Lavender mist

I understand smell is the only unmediated sense we have. It goes directly to the brain. This morning I woke up with lavender and thoughts of my daughter in Scotland. Maybe I should be smelling heather, but I do not know if heather has a smell. Instead I smell lavender and go to find the lavender spray.

I lie in bed,

My eyes shut,

The covers pulled tight.

I smell lavender

Even though

There is no logical place

The smell comes from.

I remember my daughter

Now in Scotland.

She sprays lavender mist

When she is here.

I smell lavender.

I go in search

Of the bottle of lavender spray

So I can continue

Remembering.

Duchess

I met the Duchess in the gift shop, before ordering tea and scones.  It really is another world, one that I was not expecting.  I did not expect interactions with royalty,  Especially in the gift shop.  Now I am home with my Duchess apron, with a demolished kitchen, the refrigerator in the living room, the coffee pot in our bathroom upstairs.  I am waiting to use my apron.

I met the Duchess of Argyle

In the gift shop

Of the Inveraray Castle.

She was wearing a kitchen apron.

It read, simply,

Duchess.

The Duke had gone to fetch the children,

Two boys and a girl,

Lady Charlotte

Age four.

She was a cab driver

Before she married

The Duke.

The Duchess rang up my purchases.

I bought a Duchess apron,

Had her sign it for me.

It appeals to my sense of whimsy.

The whole scene.

I will wear the apron

When the kitchen is complete.

I will pretend

I live in a castle.