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Blogala Ending

Thanks to all of you who have commented and participated in our Autism Blogala this month - We raised $51 that will be donated to Autism Community Training in BC. Although this is less than I was hoping to raise, I have a feeling that I contributed by sharing my thoughts and stories with you, and help other parents and individuals with autism to feel more comfortable sharing their experiences.

We will have another autism Blogala in October 2007. In the meantime, you are invited to visit our Pumpkin Blog.

Behind the Scents with Tamya Parfum



The first rain in a desert country is something extraordinary. There is a word for it in our language, “Yoreh”. After the dead-dry months of dust and dried straw and broiling sun, the earth responds to the rain gratefully by releasing a haunting aroma and setting free the many seeds that are buried within her. They will sprout as early as the next day, and within a couple of days, the earth is covered with teeny signs of life of many species. The most significant plants, besides the bright green grass against the rich brown soil, are the Autumn Crocuses, aka Sitvanit ha-Yoreh (Sitvanit is from Stav, the Hebrew word for Autumn, and the Yoreh is the first rain). In other words – the Autumn Crocus of the First Rain.

The other species is a type of bluebell, which is called “Rain Bells”. A very modest sibling to the European species, as these flowers are tiny and quite rare. They don’t grow in groups as the European ones do, so one must remember where they emerged in previous years to find them.

After nine months of the best pregnancy I could ever wish for myself (or any other woman), and after 22 hours of labour (which I would happily fast-forward if it was only possible), on October 29th, 1996, at 12:50am, my 9 months and 22 hours odyssey to motherhood had reached its destination, and a beautiful girl took her first breath, which most likely had smelled of a combination of wheat germ oil in a hospital... That very night, the Yoreh had knocked on the roofs of the Western Galilee, and clenched the thirst of the dry earth. Two days later, when we came back home from the hospital, the earth was covered with the spouting grass. My mother and brothers came to visit. The clouds had already cleared (that’s what they do around the Mediterranean), and in the late afternoon and the magic hour just before sunset, the warm Autumnal sun has glowed on our euphoric faces and the little fruit-of-the-womb. We went for a leisurely stroll among the olive orchards and observed the same golden light glowing through the rare petals of Autumn Crocuses and Rain Bluebells with a peaceful feeling of wonderment in our hearts.




I am telling this as I am biting into the last creamy guava that has been scenting my house for the past couple of days. The scent of a guava fruit instantly reminds me of these first weeks ten years ago. The baby and me were fortunate to enjoy the nourishing abundance of Autumn fruit. My mom spoiled me with only the best of them: guavas, anonas (aka custard fruit), persimmons, pomegranates and the very first tangerines of the season – perhaps not quite ripe enough, but no one cares. The first tangerines are a symbol of autumn and the first days of school. They are still rather green on the outside but already ripe enough to enjoy, especially if you are a kid.

In summer 2004, I felt it was time for me to bottle that special magical hour and that magical autumn. I wanted a perfume that would be glowing like the diagonal sunrays just before sunset; I wanted it to be abundantly fruity; I wanted it to be as sweet as a baby’s breath, and tender as the scent of a newborn crown.


Bluebell Singing, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.

I overcame the challenge of the composition by using a few unusual essences to compensate for the limited fruity palette of the Natural Perfumery Organ (guava note was out of the question, unfortunately): The precious oil of Yuzu, an exotic Japanese citron with an intensely fruity, citrusy, bright aroma (reminiscent of grapefruit and Clementine combined, but much better) as the main fruity note along with black currant buds absolute. For the heart, I chose mostly white florals, that all have a hint of fruit and are sparkling and lively: Jasmine Sambac, Hyacinth Absolute, Ylang Ylang and Frangipani. The base is milky and musky, with notes of ambrette, Atlas Cedarwood, Sandalwood and a tad of vanilla. The results were an instant success with the first trial. I had to later on eliminate the hyacinth, as it is a very unusual building block and very difficult to find. However, omitting it did not make a significant difference on the perfume. It still smelled like “Tamya”.

The challenge was with picking the name. I was chasing my tail trying to find nice French or Italian names for “Golden Dusk”, “Fruit of the Womb”, etc. Sometimes, the simplest things just stand in front of us and we stare through them blindly… After a while it dawned on me that I should simply use the name of the muse for this perfume: Tamya. And so it remains to this day.


P.s. Image of Sitvanit originally uploaded by Sibboleth

Miracles Happen


This is Tamya two years ago in early Fall 2004. Her femur is broken and she is sitting in a wheel chair posing for a newsletter of The Corporation. Her entire left leg is in stabilzed by a brace. This was the most traumatic event in her life. The pain and the helplessness has forced her to use language in situation in which otherwise she would have been self-sufficient. She learned to trust us, her parents, in every detail of her life and had to communicate more complex needs. She learned that she can lean on us to support her cope with pain. In a sense, this was Tamya's re-birth. It was as painful as birth and she emerged out of this extreme experience a completely different person. At the age of 8, the unbelieveable happened: Tamya started talking.

To read more about the story of Tamya's transformation, visit the Pumpkin Blog.
Don't miss tomorrow's last episode in the Autism Blogala: the story behind Tamya parfum. The winners of the Blogala Draw and the Annick Goutal quiz will be announced on November 1st.

At that time (Fall 2004) I was wearing Yohji more than ever, as I just discovered that scent. From than on, Yohji reminds me of this transformation from pain to sweet victory of overcoming one’s own obstacles… Yohji will forever remain a scent that is difficult for me to wear, as it brings the ambivalent feelings of this family trauma and the significant inner change it triggered in the three of us. Ironically enough for me, Yohji also starts green and with ozone notes that are peculiar and somewhat aggressive. Both notes are extremely difficult for me anyways (perhaps the only two that I have a very strong adverse reaction to)… There is also an intense bergamot note, like an intense sniffage of an ultra-fresh Earl Grey teabag. The ozone gives up on its domineering aspirations after about half an hour, and by the time you reach the basenotes, the greens grassy notes dry down (literally…) into the sweetest coumarin accord ever – just like fresh cut grass that is left to dry in the warm sun. Upon drydown Yohji turns around 180 degrees and reveals the most luxurious confection of vailla, caramel and juicy raspberry syrup, all dusted with a powdery comforting softness. I always wanted to write a review of Yohji, but the opportunity occurred only now. I feel that only within this context my impression and experience of Yohji is the most truthful (though extremely subjective).

Top notes: Galbanum, Green notes, Ozone/Oceanic notes, Bergamot
Heart notes: Praline, Raspberry
Base notes: Coumarin, Vanilla, Sandalwood, Musk


Happy Birthday to Tamya!

This year is the first year that Tamya can tell us how old she is: Ten!
She had the perfect birthday:
Lots of friends visiting
Birthday Cake (we made blackforest cake together!)
Pumpkin Carvin'
Lots of cool presents (mostly craftsy stuff, including smelly markers, scrapbooking stuff such as stickers and tracing templates, her first journal - with a lock! - and her very first set of acrylics and canvas frames!).

We now just got back from getting her favourite Gelato - four scoops as always: Mango, Black Sesame Seed, Spiced Pumpkin and Vanilla. Surprisingly - no coconut this time!
If this combination sounds weird to you, let's set the record straight: these are best eaten, according to Tamya, when mixed together, rather than enjoying them separately. Perfumery is all about mixing the unlikely component and creating a new whole that is greater than the sum of all parts. Tamya is showing early signs of talent in that direction. And did I mention her new signature mixture of her coconut body spray with her pineapple detangling spray? Smells divine, though not quite practical...

Please participate in our Blogala Autism Fundraising! Only three more days to go, and you can win cool prizes and also contribute to a good cause!!!

For more details visit:

Autism Blogala Announcement
Annick Goutal Mystery Scent Contest
Tamya Parfum Blogala Special

Today I was wearing Tamya perfume in honour of my daughter. It now reached the last phases of the dry down, which are soft and subtle musk and vanilla. A soft way to end an eventful day... Tomorrow I will be telling the story behind this haunting perfume, which is gathering a growing circle of admirers.

P.s. One of Tamya's little friends had a tea party in Tamya's room last night. She poured almost the entire content of her Diorissimo mini into one of the miniature tea cups. I noticed a very pretty and familir scent suddenly appeared around her and her mom towards the end of the day, but it didn't really occur to me what it was until I cleaned up the room the next day... And only tonight (when I was washing the dishes and the tea cup amongst them, which made the kitchen mysteriously gorgeous smelling) that I realized that the orange-coloured thick residue in the teeny tea cup was not ancient orange juice, but an evaporated Diorissimo!
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