Blog Challenge - Scentsational Memories

From Tracilouwho: I read recently that our sense of smell is much stronger than we realize. For many people a specific scent can trigger nostalgic memories from years and years ago. For others, a whiff of a specific scent or odor for that matter can bring back awful memories. Is there a scent that does this for you? Talk to me about smells that you remember, from childhood, your teenage years, or even more recently, and be sure to tell what these scents mean to you when they resurface in your life now.

Just yesterday I was standing outside and smelling fall. There's just a certain scent in the air for this season. I'm not sure whether it's partly due to people burning leaves, fires in fireplaces or what, but I know it's fall when I smell that scent.

The scents that evoke memories of the past are so often associated with food. I can't prepare Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner without being reminded of the past. The cloves in the Christmas ham, the nutmeg on the brandy alexanders, the cinnamon of the pumpkin pies always make me think of my mother and all the times I helped with preparing our family feasts.

Sometimes, the scents take you back to special places. When we were on vacation in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan this summer, at one point we were at a beach on the shore of Lake Superior. I told Michael that it smelled like the Great Lakes. It's a different smell from the ocean. It was the same scent I remember from going out on the boat with Dad on Lake Erie.