smells and memories...

[melanie2]

today during my daily three mile walk..today i chose to walk outside..in my local park...as i was walking, in the main pavilion area was a picnic or cook out in progress..with maybe fifty or so people..and i could smell the lighter fluid...and when i smell that my mind always goes back to my junior year in highschool...as a majorette..that year we used fire batons..and we did our routine to the band playing "Love look at the two of us" by the Carpenters..and i can remember the opening routine steps...if hubby had been with me today i would have broken out in those steps as i have done in the past when with him..while humming that tune...every time i smell lighter fluid it takes me back to that time..it always embarrasses him when i do that..hehe..

what smell takes you back...and for some of you it won't be that far lol...

 

[HeartOfMidnight]

Scent is the strongest sense tied to memory.

It can surprise people at points, honestly, as stupid as it may sound, the Vanilla Chai tea at Dunkin Donuts. Xp

It automatically takes me back to Autumn, even in the middle of summer

 

[Dr. Bill Kobb]

Here's an odd one for you: Creosote. They used to use it on timber for piers and docks and so forth back in the day. In the summer of `72, while I was still just a kid, our family spent a month or so on Block Island(off the coast of Maryland and near Rhode Island). We actually brought home an old washed up piece of piling that had that unique smell of creosote(and held it for years after). So, on rare occasions, when I happen to be on the beach and find a bit of driftwood that has been soaked in creosote, it takes me back to that wondrous summer, so long ago.

 

[QueenBeeBeeMari]

believe it or not hand sanitizer does,because I always used it in school.

 

[FeatherDaemon1]

Not exactly hand sanitizer, but kitchen floor cleaner. The strong industrial stuff. It reminds me of my first real job where I worked in a nursing home kitchen. Those are great memories met my first girlfriend, hanging out with friends, getting in trouble. All the memories of being a young teen. LOL.

 

[Violetta]

Really pungent smokes, like from a good cigarette or cigarillo always takes me back to my grandpa's place in downtown St. Louis. I really miss him and that old house filled with junk. It's weird... when I was young I'd get bored to death going there, and now that he's gone, I miss visiting him.

 

[Senshi1]

Don't know what it is, but there's a musty sort of smell that some warehouses or old buildings tend to have, and it always reminds me of Bygones, a museum in south England that I always visit on holiday.

 

[TKLVR181]

Yeah, that musty smell makes me think of my grandparents old books ^__^

The smell of freshly cut grass takes me back to my sixth grade year because I was outside every day that summer and most of that fall.

The smell of Senshi's collogne on other guys makes my heart stop....😍

To name a few😉

~K

 

[kopfhorer1]

Has anyone here ever worked with formaldehyde? It's nasty stuff, but if you've ever developed your own color film, you know that small amounts of it were used in stabilizer, the final bath in the development process (not sure if modern color negative films use formaldehyde stabilizer anymore). Anyway, it takes me back to age 15 when I started developing color slide film in the basement of my parents' house. Ah, pre-digital photography!

 

[JackVanderson]

Here's an odd one.
Chlorine and Anime ^_^ *sweatdrop*
Every time I smell chlorine I remember the opening to the anime Soultaker and whenever I watch the opening I smell chlorine. lol
I think it's cuz of the fact that I went swimming alot the summer I first watched it.

 

[Cbarton]

For me it's the smell of fresh cut hay. It always takes me back to the family farm, summers, and fall hay rides...heheheheh....

 

[Violetta]

Oh maaaaaan... I know that smell. Never lived on a farm, but we used to do hayrides out where I lived every fall. There were awesome! Totally miss those...

 

[Senshi1]

Here's an odd one.
Chlorine and Anime ^_^ *sweatdrop*
Every time I smell chlorine I remember the opening to the anime Soultaker and whenever I watch the opening I smell chlorine. lol
I think it's cuz of the fact that I went swimming alot the summer I first watched it.

Oh, yeah, chlorine. I LOVE chlorine. It reminds me of a ride called the Bubbleworks in a certain theme park I used to frequent. Really good memories. 🙂

 

[kopfhorer1]

For me it's the smell of fresh cut hay. It always takes me back to the family farm, summers, and fall hay rides...heheheheh....

You too, huh? I do miss my grandparents' farm. And the horseback riding, fishing in the pond, and yes, hayrides!

 

[QueenBeeBeeMari]

Oh I would love to live in the country with horses,lambs,pigs,dogs,cats and all the other animals we want.Oooh and the fireflies and all the tress and grass;and the peace and quiet oh it would be wonderful!!

 

[Senshi1]

Fireworks smoke, another one I forgot - reminds me of Guy Fawkes night.

 

[kopfhorer1]

How many people here are old enough to remember how a stack of new vinyl records used to smell?

 

[melanie2]

How many people here are old enough to remember how a stack of new vinyl records used to smell?

vinyl records???? what on earth are those???? 😉 :ggrin:

but actually i can't remember how they smell....hmmm

 

[Relent<]

I actually just had to do a research paper on this. XD
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/articles/intelligenceandmemory/nostalgicsmells.shtml

 

[kopfhorer1]

vinyl records???? what on earth are those???? 😉 :ggrin:

but actually i can't remember how they smell....hmmm

I worked in the record co-op on campus when I was in college. A box of new records, at least in the 70's and 80's, has the smell of high-grade cardboard and color printer's ink, plus the smell of plastic, especially if the records themselves are packed with polyethylene innersleeves.

Relent< - I hope that your research paper came out well!

 

[Camel26]

The olfactory sensors in the brain are next to the sections of the brain associated with memory...which is one theory behind why smell and memory are so closely linked...

That being said, today, for the first time in years, I smelled my grandpa's aftershave...reminded me of trips to california, of him taking me to bakeries to show me different pastries his businesses carried...and it reminded me of just what a good guy he was...it was nice to smell him, even if it was only for a minute...