June 13, 2012
-
Do You Smell??
Sometimes we identify places, people and memories by scents;
Places:….the rich musk and earthy smell of the Smoky Mountains….the intoxicating and aromatic barrage of Dunkin’ Donuts as you stop to get your morning coffee. The molecular cloud of spicy incense when you pass by a Pizza Hut and then finally there’s the noxious barrier of the men’s room at Barfy’s Bar and Grill.
People:….Mom’s cheap Swan Song perfume that I bought her every Christmas until I was 15….the obscene smell of Jergens lotion on my first roommate at college….my college literature professor and the harsh fragrance of Mexican Primo blend….Grandma’s mothball enhanced wardrobe and uncle Jeff and his hops smelling breath.
Memories:….the aromatic scents wafting through the air at Christmas time many years ago of decorative cookies and flamboyant cakes and luscious pies. The fresh holiday evergreens and the abundance of smoking candles and roaring fireplaces. There were the rose bushes and pectin jelly beans at Easter. The pungent smell of barbecue, charcoal, burgers on the 4th of July and then later that night, the acrid smell from the clouds of smoldering sulfur from fireworks and of course there was uncle Jeff’s breath. Then, finally, there was that chlorine residue on opening day every summer at the city swimming pool.
Home:…. Every house had it’s own distinctive whiff:….Our house smelled of Mom frying bacon every Saturday morning followed by good smells from the oven in the afternoon and then a baked ham or roast chicken on Sundays. The rest of the week there was always that gentle under scent of Lysol that made our house feel and smell clean….Grandma and Granddad’s house smelled like a taxidermist shop….my fat cousin Ruth, (with all the cats), had a house that also smelled like Barfy’s Bar and Grill and then there was uncle Jeff’s house, well, it just smelled.
Even though I had a little fun with this post, it is true that there are many wonderful and nostalgic memories associated with our sniffers. The fact that I can still remember ancient fragrances from over fifty years ago attests to the power of our olfactory memory vaults, and I was just curious of what some of your fondest ones are……………………?
Comments (11)
Every post you write cracks me up. I love the smell of the pool, and I always feel like a kid when I smell it.
@BoulderChristina - As you get older, those young memories become important….trust me, hon.
The small of creosote covered piers in Florida during my chidhood vacations. Smell of fallen leaves in Autumn.
Lmao, feel free to delete some of those but that was about what I was like asking is this real? Is this real?
Yes, I think I have a good nose.
I like the smell of a brand new car.
The smell of cinnamon always reminds me of my sister who would chew Big Red constantly when I was little. Smells are the best way to emotional connect to memories I think.
that was a trick title, it made me want to take a moment and remember that yes I did shower after the gym and do not need to sniff my pitts right now. I like the smell of earthy things, gardening, my dogs, the wet grass from rain and dirt that’s been baked in the heat of the day.
@ilikesourskittles - I like the smell of cinnamin or vanilla associated with a woman, it seems like all is right in the world. @TNugents__Right - I thought the same thing for a minute there.
I love the smell here on the Washington coast right after a hard rain storm has passed through. The smell of the ocean is heavy in the air.
I love the smell of fresh cut water melon and to this day my boys smile every time they smell of fresh cut, ripe water melon. It takes them back to the days of going camping and tieing water melons, wrapped in a fish net so they didn”t float down stream, to a huge rock along the side the stream while they floated int he cold water keeping them cold and fresh.
I love the smell of fresh cut cedar shakes straight from the gypo shake mills that used to pop up along the river banks up on the wishkah and chehalis rivers.
There are smells that take me back to my younger days that make me smile and remember good times like jumping off of the docks and swimming out to the log booms being pulled down the river by tugs. We would climb on the booms and ride down the river to the other side of the bridge on them and then swim to the dock there, and wait for another boom going back in the direction we came from.
When I was a little girl my mother worked in a doctors office above the drug store. My cousin and I would sit on stools by the soda fountain counter and eat vanilla ice cream, waiting for my mother to come down the stairs. The scent of the ice cream and of pipe smoke made an impression on me because every once in a while-my mind will get a whiff of it. I remember the scent of the freshly mowed grass after my dad mowed the yard. Even as you remember, I remember the scent of fried bacon in my parents house and the scent of White Shoulders perfume on my favorite aunt.