Sunday, December 26, 2010

What's That Smell?


I am sure that everyone reading this can come up with an answer fairly quickly If I ask you what your favorite smell is. Thanksgiving is quickly approaching us so that is why I can name one of my favorite smells right off the bat. Turkey Dressing! When I was a little girl, the aromas of celery and onions cooking would slowly roam through the air, touch my nose and awaken me from a deep sleep. When I awoke, I knew immediately it was Thanksgiving. My mom boils her celery and onions before adding them to whatever else is in her turkey dressing. I don't like cooked celery or onions but they taste delicious in her dressing. She makes the very best. I love that smell!
Another smell that comes to my mind is honeysuckle. I loved that smell when I was a little girl. I still do. My sister and I used to slowly pull the little ends off of each bloom and suck the juice from the ends. It would probably take a million blooms to get one teaspoon but we continued to at least wet our tongues. I'm teaching my grandkids how to do that now. My daughter's not real thrilled with this idea. I do it anyway. As a matter of fact, my granddaughter was visiting me back in the summer and I drove her to the bottom of our hill. I stopped the car, rolled down the window and said to her "What's That Smell?" She immediately said, "Honeysuckle." Kids learn quickly. We got out to taste the honeysuckle.
Do you think anyone would ever choose "dust" as their favorite smell? No? I do. Not the dust in your home but the dust from the gravel in those driveways in the country. When I was 8 years old I use to sit for hours in the gravel driveway and smell the dust from those pebbles. Once, while smelling the dust, I scooped up a handful of the gravel to smell the dust and one of the pebbles went up my nose. The harder I tried to get that rock out of my nose, the farther up it went. It was stuck. My sister saw me do this and she started running toward the house to tell mom. I was begging her not to. After several attempts of mom trying to get the rock out of my nose, we made a trip to the doctor's office. The doctor explained to us that he would have to put me out and surgically remove the rock. Just before the procedure to put me to sleep, I sneezed. The rock came out and hit the wall. They all laughed. I cried. Do I still love the smell of gravel dust? Yes, but I don't put those rocks so close to my nose now.
Musty Cellars. A cellar, to country folk, is like an unfinished basement under a home. Except a cellar is under a smokehouse. You'll have to figure out on your own what a smokehouse is, if you don't already know. When I was younger, we use to have to go to the cellar during bad storms. I loved hearing there was a storm warning because I knew I'd get to go to the cellar. I can't explain exactly what a cellar smells like but if I close my eyes right now and take a deep breath through my nose, I can still smell it. I love that smell.
I doubt the smells I have chosen entered your mind when you read the first sentence and started your "thinking." But that's the beauty of it all. We're all different and so are our "smellers." I love that.

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