  10. Dear 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.

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    1. Thank 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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