Smells

[bashaw]

Smells are similar to music , they bring back memories, When I smell mown grass and cigarette smoke it reminds me of Little League, showing my age, tell me about smells that remind you of something, after my first Buck, I wouldn't clean my knife for year because I could still smell the Buck

 

[franzfmdavis]

I smelled a flower while walking on safari recently that reminded me of my grandmother. My PH said that it reminded him of his grandmother as well. I guess grandma’s across continents smell similar

 

[bashaw]

I smelled a flower while walking on safari recently that reminded me of my grandmother. My PH said that it reminded him of his grandmother as well. I guess grandma’s across continents smell similar

Mothballs reminds me of my Great Grandmother, not a pleasant smell

 

[Flipper Dude]

Smell is the sense that is most closely tied to memory. A scent of something can often send you back to a childhood time and place that you had completely forgotten about.

 

[Fatback]

The smell of tomato plants and ears of corn in the garden take me back 45 years and I’m following my grandpa around in his garden again. My wife and kids think I’m crazy but in the summer time I’m always smelling fresh corn and tomatoes.

 

[Newboomer]

Smell is the sense that is most closely tied to memory. A scent of something can often send you back to a childhood time and place that you had completely forgotten about.

Fresh mown hay.The other side of that was the stifling dust of laying a load of loose hay.
Cedar sawdust and wood.
Lilacs. We wanted lilacs for our high school graduation. The season was just about over and we had to search half the county to find some still blooming.

 

[Flbt]

Smells are similar to music , they bring back memories, When I smell mown grass and cigarette smoke it reminds me of Little League, showing my age, tell me about smells that remind you of something, after my first Buck, I wouldn't clean my knife for year because I could still smell the Buck

Fresh cut hay
And fresh disk field
Sweaty leather saddle
And cow wormer
All reminds me of mr liews and my dad

 

[Elkeater]

Pipe tobacco. My best friend in highschool’s dad smoked a pipe. We’d be bailing hay in the evening and he’d be smoking his pipe between loads. Takes me back to memories of warm summer nights, fresh milk from the cows, and catching brown trout on the fly rod during the hex hatch after dark.

 

[MontanaPat]

The smell of a new garden hose takes me back to being a kid in the 60s and playing outside all day and the taste of drinking water straight from the hose.

 

[K-man]

You are so right about smells linking to memory.
My most potent one is unfortunately most unpleasant. I witnessed a car crash many years ago, I stopped to help but the vehicle was fully on fire. I was unable to save any occupants, and even now if I even singe hairs on the back of my hand it's very potent.
On a lighter note, the smells of our blooming sand plums remind me of spring every time, and the smell of fresh dill reminds me of my parent's and grandma's garden.

 

[Green Chile]

Bacon frying with sliced tomatoes immediately takes me back to Buzz's kitchen in Harare. Sometimes when I'm missing Africa, I will cook that just to remind myself about it. Besides, who doesn't want a fried bacon and tomato sandwich? That's just a good idea anywhere.

 

[Halligan1975]

The smell of Hoppe’s No. 9 and burned gunpowder remind me of shooting and cleaning sessions with my father and grandfather before each hunting season began.

Diesel fumes, coffee on my breath, and wood smoke in dry air immediately conjure images of the wildfires I’ve helped fight over the years.

The smell of early morning dew over an arid landscape takes me back to dove hunts in central/west Texas or, better yet, evokes the excitement of riding out from camp in the bakkie on my first safari.

 

[baxterb]

Dirt. I like the smell of dirt. Growing up in Virginia, in the fall the rotting leaves and dirt I smelled while hunting was/is so memorable.

Non-DEF Diesel. When I was a kid, my uncle owned a big Ford/Kubota (eventually just Kubota) dealership in Northern Va. I worked there during the summers in my teens and the smell of Diesel takes me immediately back to the good times of 1984/5/6.

100LL gas or Jet-A Fuel reminds me of some great times when I worked at JYO on the weekends.

A woman's wet hair after a shower. No explanation needed...

 

[Doug Hamilton]

Smells are similar to music , they bring back memories, When I smell mown grass and cigarette smoke it reminds me of Little League, showing my age, tell me about smells that remind you of something, after my first Buck, I wouldn't clean my knife for year because I could still smell the Buck

Chemise brush. It reminds me of when I started deer.hunting with.my.dad in the chaparral of Northern California. It also reminds me of taking my first buck. The there's the smell of deer guts. I think Robert Duvall said, " I love the smell of deer. guts in the morning. It smells like.." Or he said something like that.

 

[fourfive8]

Ocean
Tundra and alpine high country
Baseball field
Fresh cut alfalfa
Sagebrush after heavy rain
Sweaty horse
Hoppes 9
Just fired shot shell

 

[bashaw]

Dirt. I like the smell of dirt. Growing up in Virginia, in the fall the rotting leaves and dirt I smelled while hunting was/is so memorable.

Non-DEF Diesel. When I was a kid, my uncle owned a big Ford/Kubota (eventually just Kubota) dealership in Northern Va. I worked there during the summers in my teens and the smell of Diesel takes me immediately back to the good times of 1984/5/6.

100LL gas or Jet-A Fuel reminds me of some great times when I worked at JYO on the weekends.

A woman's wet hair after a shower. No explanation needed...

Driving tractor as a 12 yo boy the raw diesel smoke waiting for tractor to warm up was an amazing smell

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Smells work better as hints, just a fleeting whip is all it takes, there and gone. Mopane wood fire, elephant dung, or buffalo nearby. Pipe tobacco, raw, or someone smoking a cigar, and your mood swings immediately.

 

[Russ16]

Hoppes #9 reminds me of my dad cleaning guns.

The smell of dry weeds the opening day of dove season in west Texas.

Musty canvas my grandfathers creel.

Burgers and dogs on the grill and popcorn fresh popped takes me right back to running out of the locker room on a Friday night in the fall.

 

[baxterb]

I’ll add one more: my grandmother’s best friend used to wear a specific perfume that I have since forgotten the name. Maybe Windsong or something. She was without question the classiest lady I have ever met. Always dressed to the 9s, rings clattering, the perfect necklaces, shoes, and of course hairdo. Even as a very young kid I could tell she had an aura of sophistication and class.

Many decades after my grandmother died, out of the blue I sent her a letter to her old address I had. It was received by her daughter who had moved into her old house in Alexandria, VA, as Mary had been moved to a nursing home. The daughter sent me a note saying how much Mary appreciated the letter and she would be sure to send me a note. Several months later, I received a card from Mary, and what do I smell wafting from it? That same, distinctive perfume from 30+++ years before. She still wore it every day. Her handwriting was shaky, and her words were short, but I could tell she still had the same class as always.

That card is still in my file cabinet, now 15 years after she died, and it still smells like that perfume. To me she was an example of the passing of an age that it seems like will never return- one that my grandmother (both actually) were also a part of.

God Bless Mary Pumphrey, and her best friend, my grandmother.

 

[steve white]

Smokin' .22 hulls and the smell of squirrel hollows.
Grass fires in Africa.
Two cycle outboard motor exhaust and fog on the water.
Smell of baby pups with their eyes barely open.
Neighbor's BBQ grill firing up back home.
Hot canvas on a tent exposed to Texas summer sun.