Pine Marten Post #6
Hello lovely person! Your December edition of Pine Marten Post is about;
Roses, perfume for cold days and hot nights, fuss-free festive feasting, dolphins, two sorts of snowballs, and Vikings
Gardening tips
Believe it or not, winter is the perfect time to plant a ravishing rose.
In a few short months, your garden will be filled with billowing blossoms and fabulous fragrance.
It could be the first step you take to create your very own scented sanctuary.
Buying roses bare root in winter is MUCH cheaper than buying them in containers from garden centres at any other time of year.
Roses simply need:
🌹 around 5 hours sun a day in summer
🌹 watering thoroughly when they're in a pot or newly planted
🌹 faded flowers being snipped off to encourage more blooms
Easier than you thought?
You could plant a rose in the ground, or in a large pot with good quality compost. Whichever works better for you. A sunny doorstep or balcony would be perfect for a potted rose.
There are plenty of excellent specialist rose nurseries online. Most of the new roses in our new garden are from Bunker's Hill Nursery.They have a great range and superb prices.
You can even choose roses which are perfect for pollinators—how fantastic is that?
Fragrant musings from the library of scent: Velvet Orchid by Tom Ford
Velvet Orchid envelops you in a tender embrace of richly sweet tropical flowers. Then entices you downstairs into a secret bar.
Top notes
Tendrils of sweet honey and rum tantalise and draw you further in. Sparkles of bergamot and mandarin flirt.
Heart notes
Heady sweet scents of rose, jasmine and narcissus announce their entrance with a flourish. A rare glimpse of a shy purple orchid peeps from behind the velvet curtain.
Base notes
Hot, spicy vanilla dances with stern sandalwood. Bumping and twisting next to indulgent myrrh and buttery smooth suede.
Sensory impressions
Old city pounding and thrumming with the pent up heat of the day.
Twisting, clanging iron staircase goes down, down, down—
heavy door slams closed. A forbidden place for many.
Cigar ash trembles—falls onto the sticky floor,
satin smooth shoulder gleams,
cocktail shakers clatter ice,
glistening humans writhe while a
glittering trumpet shrills.
Heavy bodies barging
too much innuendo
hot breath of rum
throaty chuckles
nudging past
grasping hands.
Let me go
out into the yard -
sweet night air.
A breath of starlight.
Wear this if you want to feel…
Intoxicated
Low key and lovely Winter Solstice feasting
Conventional festive plans leave me feeling overwhelmed, so, over the years, I've made lots of adjustments. Expectations are now managed, and there feels like much less of an unrealistic and weighty burden to carry.
We choose to acknowledge the Winter Solstice in our house. The turning of the year from darkness to light feels very significant.
Food for our festive feast is a little fancier than usual, but it's carefully chosen so there's no need for frantically thawing a turkey with a hairdryer at 5 am.
Most is prepared ahead, so there's no need for marathon kitchen sessions on the day while everyone else is unwrapping presents. Why should the cook miss all the fun?
However you spend the holiday season, can you try to carve out a little time for you?
Whatever you do, it doesn't matter. It could be an opportunity for joyful doodling, curling up with a book, or maybe a brisk walk, bundled up in lots of woollies. All that matters is that it's your choice of activity.
Nature notes for the month - December
Usually, this part is a kind of medley of things I've spotted while on my walks. But this month I went skiff rowing on the Firth of Clyde. We left the harbour on a gloriously sunny, but freezing morning, our blades cracking the sea ice. Then, once out into open water, we were accompanied for almost an hour by a family of four dolphins.
I still haven't quite processed the privilege of seeing them soaring in the air, turning their milky bellies up in mid-leap and literally gambolling across the glassy water. They were an expression of utter exuberance, huffing little dolphin breaths at us as they resurfaced after diving under our skiff.
They came so close to our wee boat, I could have touched one. If I hadn't been nervous of accidentally bopping it on the nose with my oar, or capsizing the boat. And it was waaaaaay too cold for a dunk that day.
Blissful chocolate review: Cadbury Snowballs
Nose tickling,
lip sprinkling,
tastebud flickering
icing sugar coats these little nuggets of loveliness.
Bite down, then you'll hear the crisp sugar shell crack.
And the first trickle of Cadbury milk chocolate starts to melt over your tongue.
A winter classic.
Random Scottish fact - Lovely Largs
Largs, on the South West coast of Scotland, is where a furious series of battles raged between the Vikings and the Scots in 1263.
However, the Scottish king, Alexander III, was a wily and shrewd strategist who managed to out-think and out-manoevre King Haakon and his huge Norwegian fleet anchored in the Firth of Clyde.
And that was the end of Viking rule in Scotland. Which is blatantly celebrated in Largs with the annual Viking Festival that runs for ten days every September.
On the blog and LinkedIn:
🕯The dark months of the year can be especially challenging for us. Here's a way to find some glimmers of light.
⚖And some tips on how to regain your equilibrium.
🎄Wishing you lots of festive cheer this holiday season! However you choose to spend it, I hope you find some winter jolliness.
PS Any products mentioned in this email are bought and paid for with my hard-earned real cash money.
I'd love to hear about what sensory experiences bring you joy.
Feel free to reply to this email, or you can message me on Instagram or LinkedIn.