Tricia and I often "take a trip down memory lane." Do you do that? Sometimes we'll get by the computer and pull up YouTube and listen to music from our childhood, high school, and college years. It is amazing how listening to a song can bring you back, instantly teleporting you back years. Another thing that can do that is scents, fragrances. One whiff of a fragrance can also transport you back across space and time.
In thinking about all things olfactory, I thought about making a list of smells that I like. The list isn't in any particular order - just as I thought of them. Most of them have special memories or good remembrances to go along with them:
Sweet Olive Trees in Bloom:
Sweet Olive trees blossoms are wonderful. They bring me back to the 1984 - 1988 when I was at college at LSU, specifically on a sidewalk between Allen and Prescott Halls walking from the Quad toward Lockett Hall. The sweet olives blooming there in that alley permeated the entire area. Now you could smell that scent anywhere on campus, but that spot was the best. If I smell sweet olive trees today, I'm 18 years old again!
Magnolia Blossoms
Hardly anything says the South like magnolia trees. I've always enjoyed looking at them, but the scent is the icing on the cake. It has such a clean, fresh scent. I'll break them off and bring them inside to enjoy the smell, but the white blooms turn brown much too quickly. The smell, though, is something to remember.
Orange blossoms
I've often thought that orange blossoms in the Spring is what Heaven will smell like. In the evenings when the smell seems the strongest, I'll stand out by the trees and just inhale deeply, savoring the nice aroma.
Leather
Walking into a store that sells leather boots or saddles smells like craftsmanship. It smells like the West - like wide open spaces and rugged individualism.
Royall Lyme After Shave
Royall Lyme is an old time after shave lotion that is crisp, clean, and cooling. It reminds me of being a kid, watching my Dad shave and slap this stuff on his face, looking forward to the day that I'd be big enough to shave. Can you imagine? I hate to shave now, but when I do, I love slapping some of this on, smelling the fresh scent and feeling the cooling pop against my face.
Charcoal being lit
This smell gets me every time. I'll be out in the back yard or garden and I'll smell it. I don't know why, but this always smells better coming from the neighbor's pit. I mean, it smells good when we light up our pit, but it smells better wafting over from the neighbor's barbecue pit, because you know you are NOT eating BBQ today and it makes you want some!
The first fire in the fireplace (when you walk outside and smell it)
Wintertime is a nice time. I like to light fires in the fireplace. I could sit in front of a glowing fireplace just staring into it for hours. It is so relaxing. I love opening up the french doors and walking out in the back yard and smelling the oak wood burning, filling the night sky with a country-type smell, making me thankful that cooler weather is finally here!
Fresh mowed grass
Fresh mowed grass says Summertime! It reminds me of enjoying the smell once I've finished mowing, knowing that the work is done, looking at the clean, uniform lines of the yard and maybe kicking off your shoes and running across it. Watch out for stickers, though!
The smell right after a rain
The smell after a rain is nice. The smell of the rain on asphalt once the sun comes back out gets bonus points. It reminds me of being a kid walking down Cottongin Road in Oberlin, Louisiana after a rain. There was a pond that would overflow near Durio Cemetery Road and lots of little perch would swim out and find themselves in puddles on the asphalt road that ran by the farm. The smell of the rain and the sunlight glimmering off of the colorful little fish flip flopping in the puddles is a nice memory.
Opening a new book
I say a new book, but old books smell good too. I like to read books and always have several that I'm reading at the same time. I like to read them and smell them and that's probably why I don't have a Kindle. Do Kindles smell like books?
Coffee first thing in the morning
This is a childhood smell for sure. My Mom and Dad didn't drink coffee. They drink hot tea and hot mint tea smells good. But, when I would go spend the night with my grandparents, the smell that I would wake up to was coffee. One set of Grandparents drank Community Coffee Dark Roast and the other set of Grandparents drank Seaport Between Medium and Dark Roast Coffee. They each had distinctive smells that remind me of waking up and drinking what we called, "Coffee milk" and then either eating Rice Krispies with a bunch of sugar on top or Kaboom Cereal.
The old wood in an antique store
Antique stores (an old houses) smell great to me. They remind me of rich history, tradition, furniture made to last, quality goods that aren't disposable and simpler times.
The trinity of Cajun cooking (onion, bell pepper, and celery) sauteing
If you come through the door when the trinity is in the bottom of a cast iron skillet, it is a foreshadowing to a great meal to follow and a signal to go ahead and let your belt out one notch. The trinity of Cajun cooking is the genesis of simple, down-home, country Cajun cooking. It lacks any fancy pretension and is the smell that makes you want to pull up a chair in the kitchen, put a cup of coffee on, and visit until the meal is served.
The way a baby smells
Nothing says, new, hope, promise, and innocence like the smell of a new baby. I'll never forget the excitement of holding our newborn babies, cupping the back of their heads in my hands and kissing their faces. A memory that'll stick with me for life.
The smell of 2 cycle outboard motor just cranked
This fragrance coupled with bluish white smoke coming off the water on a morning reminds me of the anticipation of the thrill of pulling bluegill bream from the sunken treetops at Toledo Bend Reservoir. It is the smell that brings me back to riding in my grandfather's bass boat and feeling the waves gently pop, pop, pop against the bottom of the boat while the wind blew through my hair. With an ice chest full of Shasta assorted flavored soft drinks and Little Debbie Cakes ready to be consumed between unhooking the bream. With fun times like that, who cares if your Little Debbie Oatmeal Cake is overpowered by the fishy smell on your hands?
Bacon
The smell of strips of bacon sizzling in a cast iron skillet in the morning will get you up and out of bed faster than a fire alarm. Your nose leads you to the kitchen where you'll find a great breakfast waiting. Then, the drippings in the bottom of the pan can be saved in a coffee cup and used for cooking other things.
An open bag of Sweet Feed
If you've ever opened a bag of sweet feed and inhaled, you know what I'm talking about. The sweetness, the aroma is so nice. I think the first time I was exposed to the scent was as a young boy in 4-H showing sheep. We had an old chest type freezer that no longer worked and we used it to store bags of sweet feed in. I remember opening the freezer and smelling the wonderful smell. As a related item, there was another feed product that we used called Calf Manna. While not a sweet smell like sweet feed, Calf Manna had a really nice fragrance that reminds me of showing livestock as a young boy.
Paper from the old carbon copiers in elementary school
I remember being in elementary school and the teacher would come in the classroom and pass out papers to the student sitting in the first desk on each row. I recall vividly the smell of the papers. Of course the first person would hold the entire stack of papers to their nose and sniff. Everyone would do the same as they got the papers passed to them. I remember the papers being sort of damp, fresh off the rollers of the mimeograph machine. We'd smell the papers, take our test, and then go dust the erasers on the tree behind the cafeteria. I don't think they dust erasers anymore. Chalkboards have probably been replaced by dry erase boards.
Sun tan lotion (coconut)
I love the smell of sun tan lotion. It reminds me of trips to the Alabama and Florida beaches when I was younger and the excitement of looking for shells, building sand castles, playing in the surf and relaxing. Sometimes I'll go into a store and unscrew the cap and squeeze the bottle, allowing memories of beach vacations to greet me right there on aisle 8.
Bread baking
Bread has been baked for thousands of years and is called the staff of life because it is a basic, simple food that supports life. Like the trinity of Cajun cooking, the aroma of fresh homemade bread baking in the oven is something that makes you linger around in the kitchen, watching the timer and getting some butter and a knife ready.
Cedar
Cedar lines many closets and when you open the door, it smells great. We had a cedar closet growing up and that was a nice place to hide when playing hide and seek because of the smell. The grains of the wood are so smooth and in addition to protecting your clothes from moths, the nice woodsy smell is a good memory.
Lighter pine
This scent never gets old. I smell it every winter since we use lighter pine kindling to start the fires in our fireplace. Some people call this fat pine or heart pine. It is the center or heart of an old pine tree and we split it in skinny planks and stack by the french doors. It ignites quickly since it is packed with the pine resin that smokes black when lit. The smell is fresh, clean, and woodsy and reminds me of cool winter nights in front of the fireplace.
Kerosene
I currently work at a helicopter company and when I walk to my office in the morning, I can often smell Jet A fuel (kerosene) as the fuel truck is fueling up helicopters prior to their crew change flights out to rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. I like the smell of jet fuel in the morning.
Diesel
I like the smell of diesel smoke coming from the exhaust of a tractor. It reminds me of work on the family farm. We had an old 4020 John Deere tractor on the farm like the one pictured above when I was growing up. Those wide fenders were perfect for sitting on while Dad drove. There was a hole in the middle of the fender lined with black rubber that was ideal for holding onto while you bounced along field while the smell of diesel from the exhaust passed by your nose. Good memories, indeed!
Do fragrances do the same for you? (Or am I crazy?) What scents bring you back and remind you of special things?
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