August 4, 2005
"Shhh.......Do you smell something?"
So, I was filling in one of those little surveys that friends send out occasionally, asking what you ate last, do you prefer chocolate or vanilla, what color crayon are you, etc, and came across the question "What are your favorite smells?". This made me think a bit.
My first answer, for some reason, was pine sawdust. I think that takes me back to when my dad was working in his workshop (which he did quite often). He not only let us "help", but later (when the chances of us slicing our fingers off had decreased significantly), he taught us the proper ways to use the various saws, drills, sanders, etc. The smell of sawdust is just a comforting smell, one that reminds me that I can make things all by myself (though pretty, they may not be).
Clove cigarettes also came to mind as a favorite smell. Nope, don't smoke them (or anything else) myself, but since that was one of the prevailing aromas at the nightclub that Sara & I used to haunt, it brings back memories of dancing, hanging out at the top of the stairs critiquing the fashion choices of the non-regulars, and generally being young and foolish. How we managed to close down the bar AND get to work the next day, I don't know, but we did it with fair regularity.
Now, I didn't answer this in the survey, but another smell that takes me far away is that of bus fumes on a humid day. Or jet fuel. A whiff of that, and suddenly I'm in London, either in the street near Hyde Park, or in the Tube. And if you know nothing else about me, surely you know that London is near and dear to me.
Coffee. That's a no-brainer. But the funny thing about that is, I didn't always like coffee, but always liked the smell. In my first-ever apartment (a sub-let from some guys I knew in college), the appliances had all been left, including the microwave (which produced a burnt popcorn smell that I did not like) and the coffeemaker. I had a friend spend the night the first night I was there, and in the morning, I made coffee. She said she didn't think I liked coffee, which I said I didn't. But doesn't it smell like morning? I asked. I shudder to think what that coffee probably would've tasted like, though.
Lots of yummy smells out there. Just too many to list in a little survey. Like cinnamon-roasted almonds, a campfire, a Ponderosa pine, fresh strawberries, long hair after a nice shampoo, lilacs, burgers cooking on a grill............