Almond and Milk is our Tuesday Spotlight this week. Hands down, our Almond and Milk soap and moisturizer is one of our most popular scents. Almond and Milk has been in our line-up from the beginning of my soap-making journey. I loved this scent because it reminded me of my grandma. In the seventies and eighties, she used a moisturizer that was scented with almonds, and I have always associated it with her. It’s not that it smells like an old lady; it reminds me of comfort, caring, and good times.
When I was little, my gram lived in a small single-wide trailer on a plot of land on a country road. Her home was always tidy and perfect. She lived in Pennsylvania for six months and then spent the rest of the year in Florida at a “campground.” When my gram was in Pennsylvania, we spent a lot of time with her. We would have sleepovers and spend the weekends at her little house. When I was little, I thought her yard was magical. She had a perfectly manicured lawn with the most beautiful flower beds.
Her lawn had giant oak trees, beds of peonies, zinnias, sunflowers, soldier buttons, azaleas, rhododendrons, tulips, daffodils, hens and chicks, roses, and berry bushes. My gram also had “kissing cousins” lawn ornaments. They were kissing dutch kids wearing red and white outfits. Along with her kissing cousins, she had a gazing ball on a pedestal, a giant cement white cat, and a fancy birdbath. When I was little, her lawn reminded me of a fairy tale. At the edge of her property was a forest with a stream. Along the creek grew skunk cabbage. My sister and I would spend hours with our grandma beating skunk cabbage with a stick. It was a simple activity, but we thought it was so much fun. Whacking skunk cabbage was often used as a bribe for patience and good behavior. “If you clean your plate, we’ll beat the skunk cabbage after dinner.”
After long days spent outside playing with kittens in the back shed, beating skunk cabbage with sticks, and playing hide-and-go-seek in the rhododendrons, we would come in for a bath in her tiny little bathtub. After our bath, my gram would slather us with her almond-scented moisturizer, give us a snack of freshly baked bread with butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar, read us a bible story and put us to bed. Sometimes if we were lucky, we got to stay up later and help her plan her Sunday school lesson. We would cut out activities with scissors, choose the stickers for the week, and play with the felt storyboard used to emphasize the lesson.
These memories are what I associate our Almond and Milk scented soap and moisturizer with, and they are all good memories. I hope you, dear reader, create your own good memories associated with our scents. As always, the Tuesday Spotlight is half-off exclusively on the website for the week. It is an excellent time to stock up on a favorite, try something new, or buy someone special a gift. On this lovely November Tuesday, stay safe, be smart, enjoy the savings and keep washing your hands.