Sunday, November 1, 2026 Well, THAT was an interesting night. Last evening’s welcome dinner was at a yakitori restaurant, where everything is grilled on skewers. Because of my finfish intolerance, I confined myself to skewers with chicken with leeks, and asparagus. What could possibly go wrong? Apparently, quite a lot. I suspect something fishy had […]
Author: Sandy
Japan Full Day One
Tokyo — Our First Full Day Well, the camera filter saga continues. No replacement yet, although H’s camera has been safely tucked away in my enormous puffer purse, awaiting a visit to a REAL camera shop. At this point, I think the camera and I are having a disagreement about who is actually in charge. […]
Japan, At Last! (Or: The Walls Actually Move!)
Tokyo, October 29-30 2026 — Arrival Day “The walls actually move! And the ceiling itself is moveable!” That was my very first line as the (not particularly nice) Lieutenant Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. I was in eighth grade. Yes, eighth grade. (I’ll wait while you catch up to the implications of that statement . […]
The Royal Civet Trumpet Corps
Or, Things I Did Not Expect to Learn From Filthy Musk There are certain mistakes one makes only because one has been given too much information. A fragrance arrives called Filthy Musk. The official materials contain civet. One prepares accordingly. Something animalic, perhaps. Feral. Musky. Slightly indecent. At minimum, one expects the civet to make […]
Oh, He’s Full.
Herbert had a habit that occasionally startled guests. People would be over. We would be talking. Everyone would be having a perfectly nice time. And then, at some point, Herbert would simply be done. Not with the friendship. Not with the evening. Not because someone had said something wrong. He was just done talking. So […]
What If the Problem Isn’t That AI Gets Too Powerful?
There is a remarkable amount of Sturm und Drang about artificial intelligence right now. Not merely the entirely reasonable questions — What happens to jobs? How do we deal with misinformation? What should students be allowed to use? Who owns the work AI was trained on? What happens when bad actors have access to enormously […]
The Great Reshelving — Postscript #2: Oriza L. Legrand
The House That Waited There is a long, narrow burgundy box in my fragrance collection. I did not buy it. I did not stand at a counter and choose its contents one by one. I did not spray something on my wrist, fall in love, hand over a credit card, and carry home a set […]
The Great Reshelving — Postscript #1: The Bonds
A few days into interviewing the Bond No. 9 fragrances in my Library, I happened to be in Union Square. My dentist is down there, and afterward I found myself standing near a small piece of my own fragrance history. Back in the day, Saks Fifth Avenue was across from the parking garage, with Tiffany […]
The Great ReShelving
I thought I was organizing perfume. Nope. Not that this is an unfamiliar situation . . . I begin with a perfectly ordinary household project. A drawer. A closet. A shelf. Several hours later, I am standing in the middle of the room surrounded by objects, holding a dirty rag and a bottle of Mr. […]
The Question Changed
For a long time, I thought learning about fragrance meant learning ingredients. The notes. The perfumer. The concentration. The history. Where the rose came from. Whether the oud had been sustainably harvested by moonlight from trees that had only whispered to passing monks. (Fragrance marketing can get wonderfully imaginative.) While those things are interesting, they’re […]