As it is easy to see, this one smell helps take me back to some of the loveliest and scariest moments of my life. I have constructed one highway in my brain with many scenic routes that are lovely to take. Its nice to soak them in. It amazes me how one of my favorite smells takes me on a roller coaster of emotions and memories.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Smoke and Pine
Last weekend, I had the opportunity to go out to my best friend's cabin and enjoy a nice, relaxing bonfire. Over the course of my outdoor career, I became in love with the smell of smoke rolling off of wet logs and the general smell of wood. Whenever a puff of that smokey scent floats up against my face, the smell takes me back to so many memories. While my eyes begin to burn, I begin to think about the first time I became immersed in that sweet smell. It takes me back to the first memory I have with my dad. It takes me to the time of when he use to take me out chopping firewood. We use to go in the middle of nowhere, talk of how annoying my older sister was, and how we thought the Indians were going to do this season. It takes me back to when I went to Colorado over the summer. It reminds me of how I rediscovered my campground (with my friends there eating) after being lost for 3 hours on my own and coming back to a nice, warm fire. It made me feel safe. It takes me back to all the campfires and beers I had with my friends, sharing stories of lover's past.
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You did a really nice job describing your memories. More than just being able to envision those moments, I can see how they have affected you. At the same time, I think this could have been improved by spending a little more time with the scent itself. As we've learned, it's really hard to appropriately describe a smell, but I think an attempt at really deeply describing the smell of smoke and pine could greatly improve this.
ReplyDeleteYep. More time with the scent. And with one or two of the memories.
DeleteI think this gets to the heart of why certain smells are so powerful, as Ackerman points out. You describe your memories well, though you don't spend as much time on the smells themselves, though I too have trouble describing odors.
ReplyDeleteI also love the smell of campfires. I have to say, I would probably love them even more if it was the smell of saving grace after being lost in the woods. I agree with Mish that you could spend a little more time describing what campfires actually "smell" like. You're getting there with the smokiness and the sweetness, but maybe you could say that the smell burns your nose, too (it does for me at least). Now I want summertime and campfires and mountain pies. I hope you know what mountain pies are...
ReplyDelete"The smell of saving grace." Nice phrase that.
DeletePlease describe mountain pies. I can only imagine that means goat or bear dung.
I like your use of smell association and memory. It's a good way to make a smell more significant than simply appealing or disgusting. Smell seems like more of a mode of memory than an observation in this essay, and I really liked it.
ReplyDeleteLoving the metaphor of brain highways and offramps. Not digging the metaphor of rollercoasters. I've never gotten that one actually. On a roller coaster, we're always either scared or anticipating being scared. (Or, excited and anticipating more excitement). There's not really much emotional up and down, and yet it's become our most cliched description for up and down emotional experiences. I guess maybe because you get jerked around.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm sure I'll discourse on this in class today!
But this was a cool response nonetheless. Could we end up having this be an essay about Anthony-and-dad, through fire imagery?
DW