Friday, October 26, 2007

Tussy Mussy or Is It Mussy Tussy?

It's way too late and I'm far too sleepy to figure it out tonight, but tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow......

UPDATE: This is a photo of a fellow lady passenger with a lovely bouquet she called "Tussy Mussy," standing on the train platform with her husband and me before daylight in Rhinebeck, N.Y several weekends ago. We were waiting for the Amtrak to speed us down the Hudson River to Penn Station.

She had made this herself from herbs and flowers in her garden (including sage, thyme, parsley, marigolds, clover, bachelor buttons and white anemones) as a gift for her daughter in New York City. We were both going into the City to early church----they to St. John the Divine, where her daughter was to dance that morning, and I to Redeemer Presbyterian to hear Tim Keller, one of my favorite pastors in America, preach the Gospel. I was joined for church by Whit and Lauren.

The lady on the platform told me, though Tussy Mussy is mostly associated with weddings today, in early England before the 20th Century it was made and carried---long before air conditioning and air quality control---by ladies as an air freshner and deoderizer from offensive smells when they were in stuffy buildings, unsavory accommodations or travel mode.

I quite like that idea of ladies carrying or wearing little bouquets of sweet smelling herbs and flowers with them whence they go. Seeing her Tussy Mussy certainly brightened the early morning wait, while the rest of the world was fast asleep.

I was totally charmed by this homemade bouquet. And the scent was other worldly.

Have a great weekend.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Right back at ya' Web!

I read your reply to my comment and am excited about what the next year holds for us!

Anonymous said...

Me too, Pam, me too.

615_libertarian said...

i love to learn about old-fashioned stuff like this!

great post and excellent vocabulary

vu vu!

Unknown said...

chariming is the perfect word to describe that bouquet!

It made me wonder about something. Do you remember a ladies deoderant that was around in the 70's and maybe still is around, called "Tussy"! I always thought that was a strange name for a deoderant. Now it makes perfect sense!

Webutante said...

Yes, what a good observation! Had never made that connection...but it's gotta be what it's named after!

And now we know.....the rest of the story! Thanks, Pam.

Alan Findaly said...

Very nice. None of the elements of the arrangement are complex by themselves, but they all fit together nicely. Can anyone identify the flowers with the large leaves? I've been looking for something with similar leaves.

- shop flowers