Fresh Brewed Coffee ‘n’ a New Box of Crayons

When you think of things that smell good, I’ll bet you think of things like the smell of a meal cooking, or fresh baked cookies... or maybe even the smell of a little puppy.  No?  Maybe it’s a fresh box of crayons, or a new tub of PlayDoh, or bread fresh out of the oven?  Or, oh yeah, I’ve got it... it’s the smell of coffee brewing first thing in the morning!!  Even if you’re not a coffee drinker, that smell tells us it’s morning, and time to get moving.  We all have those special scents that affect us in some sort of way.  Coffee brewing is one of those scents for me... In fact, all the things I mentioned are among those smells that either makes me think of some “thing”, some “one”, or some “place in time”.  Growing up in the South, and being such an outdoors kid, there were smells that were part of my life, year ‘round.

In the Spring, it was the smell of flowers blooming, like hyacinths with their towering stem of pastel colored flowers, or lilacs as their drooping pastel blooms gently wave in the breeze.  The smell of fresh turned dirt told me that Dad was getting things ready in the garden for planting the tomatoes, beans, corn, cabbage, and other vegetables.  When Dad mowed the grass (or when we did, when we got older), it was both the smell of the cut grass, and the smell of the onions.... there were always wild onions in our yard.  In the evenings, I’d help Mom get the laundry off the clotheslines, and that smell... the smell of those clothes and sheets and towels... that was one of those smells that told me where I was, “when” I was, and was always a favorite... especially when you’d slip into bed at night between sheets that had just been dried on the line.  That smell!!!

In the Summer, there was the scent of honeysuckles that wound around the fences, and up posts and over bushes, wafting its scent on the summer breezes.  That’s when we knew it was time to taste the tiny drop of honeydew that could be found at the base of each flower when the bloom had just opened.  There was some finesse involved to get it though.  We had to pinch the stem end of the blossom off without breaking the stamen that went up the middle of the flower.  Then carefully, oh so carefully, slowly pull out the stamen out of the bottom.  On it, glistening in the sun like a jewel, would be a tiny drop of sweetness.  Touch the tip of your tongue to that, and it was such a sweet treat. 

When the weather changes on a Spring or Summer day, you can smell the storms coming.... something changes about the air.  The air itself, blowing in before the storm on the sudden gusts, smells different, like a mixture of dust and clean air.  The smell after a rain is “pure clean”, like the Earth and all that’s in it had been washed clean.  Even the air was clean... cleaned of all the pollen and dust and other smells from around the yard.

As the garden started coming in, with it came its own smells... the smell of tomato plants as we’d pick the ripe tomatoes off and carefully place them in a bucket or basket.  The smell of corn... as we’d cut it off the cob so we could freeze it for the winter.   The smell of fresh picked berries (strawberries and blackberries) meant that cobblers were soon to follow.  There were other smells as well... the smell of the bean vines after they’d finished bearing and were beginning to die... the smell of the dirt itself, after Dad has run the tiller or tractor through the rows to help keep the weeds at bay.  So many scents assaulted us during the summer.  It was (and is) a time of growth, blooming, and fruiting, and everything carried its scents on the wind.

A trip down to the pond brought different smells to the nose... smells of the silt and mud that covers the bottom of the pond.... the smell of the pine trees growing on the bank, and the water grasses and cattails growing at the edge.  The smell of fish, when caught, added to the smells that, even if your eyes were closed, told you that you were at the pond.   

In the Fall, there was the smell of dried leaves, gently falling in a slow cascade from the trees in the woods, or in a waterfall of leaves when the winds blew in the next storm.  There’s the smell of a garden, nearly done for the year, as plants that once grew there finally end their growing cycle.  Even the air starts to smell different as summer moves into fall, changing from flowery light smells, to something more earthy.  The smell of pumpkin pie starts to appear, as harvest begins and pumpkins ripen.  Apples and cinnamon are scents often wafting from the kitchen, as apples are harvested and either cooked, baked, dried, or frozen.  Citrus smells begin to be a part of the home, as those fruits begin appearing in grocery stores, having made their way from the orange and tangerine groves of the deep south.  These are all smells that tell us that Winter is on its way.... that it’s time to finish the harvest, prepare the ground for next Spring, and finish all the preparations for a long winter.

Winter brings the crisp smells of ice and snow... the mouth-watering smells of a Thanksgiving Feast... and the evergreen smells of Christmas.  Cinnamon, nutmeg, chocolate, vanilla, and other spices seem to permeate the house, as pies, cakes, and cookies are baked for the various celebrations.  Fires are laid in the fireplaces, the aroma of wood burning adding to the soothing, cozy smells of winter. 

It wasn’t just the seasons that brought the smells of place and time.  On a Sunday mornings, scents were everywhere, from the men and their after shaves, to the women and their perfumes, and the flowers on the altar.  Farms have their own smells, be it chickens or cows or pigs.  Wild animals often bring their smells into the nearby woods at night, and the smell of certain perfumes in a store can bring memories to mind.

Smells add to our memories of time, and place, and person.  They tell us where we are, when we are, and who we are.  We adorn ourselves with scents that we find most pleasing.  We surround ourselves with scents that remind us of “who”, or “when”, or “where”.  When we think of memories, old and new, we often think of sight and sound... but we tend to forget smell.  Yet, walk into a candle shop, and right away you’ll smell something that reminds you of something.  Smells create powerful memories.  

Lewis Thomas said, "The act of smelling something, anything, is remarkably like the act of thinking.  Immediately at the moment of perception, you can feel the mind going to work, sending the odor around from place to place, setting off complex repertories through the brain, polling one center after another for signs of recognition, for old memories and old connections."

Whatever your favorite smells are, they are guaranteed to come with some sort of memory or other.  It's through our memories that we tie together our path through Life.... the people, the places, the times.