Memories

[F4phantom]

I lost my sense of smell due to industrial chemicals. I worked in the electronics industry. This was back in 1999. The technical term is anosmia. Yeah i had to look it up after the doctor told me how it happened.
As explained by the doctor, I can still taste most foods since I have some receptors in the back of my throat. Anything that changes the PH in my nose is also noticeable, e.g. ammonia.
That being said, most of our memories are triggered by smell and taste. We taste food by smelling it first. It is the combination of taste and smell that we identify things.
What I miss the most is burning leaves in the fall. Everyone did it when I was a kid. The smells of pine and baking at Christmas. My wife's perfume. I find a lot of memories fade when you can't smell.
So what smells bring back the memories for you. The good ones and the bad ones.
Forgot one that made me sneeze but smelled good, freshly cut grass. The air after a thunder storm.

 

[Bro. Dave]

An odd one for me is the smell of new, unwashed denim. Although we were pretty much middle class, the one time of year my brother and I got brand new blue jeans was in the fall when school was about to start.

The smell of new, unwashed denim still triggers powerful memories of school. Fortunately for me, school is a relatively pleasant memory, both as student and teacher.

 

[yaktamer]

Sawdust. Reminds me of my dad coming home from work. He was a wood patternmaker.

 

[Grayfox]

The smell of a spent shotgun shell. Conjures up memories of my father, quail and some fine bird dogs.

 

[6518John]

The single worst thing for me from having Covid was losing my smell. I knew I was in trouble when my son held an onion under my nose—he was bawling from cutting it—and I could not smell it. Then he held essential oil of peppermint under my nose—it is so strong you could mace someone with it—and again no smell.

(I also broke out in chicken pox like hives from my waist line to my neck and on the backs of my knees, and the loss of smell was almost as bad. I can't imagine living without smell).

My favorites—freshly plowed farmland, freshly cut Alfa hay, first frost from a deer stand, first rain coming after a dry smell, first hickory fire in fall, spent shells on opening of dove season.

 

[mckenney99]

Most pleasant smell to me is freshly plowed earth. No childhood memories, it's just a smell that reminds me of "fresh beginnings".

Bad memories. Having spent the bulk of my adult life investigating traffic and aircraft crashes, with some truly horrific scenes, the smell of hot motor oil, anti-freeze and/or gasoline bring back actual visions and memories of some of the worst scenes I was on.

 

[Krogen]

Very interesting question. One scent, "Charlie" as I recall reminds me of my first girlfriend. Poof, right back to my younger days. Another is the smell of 2 cycle engine exhaust. That one puts me in the hot sun, floating in the lake waiting for the boat to pull me up on a water ski.

There are others that get me now and then. Sometimes I have "olfactory deja vu." I seem to catch a whiff of something that is clearly not present and it takes me to a memory of something. Even more strange, I sometimes dream of smells, or sounds and in color at times. Perhaps it seems like yours truly has delved into illegal substances, but that's not the case; just some apparently overactive brain cells.

 

[Jessie]

Fresh cut grass, plowed earth, gunsmoke and opening my shipping box after a week fishing rafting and camping in Alaska. It smelled just as if I was standing around the campfire with friends. My wife thought it stank but it put me right back on the river for a while.

 

[robvious]

Hoppe's number 9... sitting with my dad or my son cleaning after a range day... very fond memories... both mom & wife think it stinks..

 

[snowman]

i'll join all those who mentioned freshly tilled/plowed soil. Reminds me of all the farmwork I did as a youngster/young man. There are plenty of aggravations on the farm, but I rarely think of any of those. The satisfaction & pleasantness derived from all that is unique to farm life easily eclipse the negatives for me.

I will also second the wonderful smell of newly mown hay, alfalfa in particular. Haymaking was near the top of my favorite tasks.

Regards,
Andy

 

[tops]

I too like the small of fresh turned dirt and when turning land I sit kind of sideways so I can look back and watch the plows rolling the dirt over. Larry

 

[Rolex28]

freshly mowed lawn and lemon pie

 

[pawngal]

Fresh baked bread

 

[oneeyedpete]

Smell is a very powerful force for sure! In the epic novel "remembrances of things past" by Marcel Proust, the main character is flooded with past memories when he smells a fresh baked madeleine he enjoyed as a child. Besides fresh mown hay that takes me back to time on my Grandfather's farm, most of my favorite smells revolve around the food of my childhood. Fresh baked bread of any kind is wonderful to me. Also, my mother's desserts as she was a master at that especially a bread pudding made with guava paste and my grandmother's Italian specialties always with a redolent tomato sauce and fresh basil scent.

 

[prairieviper]

Burning leaves, fresh plowed earth, fresh cut hay. All good.

 

[Ole Joe Clark]

An interesting subject, one that invokes many pleasant memories. My Mother's, and my wife fresh baked biscuits, or bread pudding. Wet, fresh turned soil, along with lots of other "outdoor" scents, burning leaves, a fall morning at the lake, spent shotgun shells, especially the old paper ones.

When the MBH bakes a lemon pound cake, or at Christmas time, ("tea cakes") sugar cookies, it brings back memories from long ago. It seemed that my Mother could make miracles from vanilla flavoring, a couple of eggs and a little flour.

Tomorrow morning when the MBH does breakfast, there's coffee, biscuits, sausage or bacon maybe even bologna frying on the stove. The smell that comes up the stairs to the music room or office is absolutely wonderful. I sometimes try to separate the individual scents and decide what they are. Makes me realize what a blessed man I am.

Thanks for arousing such Precious Memories.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

 

[Kenna]

My Grandmothers home made sweet pickles

 

[lihpster]

When I was younger I worked in the mall. I worked at a tobacco shop that was right next to a leather store and directly across from a bakery. They all smelled good. I actually had the boss yell at me one time because a person came in and stood in the corner. I was doing a little stocking and just nodded at them and went about my business. The owner noticed I wasn't helping them and started in on me about customer service being what sets us apart from our competitors and such. I would have just let him go until he stopped, but the manager came to my defense. "That's Kate. She doesn't smoke. She just comes in on her breaks to smell the store." The owner grumbled a little longer then left. The funny thing was, Kate's father smoked a pipe and I sold her a $250 pipe with all the trimmings for Christmas!

 

[GypsmJim]

Burning 2-cycle oil and the feel of the boat rocking.

Hoppes as Dad cleans the guns.

Turkey in the kitchen on Christmas day.

My wife when she comes home from the barn.

A co-worker who used perfume by the gallon.

Dad's car that smelled like cigar smoke.

(not in any particular order)

 

[arjay]

Wet sawdust,freshly turned dirt,burning leaves in the fall,freshly mowed grass and alfalfa,burning piñon pine,the cute girl at the bakery.... [emoji1]