The Nose Knows

The smell of chili simmering in the crock-pot is filling the house today. As I lay on the couch watching old episodes of Gilmore Girls and smelling the chili, I was back in Connecticut. Funny how a single smell can trick your mind into thinking you are somewhere else. I close my eyes and I am back in my little condo, the crisp New England air on my skin and the sound of neighborhood kids playing outside filtering through the screen door.

There's a line in a Trisha Yearwood song that goes "and even if the whole world has forgotten, the song remembers when."Well I say the song may remember when but it's the smell that takes me back.

My aunt is visiting this weekend, my dad's sister; I always enjoy when she visits. I like to get her and my dad talking about their youth and what life was like for them on the farm back in the 40s and 50s. Yesterday my aunt was talking about the smells of her childhood. She was remembering a trip to visit her grandparents in Portland; how everything there smelled damp and moldy, so much different from the dry, sweet smell of our farm.

I know whenever something has a musty, earthy smell it reminds me of the farm and our barn. In turn the smell brings back the memories of 4H and horseback riding. The leather saddle, the hay and oats all come back to me. So many smells.

What smells take you to another place?