FAVORITE SMELLS?
Freshly cut grass, coffee brewing, bacon frying, honeysuckle
I recently received, answered and forwarded a survey via email. One of those cheesy getting to know you things that you ignore at will and complete in a state of utter boredom. My friend, Steven, gave the above answer to the favorite smells statement. My own favorite smell was something about breast fed baby smell – it’s a nice smell – a bit unispiring. But Steven mentioned honeysuckle – to which I felt that I must respond.
I have just returned from trick or treating with my children. And was checking my email when I saw Steven’s answer, and I was immediately transported to summer. Imagine if you will (and if you’ve lived in the country, you can with no difficulty), a sultry summer night – mid to late June, driving in the country late at night with the windows down. The air temperature shifting from sticky warm at the top of each hill and cooling as you move down into the hollows where the steam turns almost instantly to dew on your flesh. Get there, and just inhale the sweet smell of freshly mown hay laying in the fields, the slightest hint of sweetness as you pass a patch of honeysuckle on the side of the road. The sound of the whippoorwill or the bobwhite calling out from the brush begging you to let out the day, breath in the night and look up at the night sky. To take the time to absorb and celebrate the greatness of the world in which you live.
Or perhaps, it’s not driving down the road, but in Grandma’s yard just at dusk. Your chilren, your cousins, you – running around the yard trying to catch fireflies to turn into captive night time lighting. Laughter, sporadically emerging from behind trees, bushes, and in the tall grass while you’re playing hide and go seek. The faintest scent of the grill – someone’s having steak – you’re having hotdogs and marshmallows roasted over the fire later – only slightly burnt.
What a lot of images to come from honeysuckle – the quintessential scent of summer. Honeysuckle is the innocent childhood evening romp, the carefree teenaged night time adventure, and the reminiscent adulthood quiet joy of life. What a wonderful thing is honeysuckle.
