Chartreuse

Would you care to share a moment in the parlor, sipping spicy-sweet liqueur? A neat nip (or over ice) with sunlight slight and sylphish. Bespectacled with Chartreuse-tinted glasses we’ll let our memories and imaginations wander.

If a room might be an “elixir of long life” so revitalizing as to be medicinal, Rosslyn’s parlor might well springboard from audition direct to marquee. This serene green room, herbaceous and vegetal, contrasts crisply against the blanc de blanc mantle and moldings, feels grounding and reassuring, even more binary than black and white.

The paint color, perhaps pea green gilded with sunlight — inherited from Rosslyn’s previous owners and re-chosen by my bride with the blessings of our still young nephews seventeen years ago or so — stands out throughout this home.

I returned from a southwest walkabout, pre-warned by Susan that I might not like the color she chose, that my nephews helped her choose, that looked “really, really green”, that we could always change if I hated it, but that she thought was absolutely perfect.

It was. It is. And we’ve kept it ever since. Even refreshed a little over a year ago.

And, no, it’s not sure chartreuse green. Sometimes, in certain light, almost. But Paul Rossi’s painting above the fireplace? There’s definitely some chartreuse green in there!

Chartreuse Parlor: haiku

Inherited hue
medicinal elixir
chosen anew

Liqueur de Santé

Created in 1840, the “Liqueur de Santé” is… still produced and manufactured today by the Chartreux Fathers in their Aiguenoire distillery in Entre-Deux-Guiers (Isère – France).

‘Chartreuse Verte’ derives its unique character from its natural color… and its aromatic complexity from 130 plants, flowers, bark, roots and spices… (Source: Green Chartreuse)

Aside from the fact that I love green, my favorite color since single-digit childhood (when it inexplicably changed from yellow), I’m pleased with the tribute to our Rosslyn predecessors, the McNultys. A continuation. A return. Like springtime.