Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Smells and tastes always transport me. A fresh cut field reminds me of playing soccer when I was a child- A smell will come from nowhere and I will be immediately returned to the halls of my high school. At the time I don’t realize that the smells or tastes will stick with me but I believe that in the future, no matter how long I’ve been away from Paris, the smell and taste of a clementine will bring me back to these days. I will bore the grandchildren with nostalgic tales of my clementine days.

18 comments:

~Michelle~ said...

What a lovely scent memory!

Polly-Vous Francais said...

I always imagined that you were a Proustian kind of guy!

Anonymous said...

Is that a purse you're wearing?
anon chicago

Anonymous said...

nothing transports me back in time like smell...certain book pages, friends' houses...you name it, smells are logged and locked in. I love it. After smell, I think it would be music that has the next strongest time travel potential.

Karyn said...

I almost ralphed all over the Kindergarten Orientation room when I went there in the fall, because the smell of cafeteria food, waxed floors, and white, clunky paste sent me hurtling back in time to my days of pupil-dom and they sucked. I have to suck Cinammon Altoids or something to keep myself from gagging when I go into the school now. Seriously.

Clementina said...

Just look at my profile pix and you will see that I quite agree with you. The smell of Mexican Hot Chocolate my proustian "madeleine".

Rob Kistner said...

Really liked your perspective on this. Fresh cut grass takes me back to my hardball (baseball) days of childhood in the Midwest of America.

Anonymous said...

I couldn't agree with you more about the power of scent. Certain Spanish dishes have a way of bringing me back to my childhood. Wonderful memories.

Thanks for sharing.

Crafty Green Poet said...

you're so right, scents are incredibly evocative

Lucy said...

you're so right that at the time we don't realize that the smells we are experiencing will someday take us back to the spot we are in! Our noses ARE great time machines! :)

Anonymous said...

You will have lucky Grandchildren... what a great way to remember. Yet, we don't realize at the time, precisely what it is that will draw us back to that time.

Anonymous said...

Lovely post! How our senses transport us when we least expect is a joy isn't it?

Anonymous said...

Smells do take to places and time I have forgotten. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

The idea of using smell as a teleportation tool for the time machine is brilliant! Well done and I can smell those clementines too!

Patois42 said...

So very true that scents can do that. And, goodness, what a great way to bore the grandkids!

Unknown said...

I currently bore people with tales of Paris. I'm trying to think what smell would take me back there. Not sure what.

Anonymous said...

Smells are truly one of the grand vehicles of traveling back in time. The scent of peppermint always reminds me of the large amounts of candy canes I ate as a child.

paisley said...

and they intern will reiterate the story to their grandchildren,, who in tern will find it boring until they pass it on yet further... this was lovely... so simple yet so intimate....