Scent memory time machines

Discussion in 'The Good Life' started by gorgo2, Nov 24, 2020.

  1. gorgo2

    gorgo2 geezerhood

    If I smell Testors model enamel I am instantly and vividly transported back to northern Indiana, 1974, to a very small closet in my older brother's room. There is just enough space to sit in a folding chair with your back to the closed door. A piece of plywood is hung as a desk. The whole thing is painted a pale avocado green. Red carpeting, appropriate for a kid's room at the time. It is silent. The door is shut but I'm pretty sure the sun is out.

    This was his car, plane, and monster model lab. We moved long before I could inherit it but to this day, if I smell Testors, I can't not go there. I have no choice but to smell the dry enclosed space, the dust and stuffy heat of the small overhead lamp, to feel at peace in the blanket of a quietness of another age and the contentedness of boyhood long gone. It's one of my earliest, best memories (can you tell?), seared in permanently. Was probably the volatile hydrocarbons and concentrated solvents that did it but no other smell does that to me.
     
  2. brit

    brit in a box

    Very cool.been building car models since then as well.still do..:)testors paint has a unique scent to it.
     
    Hembree and gorgo2 like this.
  3. Primotenore

    Primotenore missed opera tunity

    Article Team
    ...and I am reminded when at the age of 11, getting caught trying to shoplift a tiny bottle of Testors...:scared003:
     
    brit, Hembree and gorgo2 like this.
  4. gorgo2

    gorgo2 geezerhood

    *stern, disapproving, but understanding glance*
     
    brit, Hembree and Primotenore like this.
  5. gorgo2

    gorgo2 geezerhood

    The sweet rot of fall leaves and smoke in crisp Fall air takes me back to the same general timeframe, but not as intensely. Probably same for many ex-kids.
     
    brit and Hembree like this.
  6. jimjo1031

    jimjo1031 never bloomed myself

    I also used my closet to do things like models and photography. It had shelves when you walked in on the right side with my supplies and books. I used to sit on the floor doing things. I even painted in there. Oh all of those fumes used to make my Mom mad.
     
    brit, Hembree, gorgo2 and 1 other person like this.
  7. Primotenore

    Primotenore missed opera tunity

    Article Team
    :signs001:
     
    brit, Hembree and gorgo2 like this.
  8. Sara-s

    Sara-s This Pun for Hire

    The smell of a wood fire takes me back to my summers at scout camp.
     
    Tiredricefarmer, Paul Turner and brit like this.
  9. brit

    brit in a box

    bakewell tarts remind me of my grandparents farm in england during the 70s where i grew up.spent a lot of time there,rabbits hanging in the pantry,the coal fires in the fireplace.always exploring stuff, the noisy rooster:D.good times..:)
     
    Tiredricefarmer likes this.
  10. Tiredricefarmer

    Tiredricefarmer Well-Known Member

    The smell of picked cotton in the wagons when I was a kid on the farm was so comforting. It would be December and cold, and after supper my brother and I would run down the gravel road, climb in a wagon and dig fox holes in the cotton to stay warm and lay there looking up at the stars listening to the cotton pickers going across the field. Things were so simple and practical back then. Sadly, those days are long gone.
     
  11. PanChango

    PanChango Not Cute

    Paper shotgun shells do it for me. My father used to hunt upland and had me as a tag along and then working the dogs for him.
     

Share This Page