Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Ten on Tuesday - 10 Favorite Smells

In a lot of ways, I'm fairly scent-averse.  I can't handle perfumes or colognes or most scented candles.  The last time I wore perfume, my allergic reactions included swollen glands and fever!  Today is a particularly scent-sensitive day for me, and I've had a borderline migraine for most of the past 24 hours due to some very unpleasant scents at a venue where I rehearsed last night and sang this morning:  sewer gas, some kind of really sweet, nasty, Raid-smelling air freshener that must have been piped in, and some other kind of kerosene-smelling fumes in the area I had to walk through (for about two city blocks!) to get to my car.  I swear, I can taste that sweet smell six hours later! 

There are, however, many smells that I do love.  They are (in no particular order)...
  1. Coffee!  There is nothing better than the smell of fresh-brewed coffee.  Except maybe the taste...
  2. Lavender.  I love lavender.  Sometimes I dab a little lavender oil under my nose when I go to bed so I can fall asleep enjoying the sweet, relaxing fragrance.
  3. Lilacs.  I can bury my face in lilacs and inhale till I'm dizzy.  I try to do this at least once every spring.
  4. Hyacinths.  Like lilacs on steroids.
  5. Asphalt.  Yes, that's right...asphalt.  I grew up a couple miles from an asphalt plant.  The smell of asphalt was always in the air, especially when the wind blew in from the southwest (which it usually did).  I don't even want to think about what that does to my chances of getting cancer.  Someone once told me if the air you breathe has an odor, it's doing bad things to you.  Eek.  One of my scariest memories is when there was a huge fire at the plant that also threatened a nearby oil refinery.  I was in first grade and remember looking out the classroom window across an empty cornfield and watching huge fireballs shooting into the air only about a mile away.  We were sent home from school soon after that.  My dad came home from work early, and we climbed up on the roof of the house to watch the fire.  Later that night, special planes from a nearby air force base had to fly in and drop foam to put out the fire. 
  6. Gasoline.  Yup, asphalt and gasoline.  Grandpa Young was an auto mechanic at a garage in Newark.  He always smelled like gasoline.  Whenever I fill up the tank, I flash back to Grandpa Young in his green and black wool jacket, just home from work and washing up with Lava soap (which isn't a particularly favorite smell).
  7. Spring air.  You know it smells different...warm...alive...  
  8. Jergen's Lotion.  The classic cherry-almond scent.  Timeless...
  9. Roast beef, the way my mother made it.
  10. Caswell-Massey's Nantucket Briar products.  One of the very few scented products that don't do me in.  I constantly have a Nantucket Briar candle or two in the bedroom and love to sprinkle a little of the powder on the sheets when I change them.
What are your ten favorite scents?

5 comments:

  1. Okay, the asphalt thing is weird but I get it. I'm with you on the others, especially roast beef!

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  2. The onions cooking at the hot dog guy's cart outside the Home Depot, Savannah Garden perfume from Caswell Massey and Ivory soap...Mmmmmmmmmm.

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  3. OMGoodness Laurie! I remember the Lava soap as well!

    First, I agree on the Lavendar and Lilac. I wasn't aware of the Hyacinths though. Must be missing out on that. There is also something in the air in the spring that I can't quite figure out that I love with every fiber of my being. I have no idea what it is yet, I'm still trying to figure it out. It must be some type of grass or hay.

    Thanks for the memories!!

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  4. @Dee-I'll have to check out Savannah Garden. There was another Caswell Massey scent I liked...something about summer...but I can't remember it now.

    @Daniele-Sometimes I think it's just the warmth in the air in spring that makes it seem to smell different. As soon as it's warm enough, I love to take a nap next to an open window and smell the spring air. :-) Soon...soon...

    Thanks for commenting!

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  5. Asphalt? Gasoline? Interesting - it really comes down to the associations.

    I'll think before I respond. Thinking .....

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