Tracking Down a Memory

I don't know how your memory works, but mine tends to shake me to attention without any obvious provocation. So it was when I caught myself thinking about my mother, and not ten seconds later was on eBay bidding on a bottle of perfume I hadn't thought about in (at least) forty years. I'd have been happy to find an empty bottle with a residual scent, but $27.00 dollars later I had half of a large bottle of Judith Muller's 60's scent, Bat-Sheba. A bit leaked in the shipping, but there's still a lot of perfume that has concentrated over the last four decades. I wiped off the bottle, and an hour later the scent is still clinging to my hands. This isn't a perfume for the timid.

I smell patchouli, sandalwood, the head shop/record store on Skokie Blvd, and my mother around 1970. I know that's kinda a vague description so here's a better review of the fragrance that isn't caught up in all the emotional baggage of a middle aged woman missing her mum.

http://yesterdaysperfume.typepad.com/yesterdays_perfume/2010/01/bat-sheba-by-judith-muller-1966.html

There's definitely an incense smell. Danny retreated to his room to escape it, but I can't stop sniffing my hands (which would look kinda weird if I were out in public, but I'm at home). This isn't an everyday perfume (or a long ride in the car perfume unless you knew the other passengers liked it)but I can see occasions where I would (very sparingly) wear it. For me, it is a memory in a beautiful little genie bottle I can place on my perfume tray to summon a memory (and if I'm honest, a good cry) when I need it.