No, that is not a real word. It just popped into my head as I was sitting folding laundry and thinking I would need to open some windows soon. Suddenly I was having a smell memory of hot cotton.
When I was a girl, we were taught to iron by doing cotton handkerchiefs. I no longer iron my handkerchiefs but I was folding them in a hot RV when this memory hit me. I’ve always wondered about the advisability of starting your ironing lesson by doing handkerchiefs because they aren’t very big. But, I suppose you learn to be careful very quickly. Was that my first lesson in mindfulness?
Anyway, that smemory quickly led to others. The smell of hot cornbread and beans brought a picture of Grandma cooking. Which led to seeing her spreading her homemade noodles out on the table to dry although I don’t remember those having a smell other than flour.
But pumpkin pie! Suddenly a movie of nearly every holiday dinner was playing in my mind. Which led to the cinnamon smell of Snickerdoodles, a cookie our daughter and I loved to make so much we didn’t always wait for a holiday as an excuse to make them. Then the sweetness of divinity which I never did learn to make but remember Mom and Grandma waiting for conditions to be just right to make it. And the slightly spicy smell of Arabian Date Nut Roll which was another treat we only got to have at Christmas time.
I spent a bunch of time lost on memory lane as smell pictures just kept coming back to me.
What smells trigger memories for you?
TTYL,
Linda
Popcorn – Dad would make popcorn and we would watch TV for an hour together as a family. That is, after we got a TV. Fried chicken – Sunday dinner after church.
Without a doubt my most common memory trigger is aroma.
I am in my mid 60’s and I can still remember the smell (not good) of one particular school chum’s house. I recall a lot of life memories when I smell various foods. I also tend to remember where I’ve been and what I’ve done in various places by what I ate while I was there.
All of my aroma related memories are not related to food. For example, my dad used to burn these pine scented incense cones. Some time ago we were crossing the middle of Oregon — near Prineville – and the aroma of cut pine brought back all manner of memories of my father sitting in the living room, reading some magazine in his La-Z-Boy while burning the incense. Which gave place to other memories of mom and I returning home from church of a Sunday morning to the aroma of pine and the sound of my father playing LP anthology records he had bought from some advertising source.
Yup — smells are particularly strong for me.
The thing that came to my mind (or nose) was less than fond memories of when we lived in Brazil for three years and one malodorous smell after another would come wafting by and we called them “scratch and sniffs” as in “Oh my god, that was another scratch and sniff”.
The smell of a lake brings back memories of me and my uncle fishing on the lake in his jon boat.
Great memories for me !!
Thanks !!
I think we all have those smells in our memories. Some of them are good and some not so good. I love the smell of the ocean and the smell of the seafood markets. Maybe it’s because I grew up next to similar smells.
wow. I literally love the new word you’ve made up rv braveheart!
smemories. it’s brilliant. so simple but so strong.
I learned to iron on pillow cases!
if I ever smell the smell of washing clothes outside with my gramma . . . (I got to pull the clothes through the wringer) . . . the mixture of sunshine, shade, soapy water, rinse water and clean clothes . . .
well it would be a smemorie for sure!
my mother’s baking at Christmas – the date nut candy especially –
and the way she smelled when she kissed us goodnight. and left the door open “just a little bit.” lovely!
popcorn! yes. ALWAYS a wonderful smemorie of her since she loved it so!
uh oh. going on too long here.
see what you started? LOLOL.
wonderful post. just wonderful.
Oh how I remember ironing handkerchiefs, sheets, my dad’s t-shirts…yuck!
Smells…Italian cooking…Grandma’s…aaaahhhh
Lessee…
The smell of blacktop on a newly paved road. Reminds me of my days of working road construction and playing volleyball on the beaches up in Delaware.
A paper mill. Reminds me of the town I grew up in. (Not all smemories are good ones).
Not a smell, but a sound. The roar of a harley running up the street. Reminds me of my days riding motorcycles.
Salt water and humidity in the air as I step off the plane at Key West International. Reminds me that I’m back home.
Chlorine bleach. Reminds me I need to change the cat litter box.
The first raindrop on dirt on a hot summer day … freshly mowed grass AND fresh from the orchard peach cobbler… man oh man
I still love the smell of “Sea & Ski,” one of the first sunscreens on the market. Really, any sunscreen takes me instantly to the beach! I have been known to covertly sniff the bottles just for a quick flashback of the sand and sea. 😉 But I think the most permanently embedded smell for me is always going to be that burning plastic/rubber smell from 9/11 when I worked in lower Manhattan. I try very hard to turn that around to thoughts of gratitude, that by being late for work that day, I came away with nothing worse than an unfortunate “smemory.”