The day that Tess is taken for a walk by friend S. I swear Tess knows when it is Wednesday and so this morning was very put out when I went out shortly before lunch time and left her behind. But I was going out to lunch with friend D (brie and cranberry panini with salad and chunky chips!)
Oh my return however I took Tess straight up for her walk. S was busy making pickling vinegar (it smelt divine) for beetroot. It brought back memories of my childhood when my mother pickled onions and beetroot and made picallili each year. The smell of pickling vinegar would greet me at the gate on my return from school. Scent is such a very strong memory jogger don't
you think? Certainly for me it is the strongest of all the senses.
And speaking of senses. Yesterday I made myself go to the hearing clinic in Richmond (around ten miles from where I live) because my hearing aid seemed to have become defective. I found that it was more or less blocked I am ashamed to say (although the technician said it was the main cause of people visiting the clinic). Today all sound is absolutely deafening: I can almost hear a pin drop.
About Me
- The Weaver of Grass
- I am a widow for the second time - first marrriage 39 years, second marriage 23 years - both very happy. My second marriage was to a farmer and when he died the farm was sold. I now live in the nearby small town on the edge of Wensleydale in The Yorkshire Dales. My beloved Border Terrier died a couple of years ago - I still miss her but as I am 90 and need carers I shalln't get another I have one son,who lives nearby with his wife, three grandchildren, one step grandchild, two great grandchildren and two step great grandchildren..Life is good.
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Well, are we going for a walk or what?
Come out rabbits! We know you're in there!
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Look how I've grown!
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12 comments:
The smell of pickling is very much an August memory. I agree that scent is the sense that best invokes memory. -Jenn
A scent can trigger such evocative memories. I find I can remember things in great detail when I get a whiff of something from the past.
It must be lovely to be back in the land of the hearing again today :-)
My father used to smoke a pipe and I think the tobacco was Holland House or something like that.You very rarely smell it these days but when I get a whiff I am back in my childhood.
Pickled beetroot is divine. I would imagine having one's hearing suddenly become really sharp could be almost painful.
For me the scent of lilacs takes me back to the garden of my childhood.
Scent is our in-built time machine! I wrote about it in 2010; you can click here if you want to read it.
Oh yes, I am sure pets know our rhythms well enough to understand when it is their day for something that happens regularly on that particular day of the week, such as Tess knows it is Wednesday. Our old cats knew when it was Tuesday, as they would usually get some extra bits from the butcher's that day, stuff that was not sellable to human customers, but was a treat for the cats.
Some dogs become very set in their ways. One of ours would put herself to bed if we sat up late. Glad your hearing problem was so easily sorted. The scent I most connect with my childhood is that of home grown tomatoes. It takes me back through the decades to watch my grandfather in his greenhouse pulling up the spent plants and allowing us to eat all the last tiny fruits. The other scent would be that of chutney bubbling away on the stove - lovely stuff!
Do you pickle eggs with the pickled beet root? I guess it's a Pennsylvania Dutch thing. Just immerse peeled hard boiled eggs into a glass container of pickled beets and let it sit in the fridge a day or so. The whites become pink and take on the vinegary taste - our pickling brine has sugar in it, so maybe that makes a difference, come to think of it, sweet and sour. The smell of that surely brings back the memory of a hot kitchen in August or September.
The scent of freesias always takes me back to when I was a four year old bridesmaid at my Aunty Pearl's wedding. Never fails.
Proust said smell was the strongest scent in terms of memory? Or is my memory making that up?
My goodness yes Pat! I'am very sensitive to smell and memories... I spent every Summer vacation with my Grandmother growing up and slept with her in the bed.... Her sheets always smelled clean and fresh... i loved slipping in between the cool sheets and Grandma always smelled like Oil of Olay beauty cream ... Her perfume of choice was Sand and Sable...
I had an old tin of crayons that she kept for me until each Summer rolled around.. I loved to color and the smell of those crayons when opening the tin ... ahhhhhh..... a box of crayons now will take me back.. And thats just to name a few.. Hugs! deb
I used to make pickles when we had a garden full of things which could be pickled but hated the vinegar smell which hung around for days. A whiff of diesel takes me back to my Dad picking me up for a hug when he came home from work.
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