The Case Of The Nostalgic Nose

One of the senses which isn’t celebrated nearly as often and as fervently as it ought to be is the sense of smell. I rejoice in the host of pleasant everyday smells and aromas about me; but the God-given gift of smell strikes a nostalgic chord within me, a chord resplendent with childhood memories. I remember with joy…

• The aroma of bacon frying on my mother’s cookstove;
• The scent of freshly-plowed earth;
• The fragrance of my dad’s crisply-starched “Sunday shirt” (that was before “Wash and Wear” hit the market!);
• The pungency of newly-mown hay;
• The refreshing smell of a summer rain;
• The never-to-be-forgotten aroma of “Love Feast” (a smell all of its own!);
• The overwhelming essence of roadside honeysuckle in lustrous bloom;
• The fallish smell of burning leaves; –The fresh scent of clean bed linens;
• The pleasantness of locust trees in bloom (Mother said that when the locust trees bloomed, we children could go barefoot! Thus I equate the smell of blooming locust trees with release and freedom!);
• The smell of new shoes;
• The fragrance of the haymow (the haymow was a sure retreat from studies, pesty sisters, and work!);
• The odor of mother’s homemade lye soap;
• The smell of new denim overalls (that smell to me is synonymous with the beginning of a new school term);
• The conquering fragrance of lilacs in full blossom outside the back door of the kitchen;
• The gratifying aroma of old things (old books, old cardboard boxes loaded with “treasures,” old newspapers, old attics, old leather);
• The scent of wood smoke from a neighbor’s chimney;

Let’s see what else; fresh milk, a savoury roast, fresh paint, spring water, country stores, granaries, candlewax, ripe peaches, mock-orange blossoms, chocolate fudge…the list is endless!

Say. . .does the gift of smell strike a nostalgic chord within you too? Thank God if it does!