What's that Smell?

The challenge for the month of June on Michelle Ward's Street Team is to make an association with scent and making art, so that when you will always remember June of 2007 by a certain scent, as that sense has been proven to be the most powerful of all for recalling memory.
The day I read this, we happened to be in our local junk store (tourist trap variety) and got a whiff of the new incense that they're carrying-would you believe they had root beer incense?  And it smells just like a root beer!  I'm going to date myself now, but that smell immediatly brought back memories of hot summer days when I was a kid, and we'd all pile into the station wagon and go to the drive up A&W-you know back when the waitress came to the car and placed your order on a tray that hooked onto the rolled down window.  The root beer was always served in a frosty mug, and they had little teeny ones for the little tykes-god, I can smell it now!  Burning that incense now, brings that memory right back to me anytime I feel like it-gotta love it!
This summer, we've gone to the beach in Algoma on Lake Michigan, at least once a week, to pick rocks, watch the water & the birds, and just chill out.  I've been bringing a little journal along with me in a ziplock bag that also has a sharpie and a $2 box of watercolor pencils, so if I get the urge to remember the day, I can attempt to draw something and maybe pick up something off the ground to add to it.  So for today, the scent that I would associate with art is that of water-it's not a smell I can describe, but I sure know it and love it.  The art is rudimentary, at best, but it'll serve the purpose to remember the day. 

Comments

[annie]

very nice! i like to do that too, sketch out what i see or remember about nature trips. how was the surprise at v.r? hope tons of fun!

[michelle]

NO WAY!!!!!!!!!!! I love incense, and have never heard of ROOT BEER flavored sticks! Will you save me one? (And put one in your journal)This is awesome, love that burning it made you remember stuff. How's this for cool? I WAS A CARHOP at A&W! Rode my bike to work in the summer and was the girl bringing out the trays! AND just last week I was in MN and we stopped in for a float at the local A&W near our cabin. Enter Twilight Zone music here!!! Terrific journal page too. Thanks for joining the crusade Sue :)

[carlene]

I love your journal pages, very cool! and OMG!!! Can't believe there's root beer scented incense, I want some SO much! M new goal in life now is to find some, lol!

[Penny Stuart]

Absolutely divine...your shared memory of A&W and the carhops. Those were my favorite times as a child, loved the frosted mugs...if I close my eyes real hard, I can almost smell your A&W rootbear smell....thanks for bringing back such wonderful memories!

[Crafty Green Poet]

Enjoyed your story and love your artwork.

[Kim Tedrow]

Wow! Thanks for bringing back one of my favorite childhood memories -- I had forgotten about the "tot-mugs" of root beer. And I know what you mean about the smell of water. Your journal entries are way past rudimentary! I love them!

[Linda]

Your journal pages are beautiful.

[steff]

Wow! great elements in this...i love it!