wanderingquilter

“Founded over a quarter of a century ago, Amouage is a niche luxury fragrance house that draws inspiration from its birthplace of the Sultanate of Oman, infusing reference points from a rich and colorful heritage that fires the imagination of all who come into contact with its wonderful products.”

That’s the way the History of Amouage begins on their website http://www.amouage.com.  It was established in Oman in 1983 by the Sultan of Oman, who hoped to revive and redefine the ancient Omani art of perfumery. Amouage (a word created from “amour” + an Arabic word meaning “waves”) uses the traditional materials of Middle Eastern perfumery, such as frankincense and myrrh.

This perfume house is situated in Oman, just outside of the city of Muscat.  A cluster of small buildings, it is overshadowed by a large new structure that will house the whole operation when completed.  I was fortunate to be able to go on a tour on Wednesday.  I have seen Amouage perfume stores in malls here in the middle East, but didn’t realize what it really is.  Most perfumes in Muslim countries are made from pure oil essences only. There is some alcohol in Amouage, which lightens it up a bit, but it still has the intimacy and lasting power of the oils. Many are really heavy in frankincense and myrrh, and I was pleasantly surprised at the number of lighter, more “Western” scents available.

There are 120 different natural ingredients used – silver frankincense is one of the main ones. The most sought after frankincense has always been from Dhofar  in the southern part of Oman. In legend, so valuable were the frankincense trees, they were guarded by winged serpents.  This frankincense tree is planted just outside the Amouage showroom.

The scent is developed in the south of France, and then sent to Oman, where it is mixed with alcohol and goes through an 8 week maceration period, where all the scents blend together.

First, we were shown around the gallery.  The traditional bottles have a mosque-shaped top on the ladies’ perfume, and the top of a Khanjar or traditional Omani knife on the mens’.  The first perfume created was Amouage Gold.  they also have a display of fancy, gold bottles – I’m not sure if you can buy the, but I’m sure they would be expensive.

We sampled each of the perfumes.. first on wrists and then on paper wands. The main perfumes are displayed on pedestals along the outside of the room, with colourful photos of the main ingredients on the wall beside.  Along the wall, there are small jars containing some of the natural ingredients used – frankincense, myrrh, ambergris, cinnamon, moss, and many others.

Once we had seen all the products, which include not only perfumes but also creams, lotions, bath oils, candles and room sprays, we headed into the bowels of the factory.  We saw the rooms where the maceration vats are, the first about 17C and the second cooler.  There is the mixing room, with it’s scales and interesting little bottles on the shelves.  And, have you ever seen a PAIL of perfume before?

At the end of the hallway, we entered the viewing area over the room where the perfume is bottled and packaged.  It is all done by hand. We saw the bottles being filled, checked for solids, cleaned of fingerprints, and on the far end of the table, two ladies were putting the bottles into their boxes.  Into each box is also inserted a little note saying “Thank you for choosing Amouage” and it includes the name of the person who packaged it.

I learned that Amouage is the only Arabian perfume sold in London, UK.  It is very expensive, but when you see the care that goes into producing it, you can understand why.

A very interesting morning.  Oh, and by the way, the one I liked best is called Memoir – it’s the newest addition to the line.  We received some samples of some of the others, but I want to go back, “clean”, and try just this one, to see if I like it as well on me as on the paper wand.

I did some research today on the flowers I saw two days ago…. and I have some corrections to make…

The second photo , incorrectly identified as a pomegranate, is an African Tulip Tree, Spathodea campanulata.  It is native to Uganda, and is a thoroughly spectacular plant.  I still want one!

In this photo, the larger pink flower is a relative of the Allamanda or Plumeria, but is called a Desert Rose , Adenium obesum.  This  species is native to Oman, in the area around Salalah.  It can flower on bare wood, and the stem will swell up, making it a bit of a conversation piece.

The small one is a Mexican Coral Vine (Antigonon leptopus) or Chinese Love Vine – the little flowers are heart-shaped.

For those of you who care, there it is.

There was a beautiful sunrise over the mountains this morning, so, of course, I had to snap a shot of it.  I DO love my iPhone after all.

We walked through the wadi a different way.  Now, a wadi is a dry river bed, or we’d call it a water run back home.  Lots of these they now call “abandoned” here, as the flow patterns have been changed with all the building. Lots of plants grow there in among the gravel. Many wild plants here have very small leaves, and very large thorns.  This one particularly caught my eye (and thankfully, not my clothing) as we walked by.

Those thorns were easily an inch long… maybe more.

We went around the streets, and then up one we’d never entered before…. and there I found it.  I was attracted by the little red flower, and when I got close, I saw the fruit.  A pomegranate tree.

Around, the back of the same house, they had another, this one just coming into flower. Here is the flower bud… actually a whole “head’ of them…. it reminds me of an artichoke.Beside it, you see one where the outer flowers have begun to open.  They are dramatic, and huge.  Here’s a shot from another angle. You just know that something that comes from a flower like this has to be delicious! I’ve never seen one before, and I want one.  I’ll have to find out if they will grow in pots, and if I would ever get blooms before I leave here…… but now I know what I’d like to put in my large pot.

Another lovely, sunny day in Paradise.  Snoopy and I walked down to the beach this morning, and found things very different….. here’s the path we took, and what we discovered.

Walking along our side of the street, instead of along the wadi, I found two flowering shrubs that I hadn’t seen before…. I took photos (of course) and will have to go through the books to see what they are. this red one might be a kind of Plumeria that I haven’t seen flower before.  The flowers  on the small pink one look like hearts.  The large flower is a mandevillia.

When we arrived at the beach, it was very calm and quiet.  The tide was mostly out, and the great pile of sand that had been deposited there last weekend had been eroded away. Many small rocks, newly uncovered, littered the beach, along with a few small shells. There were sandbars, and small water pools with wave rippled sand, and little rivers of the captive water rushing to the ocean.

Where the sand had been taken back into the ocean, it left a great cliff, sometime 18″ or more high, as the tides had been lower than those that first deposited the sand.

The white you see here is some plastic which had been buried in the sand, probably brought in from who-knows-where on the high tide.

Here is my good friend Snoopy, just to show you how high the ledge is… he’s quite a tall dog.

It’s quite cloudy here today…. and that is NOT normal. Most of the time, the sky is blue, with nary a cloud to be seen, or just little wispy ones.   Or there are clouds out over the ocean, but the sun is hot and bright here. Sometimes it’s misty over the mountains.

I’ve taken quite a few sky photos…. of course, mostly when there WERE clouds in the sky.  I’ll treat you to a few of them now.

By the way, there is no rain in the forecast, so I’m sure we’ll have sun later.

Well, I’m off to do some quilting.  The sun is out!

Last Sunday, the American Womens’ Group organized a trip to two nurseries, led by the lady that knows plants here in Muscat, Anne Love.  She wrote a really good book about gardening here – and I have it and look at it…. but I don’t have it with me on walks when I’m looking at plants.  This trip really made a difference.  Monday morning, when Snoopy and I took our morning stroll, I was surprised at how many plants I could identify now.

I met up with a couple of friends for the trip out.  Soon after we arrived, Anne introduced us to Ali, who owns the first nursery.  He led us first along the front fence, where they have some climbing plants growing.  Then we delved into the nursery, and were introduced to many flowering plants.  Ali showed us the greenhouse where they have a special area to house the cuttings while they are rooting… it was really warm and humid.  Here, they root in a week or so. I also found out what the wonderful tree I found in the wadi is… and I can buy one there.  It’s a Sesbania Grandiflora! The beans-like seed pods on it are a foot long.

After a quick stop at MacDonalds for a free drink, we went to another nursery, this one specializing in fruit trees.  They have a huge pile of sand mixed with a little bit of sweet soil for potting plants.  Seems funny to put sand in pots, but here, that’s what most plant grow in… that’s what most of the soil in Oman is, like a giant sand box.  We saw a huge mango tree, figs, guavas, grapes, kumquats and other citrus trees.  I didn’t realize that mangos had pointed leaves.

We didn’t have time to shop.  I went this morning for just a minute to get some potting soil – $2.50 for a large, very heavy sack of it.  I’ll need David to get it out of the car for me.  I plan to repot some bougainvillea to put on the balcony.

This is a small mango tree in flower…. about 7 feet tall, just around the corner from my house.

I MUST go back, when I have time to browse, and bring home some new gems.