It Peats Me

In honor of this blog's two year anniversary, I must tell you a fragrance-centered story, since this is all about fresh air and such . . .

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Now if you do not know me personally, you may not know that I am OBSESSED with smells. Candles particularly.

I can spend hours at Bath & Body Works just sniffing fragrant wax cylinders and limiting myself to purchasing one or two.

... then come back in a week when there's an incredible sale and smell them all again, like I've never smelt them before.

And buy two more.

And I am not a candle snob, FYI.

I'll sniff and purchase the candles at a Michaels Craft Store, Stop & Shop, or a Dollar Tree if they are creatively named scents.

Unless of course it smells like garbage.

...Then I'm out.

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My current fragrance: Blueberry Maple Pancakes.

Call me Violet Beauregarde and put a pin in me.

It's like eating a real blueberry infused pancake, dammit!

Anyway, I wrote a while ago about why I am so partial to taking in the fresh air of the new land you've ventured to. It is invigorating. It is rejuvenating. It is therapeutic.

Ireland inspired this feeling in me.

Mostly because it is the only country I've visited that utilizes a biomass fuel in a way that is detectable by nose (aka burning peat).

If you've never smelled peat before, many might say you're not missing out.

It smells like burnt vegetation.

I beg to differ.

The smell of peat hits you almost immediately after you leave the small bubble of the airport. It's unmistakable scent grows stronger as you venture into the countryside.

It is magical.

But before you go onto Google Flights and purchase your ticket solely for the purpose of smelling authentic peat, it is important to mention . . .

It may be going "extinct" soon.

Word on the street is that peat burning may be a thing of the past in order to fix climate change a bit.

While that is heroic gesture, Ireland... there are a million other things we could be doing to slow down the process.

Why must you change what ignites my nostrils in a way that no other scent has?????

So that leads me to the life-changing purchase:

I bought tiny peat burners that look like brownies and burn like incense on a little slate block, as shown below. It is as close as you can get to the real thing.

Believe me... I have purchased a 20 dollar candle off of Amazon (thinking it's the size of a Bath & Body Works 3-wick), only to find it is minuscule and just doesn't do the trick.

credit: Amazon

So save money! Buy peat bricks!

Burn them carefully!

Pretend you're in Ireland!

It helps me.

At least for now.

skål xx