I love it when nature sneaks up my nose in a good way.
While we were getting loaded the other day in Modesto, California, I took Jas for a walk. We were in an industrial area; blocks and blocks of warehouses, concrete, and no nature to speak of, with only a strip of dirt along the road and some trees here and there.
All of a sudden I stopped and took a deep breath, wondering what I was smelling that was so familiar and aromatic. Just as the name came to me I saw the big tree right in front of me. Eucalyptus! (Like eureka! only more fragrant.)
Did you know that eureka is California's state motto? It's Greek for "I have found it" and refers to the discovery of gold there.
I love the smell of eucalyptus. It has a clean, almost minty but kind of zingy smell. I brought some leaves back to the truck and stuck them in the a/c vent to go with the rosemary sprigs I had found earlier at a truck stop.
Rosemary is a common landscape plant in California, I'm always finding it and I love the smell of it too. Piney and zingy. (Zingy is the word of the day, apparently)
Have you ever noticed that you can't really describe a smell without referring to another smell? Or zingy.
I have a super-smeller nose which is both a blessing and a curse.
Blessing:
One time I saved us a eleventy hundred dollars because I identified a leak in the rear differential on our truck using my nose.
The gear oil in the rear differential has a particular smell and I when I walked by the rear tires I caught a whiff and told Himself. He got a flashlight and crawled under the truck and sure enough, there was a small leak.
It was only a matter of time before all hell broke loose and the truck exploded in a fiery death ball.
Himself wants me to point out here, that the whole fiery-death-ball scenario is not true and I would like to point out that it's a lot more exciting than the truth, which is something about grinding gears and costly repairs, etc., etc. We agree to disagree.
Curse:
My smeller works so well that I can tell when Jas is yawning three feet behind me. Her mouth smells like a dumpster behind a fish market where the garbage men are on strike.
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The eucalyptus and rosemary zinged up my brain so much that I decided to make a list of my favorite smells and I asked Himself to do the same.
My list of good smells: Himself's list of good smells:
limes wet dog
mint diesel fumes from an old bus
rosemary bleach and Comet mixed*
eucalyptus grill marks on meat
lavender strawberries
One of us is clearly a psychopath.
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| Does this bed make me look crazy? |
What's your favorite smell?
* Comet and bleach mixed together will kill you in a fiery death ball.
