What are some associations your brain has with certain smells?

Wet canvas = an old army tent that my dad set up in our back yard when I was a kid.
White Shoulders perfume = a beautiful woman.
Wintergreen = those pink candies that my grandpa used to give me.
Brute cologne = my first boyfriend.
Gasoline = sitting in the back seat of our family car when I was a kid and the attendant was pumping our gas.

I’ll remember when I smell them…

Well, vinegar…need I say more?

Musty cabin. Man that smell sends me back to the best times of my life spending the summer up north and sleeping in sand filled beds. I love the smell of a lake side cabin.

I know and love that smell too @Cruiser . :-)

Cut grass. Summer time, bare footed, no worries.

My favourite smell in the world is newly-sawn wood, because carpentry was my father’s hobby and I used to spend many hours in the shed with him. Either helping, or just playing in the heaps of sawdust! That smell always makes me think of him.

The smell of lamb stew cooking makes me think of my dad.
Estee Lauder Youth Dew, my first serious boyfriend (not because he wore it).

That’s all I can think of off the top of my head but I agree smells can bring back memories. As can sounds. Ticking clocks. Train noises.

Sometimes I’ll just be driving along, or just sitting around, and, out of nowhere I get hit with the smell of old bong water! Seriously! It’s ghostly, and I’m like, WTH??? And…it takes me back to a particular evening when I was in college….long story short, I managed to spill old bong water on my overalls, but not before I peed on the strap on accident. And….we were 100 miles from my dorm in Manhattan, planning to stay the night in Kansas City, and I had no change of clothes. Perfume didn’t help a single, solitary thing, BTW…..

:-) I don’t know what old bong water smells like but I have a feeling it wouldn’t have been something you would choose to smell of. Hope the evening was worth it.

Pipe smoke is another one for me. My dad smoked a pipe. Not that you smell that much these days.

The smell you get after it has rained… that wet dust and/or grass smell. Eucalyptus makes me think of a particular part of the city I live in.

It….smells…RANK!! Strong, like skunk-smell strong! It NEVER goes away, and that’s probably why I smell it do this day sometimes! It’s in my skin!

That’s really all I remember of the evening…peeing on my overall strap, dumping the bong water on me, and trying to cover it up with perfume…that’s really all I remember!!

There is a scent combination of old wood, motor oil, WD-40 and lawnmower gasoline that when I smell those 4 things together (and it happens more often than you would think) I am standing in the middle of the clapboard workshop/garage on my grandmother’s property, that has long since been torn down. But when I get a whiff of that smell, I can see my Uncle tinkering and explaining to me and my brother how to make arrowheads and I am 5 years old again.

The scent of cloves (even if it’s on a ham or in a spice jar) takes me right back to my high school years in the 80’s. My best friend smoked Djarams.

The scent of slightly musty parachute material brings me back to my childhood days of tent camping with my brother and Dad. Our tent was made from leftover parachute material from WWII. If I hear a zipper like that, I get the same sensation. Whhhhrrrrrrrzzzzzzzzzzkk.

The scent of hose water hitting hot sidewalk cement brings me back to the summers of my childhood. You could see the steam rise up from the side walk. We used to purposely hose it down and lay on our stomachs in our bathings suits on. The sun was so warm and that smell, although kind of oddly dusty smelling, was delicious. And when you would get up, you would always have dirt and little pebbles and grass clippings stuck to your stomach and legs.

The smell of honeysuckle instantly transports me to my elementary school playground. It was surrounded by honeysuckle. Sometimes I fall into a very intense bittersweet emotional state when I smell it. I didn’t like school, but I have fond memories about certain friends and I have really vivid remembrances about the fabulous Halloween carnivals that the school held every year. Those carnivals were one of my favorite things from childhood. I was so thrilled to hook a pink plastic bracelet at the fishing booth and to eat a piece of fudge wrapped in waxed paper from the bake sale. It’s kind of a weird feeling because I experience fear, loathing, joy and intense happiness all mixed up with that scent. Sometimes it’s a little overwhelming and I try to avoid it.

The smell of dill pickles reminds me of Ukraine.
Frying onions reminds me of my grandmother.
Acqua Di Gio reminds me of my husband.

Coffee brewing reminds me of waking up in the morning when I was a child. Cinnamon, peppermint and pine scent remind me of Christmas. Bread baking makes me think of my Grandmother’s homemade bread.

Machacado con huevo reminds me of Sunday morning.

My mother makes the world’s best machacado con huevo.