Who is Tarleisio?

So what sort of name is "Tarleisio" anyway? Why Scent Less Sensibilities? And what do I think I can add to the many, many perfume blogs out there already?

"Tarleisio" has been my online identity since the millenium year of 2000, when I ventured out into the internet in earnest and needed a handle that was unique and easy to remember. The word itself is ancient Welsh for "echo, shadow" (the modern Welsh for the same is "adleisio") and - I stole it from a book called "Blackmantle" - a sci-fi/fantasy novel in Patricia Kennealy-Morrison's "Keltiad" series. (Ms. Kennealy-Morrison has since given me her permission, I might add!)

Since then, I have plastered myself pretty much everywhere...on writing websites, as a commentator, and especially since late 2008, as a blogger on Blogspot.

About me: I'm a 48-year-old post-punk, post-Goth, metalheaded attitude problem and the mother of a 6-year-old I will sometimes refer to as "Spider-Man Jr.". Although I'm originally trained as a graphic designer and have worked as one for most of my adult life, I've had a checkered career, among them...baker, pastry chef, tech support, media buyer, microfilm photographer, typographer/printer, reprographic artist and a warehouse worker. As a graphic artist, I have mainly worked in print media - for magazines and newspapers, as an in-house designer and as the graphic designer for a large Copenhagen music venue. I'm half Danish, half American, raised in the US, and lived there again from 2000-2004 in New Mexico and Florida. Now, I'm back in Denmark, and sometimes, I wonder why...

Music is not just a passion, but an obsession. I blame ten years of playing classical flute to a fairly high standard and an opera-obsessed mother, many years of summer music festivals and more concerts than I can name. I love many, many genres, but hard rock and metal have taken over a large section of my CD collection. Punk and Goth never left - and they never will! ;-)

My musings musical and otherwise can be found here:

MoltenMetalMama

By complete accident and by way of a complete discography, I began a novel in November 2009. The first draft was completed in August 2010, and currently, when I'm not sniffing, cooking or writing about perfume one way or another, I'm in the process of revising it for submission and publication. It contains very many of my peeves, passions and idiosyncrasies. Inspired in part by the German folk tale "Faust", but with a twist borne of my love for music and the performers who make that magic happen. All of the first draft chapters as well as the completed second draft chapters are available online as I complete them in all their faulty, flawed wonder here:

Quantum Demonology

Scent Less Sensibilities - inspired partly by my love of Jane Austen, patron saint of all female writers everywhere - was launched in July 2010 because I had the hare-brained idea that I might be able to do that, too. Why the "Less"?  For no other reason than if I love a perfume enough - and I'm notoriously fickle in that respect - all sense goes flying right out the window...Perfumes speak to me on so many levels;  sensual, emotional and intellectual, that it is a writing challenge of no small order to verbalize them, which is another reason why I write about them.

For a good many years, I have been a sometime commenter on many other blogs, and to this day, I still am. This is one way I can repay all that those bloggers - and they are legion! - have taught me about perfumes and scents in all their permutations. I am no competition to the many bloggers who have taught me so much, and I'll be the first to admit it. What I can do is to contribute my few dollars worth of opinions, share my love, and write as uniquely as I can about a uniquely personal subject.

I can't imagine a life without perfume, without scent and sound, taste and color and touch, any more than I can imagine a life without words or poetry or music. I'm a Taurus, which is my partial excuse...;-) and also the explanation for the Cow Parade image above. The story of Ferdinand the Bull resonates on several levels...as does the bee!

Should you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact me here.

I look forward to all the discoveries we'll share and discuss!