Oh deer!

I was just a couple feet away from a young buck on the other side of the garden fence this evening. I surprised him when I rounded the corner, but he wasn’t scared enough to run off.  He had modest sized antlers with two prongs and the usual big brown eyes and huge ears constantly on the alert.  He stared longingly at all the green plants on the other side of the fence in my garden. 

I felt badly that the gnats were bothering him; he kept swishing his short little tail and stamping his back feet, making me wish he at least had a better tail to swish with.  I also wished I had a camera in hand because his face was beautiful and I was close enough to get a great picture.  I watched him for quite a while as he wandered around grazing, not very concerned about me but staring at me from time to time. 

Earlier we’d had a big group of wild turkeys come through (they walk through on a nightly journey to their sleeping quarters almost every evening).  It’s fun to share the area with the wildlife, though I don’t share my garden.  Mom has a wonderful crop of corn, beans, peas, peppers, strawberries, and lettuce that she’s trying not to share with them, but the deer did get some of her herbs.

I’m testing a new synthetic galbanum ingredient this evening; the natural has fairly short lasting power and the fragrance chem companies all offer synths that they hope perfumers will prefer for their better lasting power.  I feel like I made good progress on Reves and also on an exciting new scent that I don’t want to mention just yet.  I need to work more on the gardenia though.