Senses of Place

Physical senses have been linked to memory recall and emotional responses.  In this space, I have written about the intensity of memories linked to smell and sound.  How the glug-glug sound of water brings to mind boats peacefully bobbing at their moorings or the rustle of leaves sets off memories of breezy afternoons on Gohere Bay.  Similarly, smells such as pipe tobacco or the scent of fresh water in a living lake, trigger thoughts of brisk mornings on the docks or still evenings casting the weedbeds of Lake of the Woods.

There are two distinct scents that, for me, are stronger than others.  One is the scent of the kitchen at my aunt Patricia's house.  It is a distinct smell that I often detect wandering neighborhoods and city streets where people cook with their windows open.  I noticed, even when I was young, that this smell was not about place, but about life.  At first I thought the mix of cigarette smoke, coffee, cooking and 'something else' had something to do with the small house where she lived.  Then she moved and friends moved into her old house.  I visited expecting the same comforting smells, but was disappointed.  Then I visited her new house and was immediately cognizant of that special smell.  Finally, she visited Gohere Bay one year, and after a day in cabin 8, that same comfortable essence filled the old building with a new feel.  When she left, I visited the cabin every day for a week until the scent finally reverted back to the standard mix of cedar, wool and moth balls.

The other scent, is that of Mary.  She, too, carried a scent to her kitchen and, to a lesser extent, her living space.  Yesterday I was in a hallway, 700 miles from Gohere Bay, in the hallway of a 70 year old hospital building, when I encountered her scent recreated as if for me from a collection of cleaning products and 70 year old dust released from new construction.  I stood in the hallway for a time, longer than I needed to, long enough to be late for a meeting; smelling, feeling, absorbing the essence of another time and another place.  Reliving the lessons of Gohere Bay.