Memory Smells

The children up here do not start school until the Tuesday after Labor Day so this is officially the last week of summer for them!  And it's pouring down rain!  It started this morning about 5:30am with a thunder storm that nearly lifted the house off the foundation!  Nutty hates thunder and lightning so guess what time I got up today?  (It was either get up or invite Nutty onto my bed!  I got up!)

It's damp and chilly so I decided to cook a turkey!  It's in the oven right now and already the house smells like Thanksgiving!  Aren't those memory smells wonderful?  It wasn't until after HC Baker died that I ever cooked a turkey.  He was always the turkey cooker.  And he wouldn't be pleased with my method.  Actually when I was remodeling this house, one of my painters told me to use a cooking bag and I did.  It works perfectly.  The good news this morning is I had a turkey in the freezer and a cooking bag!  Life is good!

So as I sit here and write, I'm thinking about all those memory smells that make me smile.  A baking turkey is definitely one of them.  Here's another one - What about that musty smell when you open the Christmas decoration boxes?  For me, that's goes all the way back to my childhood.  I think nowadays, our home storage areas are more "damp free" and we box things in plastic tubs, but I still love that musty smell.  It reminds me of my Dad who was always the person to carry the boxes up from the basement.

I sent a note to Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Cherry the other day who are living in Columbia, South Carolina.  I told them when I was growing up, we always spent some vacation time in Columbia and close-by, Lake Murray.  My sisters and I would play under the pine trees.  I love the smell of those pine trees and the pine needles.  I do have quite a few pine trees up here and occasionally that pine fragrance drifts across my front yard and into my windows.  Love it!  It reminds me of family vacations and my sisters.

Pipe smoke - my Dad
Baby Magic lotion - my children when they were babies
Fried apples and cobblers baking - my grandmother, Mamaw
Wet dog - lots of pets and my Mother hollaring at us to get that dog out of the house!!!!
Burning leaves - I do believe it's against the law in Louisville to burn leaves in the city but boy up here, everyone burns their leaves.  And lots of people (including me) have a fit pit and have a fire every night (not me).  Love the smell of burning leaves - a sure sign of autumn, back to school and football games.

They (not sure who "they" are, but...) say smell is the strongest one of our "senses" and I believe it.  A very strange, startling, "wondering" thing happened the other night.  I was sound asleep and was immediately awakened by the smell of HC Baker.  (For many, many years, he wore the fragrance Brut...he was such a trendsetter!!)  I turned on the light and just knew he would be standing right next to the bed.  I don't remember if I was dreaming or not, but it was so very real to me.  Now that's a memory smell!

What are your favorite memory smells?

Oh, gotta go and check the turkey!  xxoo

Continued prayers requests for EE, CH, and friend BC who is again fighting the cancer battle.  And just want you to know, Lesley's mother is doing so much better!  Thank you!