Louisa Parry's Three Beautiful Things » ace smells

Warm-up, someone made some effort, starting the sauce

louisa — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:00:32 +0000

1. Around the time of her usual lunchtime walk, her tail starts wagging even though the rest of her is dozing on the sofa. “It’s a warm-up, like stretching,” I tell John.

2. The boxes are coloured to indicate who they’re for – the big cat, the little cat or the dog. The colours – rich raspberry, burnt orange and cool purple – are contrasting complements, and until I see them together in the bag, I didn’t realise spot-on flea treatment packaging could be so pretty.

3. It takes a while for the smell to reach me – the sweet scent frying onions and the garlic – but when it does, I suddenly develop an appetite.

3BT – five beautiful things before lunchtime

louisa — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 21:30:39 +0000

1. When I finally wake up, she’s stretched out next to me, fully stretched out with her stumpy chicken legs pushed out behind her. I ask her if she wants to get up – it’s late and she must need a wee – but she buries her nose back under the duvet. Hearing my voice, Carla jumps on the bed for a cuddle and since it’s the only space available, she lies down next to her – not touching at first but then they are. By the time sleepy John turns over to see and we both coo at the cuteness of it.

2. Everyone is brunching in their gardens. The intermingling laughter and conversations draws people’s attention from the woods as they walk past the gap in the trees.

3. If someone made a perfume from the slightly sweaty, slightly caramelised smell of sun-touched skin, I’d buy it by the gallon.

4. Ditto “sweaty cat” – as I’ve said before, my most favourite smell. Carbon was more renowned for the smell but after sitting in her favourite spot on top of the woodpile, Carla smelled delicious too.

5. The oak trees are big enough for us to hide behind so without speaking, we do. Lily looks around confused, then runs to the spot where we’d been stood a moment earlier and looks into the mid-distance. Her face says “huh, where have they gone?” until the giggling gives away our location and we run together laughing/tail wagging.

3BT – puppy love, unusual blooms, kitty love, John love

louisa — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 22:00:18 +0000

1. I’m pawed, I’m licked, I’m nibbled all over. He can’t decide whether to eat his lunch or play with me so runs back and forth between both options until I’m tired. When I get back home, Lily thinks I smell very interesting and I’m grateful for her comparative calmness.

Later on, they play together in the garden. We watch over them like proud mums as they jump about with their helicopter tails.

2. I can smell garlic on the way up the hill but it’s only after leaving the meadow that I spot the former stream bed covered in wilting leaves. I decide to collect some more seed pods but without a basket, have to carry them in a bunch by their stems. I feel like I’m carrying a bouquet designed in the atomic era.

3. In turn, both of the cats visit my knee and I close my eyes to fully appreciate how they feel, sound and smell.

4. I’m so glad when I get a text just before midnight to say he’s on the train, the last train. Just over three hours later, I wake up suddenly and so do the cats and the dog. I hear keys in the door, a shuffling, a quiet unmistakeable cough. Lily’s tail starts banging on the bed – she knows who it is too.

3BT – go south, we’ll get there, sense pleasure

louisa — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:30:54 +0000

1. Instead of going north into the woods as normal, we decide at the last moment to go south instead. We explore the delightful enclave of cottages in the hidden dell, cross the ford – the first I’ve ever seen – and head into the other woods instead.

2. Amidst the chaos of the rehearsal, progress is being made. Some of the good kids from the group are really great, a lot of fun.

3. The air is full of scents and sounds: the fish & chip shop, the curry restaurant, the take-out chinese … and a pipes & drums band playing a concert at the school.

3BT – musty, dusty, surreal, feral, exploration

louisa — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:00:21 +0000

1. My fingers smell of old, dried glue.

2. A circle of matte green-grey shoots have appeared in the garden. Only time will tell what they’ll be.

3. As I leave the theatre, a woman is holding a fake hand prop in her arms like a sleeping baby.

4. Carbon spot it first: a fox running down the road outside our house – the first we’ve seen here. We watch it until it disappears back into the woods.

5. The cats decide that 10pm on a chilly January evening is the ideal time to explore the front of the house. Carbon runs a beat across the empty recycling bins then climbs a tree; Carla explores the street and the gardens across the road; and Boron, manic-eyed Boron, celebrates every new outside discovery by racing back into the house to check everything’s alright in there. I stand under the street light and watch it all.