I Eat Violets

The print shown is from an engraving by Canu in 1815. Copies were circulated among the supporters of the exiled Emperor. 

They would toast, "Corporal Violet."

During the exile of Napoleon I at Elba, in the year 1814, preceding Napoleon's abdication, the French Bonapartists chose, as their emblem, the violet because of the Capitulation of Paris. They nicknamed Napoleon "Caporal Violet, the little flower that returns with spring". Postcards picturing a bunch of innocent looking violets soon flooded France, but when scrutinized closely, the violets in the bouquet revealed the outlines of portraits of Napoleon, Marie Louise and of their three year old son, Charles, King of Rome. The French government fought, by decree on and off, until the year 1874 any reproduction of a violet because it was the symbol of the Bonapartists.

Author Unknown

Did you know Chopin loved violets

and when he died of tuberculosis

his close friend and female novelist {George Sand}

found every violet she could in Paris and covered his grave with them.

     Zeus wasn't the only philanderer who sent violets to his wife. Napoleon Bonaparte's wife Josephine loved the flowers. She wore them on her wedding day, and Napoleon (who wasn't the most faithful husband on record) sent her a bouquet of purple violets every year on their anniversary. Napoleon adopted the plant as his political emblem, and when he was banished to Elba, he promised to "return with the violets." While he was in exile, his followers persisted in wearing the flower as an emblem of their own faithfulness, even after a law was passed against it. And after Waterloo, Napoleon reportedly visited Josephine's grave, picked a few violets he found growing there, and kept them in a locket he wore until his own death.

http://americanvioletsociety.org

Then there is me.

I just love the way they smell 

and the way they TASTE!!!!

I grew up on these candies.

No one else liked them.

They said they tasted like perfume.

Edible perfume that knocks your socks off 

with your favorite scent.....

what could be better??????

http://www.chowardcompany.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=OS&Product_Code=03100&Category_Code=MV

Probably because as a tiny child

my grandmother {BIBI}

had them on the window sill over her sink always.

I spent much time standing on a step ladder next to her 

no matter what she was doing.

It could have been washing dishes, 

cooking, or preparing food....

I was her constant shadow.

I may have driven her crazy, but I never knew it!

And because I am so crazy for the scent.....

it has finally been revealed to me

that every fine perfume I have worn has had a violet base in it.

I am now wearing the purest violet scent that I can find.

It smells just like the candy.

I am in heaven when I first put it on...

then

after a minute or 2

you can no longer smell it's sweet,

one and only scent.

Needless to say....

I am the constant spritzer....

[like the constant gardner]

Thank You mom for the RE-FILL

What do you think of VIOLET?

I have been told it is an OLD LADY scent.

Okay. So What?

I have been an old lady since the age of 9!!!

Renée Finberg 'TELLS ALL' in her BLOG..... Owner of 'The Trade' Interiors, ,Boca Raton,Palm Beach,Boca Raton Florida,All custom upholstery,case-goods,window treatments,Antiques, Accessories and Antique accessories, All built-ins,built in banquette sofa seating.\Violets,Violets, napoleon,chopin and violets Tweet