Comments on: “Smell is a potent wizard that transports you across thousands of miles and all the years you have lived.”

By: Kat

Kat — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 02:33:21 +0000

Rick,
Your memories are vividly wonderful. You were transported a long way back! I can still remember the smell of chalk dust as the blackboards got erased. I even see it being done in my second grade classroom. I am waiting until next year when my grammar school turns100. I’m hoping they’ll open the doors for visiting.

I’m more than happy to jog your memories!

By: Rick Oztown

Rick Oztown — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 00:16:49 +0000

I was really socked by old smells when I went back to the town 65 miles from where I lived in high school where I’d attended the first three years of school. I wandered around the old grade school, where the windows were open, as they’d been when I was there. I happened to be able to visit when school was on, so I caught the combination of chalk dust, crayon wax, and the evergreens we’d hide, run through and pretend in as small kids. They were forts and castles and pirate dens by turn. We called them cedars, but I think they were probably junipers. When all three of those smells hit me, I was transported back to those days…instantly.

Also, being an avid ham operator (over 50 years) and electronics engineer, the smell of the rosin in molten solder brings back so many memories, too.

Thanks for the post, Kat.

By: olof1

olof1 — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 05:29:30 +0000

I passed a big bakery on my way to work when I had a job in Gothenburg city and as You say it smelled divine, but unfortunately for me I knew how that bread tasted so it sort of dampened the experience

By: Kat

Kat — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 23:50:47 +0000

Thanks Z&Me,
I forgot the smell of bacon-it is wonderfully distinctive.I won’t even get into how wonderful coffee smells in the morning as it brews.

I often have breakfast for dinner though I suppose I’d have to call it dinner regardless.

My mother also stayed at home. She didn’t learn to drive until she was nearly 40.

By: Kat

Kat — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 23:42:28 +0000

Christer,
I can’t imagine the lure of eating cut grass. I know when my dogs have upset stomachs they chomp on grass. I’ve seen Gracie checking through my yard for tall grass.

I love cinnamon buns, and I love the smell of bread baking. There used to be a bakery in the square of the town where I loved. When they were baking bread, you could smell it everyone. It was almost divine.

By: Kat

Kat — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 23:34:20 +0000

Hi Caryn,
I loved the smell of burning leaves and remember the smoke from all the piles along the street gutters and the fathers in the neighborhood standing by their fires with their rakes keeping watch.

Cool day here too. It was great having the windows opened again to fresh air without humidity.

By: Kat

Kat — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 23:31:46 +0000

splendid,
I can’t imagine not being able to smell. I read once that smell is the greatest memory trigger, and I believe it as I know you must from your own memories. Summer rain on the pavement has the most amazing smell, and I remember the mornings after a campfire when I could still smell the smoke from the fire the night before.

I an smell a coming snowstorm, but smelling it again is a long way off in the far future.

By: Zoey & Me

Zoey & Me — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 20:55:30 +0000

Another award winning post today Kat. I love the smell of bacon. It really gets my stomach juices flowing and if my wife gets up first and starts the coffee . . . well who can sleep anymore? Those two odors have held me together for years. We even have breakfast for dinner once a week including fresh french bread and lots of orange marmalade. My parents never did that. They were traditionalists and Mom had to put something substantial on the table for every dinner. She was a stay at home Mom, one of the dinasaurs although once we kids were out of the nest she took up work at our local hospital and loved it.

By: olof1

olof1 — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 19:59:52 +0000

Cold over here today but I didn´t mind. First we, Nova and I, went to the vet because of hear troubling ear. It seems she has a fungus infection in there and the vet started with the heavy stuff directly, antibiotics and cortisone. After that I had to mow the lawn but the grass was to wet to be honest, Now I have big clumps of grass all over the garden and unfortunately my dogs loves to eat that

The smell of cinnamon buns always reminds me of my friends grandmother She lived next door to us and I think she baked every day Earl grey tea reminds me of my best friends mother, we always had at least one cup of earl grey tea every time I went there and that was almost every day and the smell of ocean always reminds me of their summer house where I spent most of my summers from the day I started to know them.

Have a great day!
Christer.

By: Caryn

Caryn — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 16:53:15 +0000

Hi Kat,
Smells are very evocative.
I remember the smell of burning leaves in autumn. Once in a while I will burn a few just to bring that memory back.
When I consider my childhood it brings up the memory of a smell that is a combination of old dusty sun-warmed wood and paper wasp nests. Sounds unpleasant but isn’t at all to me. One of our favorite places was the shed attic and that is how it smelled.
Murphy’s Oil Soap. Love the smell of that stuff. It reminds me of my horse and all the good times we had as a team.
Lots of good smells that conjure up good memories.
It’s a lovely, cool day up here. It feels so good after all the heat. Enjoy your day.