I have about 15 blog posts saved up in my head, and only 45 minutes of naptime left, in which to post something. Oh, the pressure!
I just made a pot of thick, black coffee, and I hear the laundry tumbling around in the washer and dryer. The house smells like my Grandma Mosby's house used to, in the summer, and that kind of makes me smile. Grandma Mosby smelled like Tide detergent, coffee, Irish Spring soap, fresh air and pink face powder from Woolworth's dime store. Especially in the summer, but even a little in the winter. And her house always smelled like coffee and Tide. Mmmm.
Grandpa Mosby, however, smelled of VO5 hair cream, Tide detergent, wintergreen lozenges, fresh air and leather, oddly enough. They both got outside a lot, Grandma to garden and Grandpa to take a walk while Grandma was watching her "show". (We weren't supposed to call it a soap opera; it was a "show", and we had to go for walks with Grandpa, too, when it came on, around 2 in the afternoon.)
Grandma Dutton smells like Ivory soap, cotton that has been ironed, paper and gingersnaps. The gingersnap smell comes and goes, but in my opinion, all grandma's should have a little of the gingersnap smell now and then. It's so cozy, that you just want to have a cup of tea, about 5 gingersnaps, and nestle down for stories from the good old days.
Gramps smelled like sunshine, sometimes wool, wood smoke or dust, and a little bit of aftershave. I don't know how someone can smell like sunshine, but he did. He had short, short hair that made pokies when you rubbed it the wrong way, and I loved to put my cheek against it.
Isn't it odd, how smells can take a person places they didn't buy a ticket for? Sights and sounds don't affect me nearly as much, but the sweaty smell of kids coming in from recess or the scent of good grass hay....those can take me on a time machine, to scenes I thought I'd forgotten. And not all are good, but most are.
And now I need to fold some of those clothes, because the coffee in my Red Raiders cup is almost gone, and I'm revived for the afternoon. I hear thumps and bumps coming from the "napping" children, and I know my window of quiet is about to shut for another afternoon.
7 comments:
I'm with you on the relatively intense connection between smell and memories. I especially think of my mom (and my dad too) when I'm baking a pan of cinnamon rolls with the coffee brewing. She'd make one pan with raisins just for Dad, and when they were steaming from the oven with fresh glaze, she'd send one of us to the shop to tell Dad "Coffee's on"... he'd crawl out sweaty from under the swather, or the tractor, or the baler and come in and have a break. It never made much sense to me, but he said the coffee in the summer time cooled him off. Weird. Thanks for making me conjur up a memory of my own.
Yup, smells and memories, they do go together. Mine was sounds too, like when my favorite grandma would laugh or she would hum a song while she brushed my hair.... I didn't live close to grandparents so it was usually an 8+ hours drive to the cottages. Kid memories,,,, we didn't have alot, but I was very blessed!!!
Aromatherapy is my love language. Truly. I am very sensitive, in a good way, to scents, and I delight in the precious memories of people and places and events that they bring. My favorite places in the mall are Yankee Candle and Bath and Body Works. Emily and I have been burning cinnamon apple candles in the heat of the summer. It lifts our spirits to make us think it is Christmas.
So I'm supposed to smell like gingersnaps?
I love scents that take me back in time, I love the scent from my Grandma's house. I believe in aroma therapy and the power of scents. Smell On!
Patricia, (I always want to call you Polly, by the way...) only smell like gingersnaps occasionally, as a grandma. And my favorite Yankee Candle scent is a seasonal candle called Christmas Eve. I should buy a bunch up and hoard them, to burn all year!
Such a nice description of the grandparents. I loved it. It is a fact that smell is linked to memories more than any of the other senses. My favorite smell is fresh bread straight out of the oven. I would like to go make some right now.
My grandma ALWAYS cleaned house on Saturday mornings, using Pine Sol. The day after she passed away, I went to her house to visit my aunts & they were cleaning with Pine Sol. Yep, it was a Saturday morning!! I lost it.
Chocolate chip cookies and rose scented lotion from AVON, plus that Pine Sol, are the grandma scent for me. Snuff (aka chewing tobacco) were my earliest reminders of my grandpa. Sadly nursing home scents surrounded my last memories of him.
My favorite scents -- laundry fresh in from the line, snickerdoodles baking and fresh baked brownies!
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