I was working in the garden yesterday, and after pinching off some flower buds on the tomato plants I reflexively put my fingers to my nose to inhale the scent. Pungent, sharp and very, well...tomato-like. It dawned upon me that I always do this whenever I've been handling the tomato plants. Afterwards, I always smell my hands. I then realized that the scent is inextricably linked to memories from my childhood, when my parents, my grandparents and seemingly most of the people in the small town I grew up in raised gardens.
The part of the brain that registers scent is closely tied to that part of the brain that records memories. I started to ponder the other aromas that immediately make me take notice, breath them in, and the memories they trigger. A lot of those scents are specific to time and place, perhaps even generational.
I thought I would share some of them, and invite you to share yours as well.
Sawdust. Especially damp sawdust. Don't ask me why, but I love this smell. I think it goes back to when I was but 5 years old and would accompany my grandmother when she picked up my grandfather from the sawmill where he worked at that time.
The smell of just cut hay in the field. If you've ever driven through the country with the windows down after a farmer has mowed his hay, you know the smell.
Grass being mowed. Similar to the hay, but more, um, grassy. Plus there is the bonus olfactory ingredient of gasoline fumes from the lawn mower. This scent is inseparable from my summertime memories in the Midwest, where the lawns were big, the grass grew fast and everyone seemed to mow their lawns on the same day.
The aroma of apples in storage. For one summer during high school, I worked at a couple of orchards with some buddies picking peaches and apples. We'd box them, load them on a trailer, and put them in the cool room in the barn. The smell of the fruit being stored in those cool rooms is hard to describe, but quite pleasant. There is, of course, the smell of the fruit, but tinged with a bit of tart, vaguely vinegary aroma.
The ocean. My family moved to California when I was still young, and so I grew up spending many of my summers at the beach. To this day, whenever I have an opportunity to visit the ocean, I close my eyes and take a deep breath. The smell of salt water mixed with seaweed, tanning lotion...it's definitely a mixture of scents, and not just one thing.
Lilacs. Besides having a wonderful fragrance, this particular scent again transports me to times spent at my grandparents' house, which had a hedge of lilacs on two full sides of the lot. I've planted a lilac bush in every home I've lived in over the years.
The smell of fallen leaves slowly decomposing in the fall. There's an urban version of this scent and a rural version. Both are nice, but if you've ever walked through the woods in mid autumn you'll agree the rural scent is far superior.
Bread baking. Need I say more?
Those are some of mine...how about you?