The Friday Five

1. Daffodils... one whiff and I'm back in my front yard on 30th street in Bethany, OK.

2. Antique roses - specifically 'Mr. Lincoln'. A fresh-cut, homegrown tomato.

3. Gold Bond Powder. Why do old people have to cake it on!?

4. Never knew my grandparents on either side; they were long dead before I was even a twinkle in my daddy's eye. Parents: Mother smelled of cigarette smoke. Dad smelled of shelac and varnish... he was a piano refinisher.

5. Right now: Repel/40% DEET. In about three hours: baby powder and Zest.

1. Which scent(s) evoke childhood memories for you, and why? The smell of mowed grass; the smell of the earth being plowed in spring; the smell of the flowering plants my mother had.

2. What are your favorite scents? Wood smoke on a chilly fall day; the light perfume scent of an attractive women; the smell in the air after a rainstorm; the smell of a library or old book.

3. Smells that you dislike intensely--you have the urge to shower immediately, you want to get up and move to another seat on the train. Which ones are these? Rotten eggs, anything dead; and women who wear WAY TOO MUCH perfume.

4. Which scents remind you of your parents and/or grandparents? A wood fire; blossoming fruit trees; the smells of walking in the woods.

5. What do you smell like? Old Spice and old tennis shoes.

TerzaRima said:

Would anybody like to do this?

Click to expand...

No.

SpookyWriter said:

No.

Click to expand...

1. Which scent(s) evoke childhood memories for you, and why? Cinnamon and yeast. Reminds me of baking with my mother.

2. What are your favorite scents? Freshly washed baby, my husband's cologne, lilacs, ocean breezes, musky scents (essential oil variety, thanks), and fresh from the dryer laundry.

3. Smells that you dislike intensely--you have the urge to shower immediately, you want to get up and move to another seat on the train. Which ones are these? Onion, rotten eggs, poo, and vomit. Basically, bodily fluids. Ewwwww.

4. Which scents remind you of your parents and/or grandparents? Tobacco and Vicks remind me of my dad's stepfather, bananas of his mother. My mom's dad always seems to smell like leather and lemon drops. My grandma smells like some sort of cachet I can't name and plastic.
5. What do you smell like? Me? Uh, right now, I smell like baby soap, coconut, and french roast coffee and cream.

1. Which scent(s) evoke childhood memories for you, and why?
pine smell, Christmas trees--fun Christmases we had.

2. What are your favorite scents?
Coffee brewing, barbecue cooking, turkey roasting in oven at Thanksgiving.

3. Smells that you dislike intensely--you have the urge to shower immediately, you want to get up and move to another seat on the train. Which ones are these?
Body odor, garbage, too much perfume or cologne

4. Which scents remind you of your parents and/or grandparents?
My father used to use Old Spice cologne or aftershave; my son is now using his old bureau and that scent still remains when you open one of the drawers. It's as if my father is right there in the room.

5. What do you smell like?
I have no idea. Ask my husband.

1. Which scent(s) evoke childhood memories for you, and why? New houses - that slightly clean, musty smell. We moved a lot when I was young.

2. What are your favorite scents? Old bookstores and jasmine.

3. Smells that you dislike intensely--you have the urge to shower immediately, you want to get up and move to another seat on the train. Which ones are these? Coconut milk... makes me feel ill. Bad breath, makes me feel claustrophobic.

4. Which scents remind you of your parents and/or grandparents? Summer, fresh air and crisp breezes. (also the sound of chimes).

5. What do you smell like? Possibly a little like my dog, I'm wearing wool - so woollen as well. With maybe a hint of apple.

1. Which scent(s) evoke childhood memories for you, and why?
Lilacs or a locust tree blooming. Both were ever-present in my parent's yard, but absent from most the places I currently habitate. A wiff reminds me of standing on my parent's porch on summer evenings.

2. What are your favorite scents?
Locust trees, cut grass, fresh pizza, and summer evenings after it rains.

3. Smells that you dislike intensely--you have the urge to shower immediately, you want to get up and move to another seat on the train. Which ones are these?
Yogurt curdled by the sun. Particularly acrid smelling perspiration-- some people have a really sharp odor.

4. Which scents remind you of your parents and/or grandparents?
I can't think of any. Only the above flowers that remind me of their yard, but nothing of the folks themselves.

5. What do you smell like?
Right now? Sex. ;-)

1. Which scent(s) evoke childhood memories for you, and why?
Diesel fumes, but only in the very early morning air - reminds me of every school trip I ever went on. The smell of vinyl records (yeah, I'm old, but still...) Rose Milk lotion, which I don't think they make anymore.

2. What are your favorite scents?
Lavender, the air after a thunderstorm, leaves on the forest floor, coffee when you first open the can, office supply stores )okay, yeah, that one's weird,) damp potting mix, jasmine, peppermint.

3. Smells that you dislike intensely--you have the urge to shower immediately, you want to get up and move to another seat on the train. Which ones are these?
Gasoline =instant headache. Same for gardenia perfume. (It must be something about the synthetic gardenia fragrance; the real flowers don't bother me at all.) Vinegar's another one. Most air fresheners are too synthetic and strong for me as well.

4. Which scents remind you of your parents and/or grandparents?
My father loved Lifebuoy soap, which my mom and I can't stand. One of my grandmothers wore Jean Nate.

5. What do you smell like?
Probably whichever of my favorite fragrances I'm wearing at the moment. There was one time awhile back, though, when, after a run-in with an ex-boyfriend that left me rather flustered (not to mention annoyed,) I managed to spill vanilla coffee all over myself. The outfit I had on was dark enough that the coffee didn't show (and it wasn't hot enough to burn) but for the rest of that day, people would start talking to me, break off in mid-sentence, sniffing, then exclaim "You smell so good! What is that?" I told them it was Vanilla Cafe Perfume.

1: Which scents evoke childhood memories and why? Homemade vegetable soup cooking. It was a winter staple and still cures all ills.

2: What are your favourite scents? The smell of impending rain. And the soup.

3: What smells do you dislike intensely? Too-strong perfume makes me gag. Also crushed ants. And strangely, cheap toilet paper.

4: Which scents remind you of your parents/grandparents? Tobacco in a leather handbag reminds me of mum.

5: What do you smell like? Right now? Soap and shampoo.

1. Which scent(s) evoke childhood memories for you, and why? Tough question... Without digging into it, I'd say Nutella with bread-sticks, because the smell reminds me of one time (when I was 4) when I was at the airport, traveling back from Italy, and we were munching on some. Back then, that was a rarity, but now eating Nutella is like eating peanut-butter for me.

2. What are your favorite scents? Between the ages of 5 and 12, my favorite scents, absolutely without question, were my own farts. Nowadays? Let's see here... [difficult]... Ummm... gee, I dunno. Well, do rather quite like the smell of fresh pancreas. There's absolutely nothing like it.

3. Smells that you dislike intensely--you have the urge to shower immediately, you want to get up and move to another seat on the train. Which ones are these? Bad breathe (especially corn-dog breath, from back in elementary school - btw, I've had to watch this one lately, because my retainers love to accumulate scents if I ever forget to brush my teeth at night)... stale Mexican-shop water (there are these Mexican shopping centers around here that excel at distributing this particular brand of commercial business-deterrent that smells like filth incarnate), bruschetta spices (I had a bad experience with a bruschetta burger at Applebees... it tasted alright while I was eating it, but then the after-taste/stomach-breath helped me develop a very healthy hatred of it. 'Never going to touch that crap again), cigarette breath (I nearly passed out once at a movie theater when I walked in front of this woman who had her mouth open - it was such an experience, I even remembered that I was seeing Pan's Labyrinth at the time), and other people's farts (do I really have to explain this one? Oh well; I will anyway... Yes, DON'T WALK INTO SOMEONE'S HOUSE, AND FART!! Even worse (listen up, high-schoolers), don't decide that the best to let one rip is when you're already in a 100-degree room, with 20 other people, all standing under a blasting fan!)

4. Which scents remind you of your parents and/or grandparents? Bad armpits and BO remind me of my grandpa (as well as various other foul body odors that only manifest on the frequently unwashed). Espresso/coffee breath reminds me of my dad...

5. What do you smell like? Well, right now I smell like last night's mashed potatoes (my mom's leftovers are always made of win), and I might still have a hint of Cappuccino-shake on my breath (trying desperately to put on some weight - hey, I finally gained 5 pounds in these past days!). Other than that, if I stick my nose in my shirt, I am reminded of my plans to take a shower as soon as I'm done here. Unfortunately, while we've sent probes to Mars, we still can't figure out how to make deodorants that actually work well...

TerzaRima said:

Would anybody like to do this? Five questions, loosely organized around a theme each week. Your answers can be as brief or as detailed as you like.

Click to expand...

Sure! That sounds fun.

Maybe because I came away from last night's farmers market with four kinds of garlic, smells are on my mind; all kinds of odors will be this week's focus:

1. Which scent(s) evoke childhood memories for you, and why?

Click to expand...

The smell of fresh air in the springtime. Reason: My fondest memories of childhood are from Spring. There's something that has always been magical to me about the smell of fresh springtime air.

Also, the smell of Pine-Sol, a floor cleaner that my grandmother used to use. It brings back some very lovely memories of my days at Grandma's old house (she doesn't have it anymore).

2. What are your favorite scents?

Click to expand...

Fresh-baked pumpkin pie
Fresh-baked white bread
Roses

3. Smells that you dislike intensely--you have the urge to shower immediately, you want to get up and move to another seat on the train. Which ones are these?

Click to expand...

Chlorine, because of a personally devastating experience I had with a local jail; they cleaned the holding tank with especially strong-smelling chlorine bleach.

4. Which scents remind you of your parents and/or grandparents?

Click to expand...

Like I mentioned above, Pine-Sol reminds me of my grandmother.

Also, the smell of second-hand smoke reminds me of my parents, and especially my father, whom I miss dearly.

5. What do you smell like?

Click to expand...

A human being? Honestly, I smell like sweat and whatever deodorant I'm wearing today.

Cool questions. I like this thread.

1. Which scent(s) evoke childhood memories for you, and why?

a. Bayberry always brings me back to Christmas time as a kid, because my mom would put out red and green bayberry candles when we decorated for Christmas.

b. Coppertone suntan lotion or Hawaiian Tropic suntan oil - it reminds me of spending summers at the shore.

c. lilacs - when I was a kid, we had a lilac tree (yep a tree. no one ever pruned it as a shrub and it was very ambitious, so it became a tree) right outside my window. When it bloomed, it would fill my room with the scent and I knew the weather was going to be warm for good.

2. What are your favorite scents?

Lilacs, the salty air at the beach, fresh brewed coffee, towels right out of the dryer

3. Smells that you dislike intensely--you have the urge to shower immediately, you want to get up and move to another seat on the train. Which ones are these?

That awful-not-wearing-deodorant smell, fresh ashpalt or tar, exhaust fumes, garbage - like an overloaded dumpster in the middle of July - blech

4. Which scents remind you of your parents and/or grandparents? Old Spice aftershave makes me think of my grandfather. White Diamonds perfume always makes me think of my mom, even though she hasn't worn it in eons. Lemon Pledge just makes me think of home when I was a kid - our house always smelled like it. And baking chocolate cookies - my grandpa was a baking fiend and he lived with us, so there were always yummies in the house.

5. What do you smell like? Caress Japanese body wash and Aussie shampoo.

Rats - I answered last week's questions...

Oh well.. onto this week...

1) If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? Grilled salmon

2) What food would you not eat if your life depended on it? Cooked spinach


3) Do you eat to live or live to eat? Eat to live for the most part.

4) What food brings you instantly back to your childhood? Homemade mac and cheese

5) What's the trashiest thing you secretly enjoy? Frosting right out of the can

1) If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? Seafood

2) What food would you not eat if your life depended on it? Red Meat unless it's attached to a guy.

3) Do you eat to live or live to eat? It depends on the day. I try to eat to live, but these days I'm living to eat.

4) What food brings you instantly back to your childhood? Creamettes with peas, mayonnaise and tuna. Hey! We were poor and this was cheap to make.

5) What's the trashiest thing you secretly enjoy? Men. Um, Apple Cruellers and Apple Turnovers.

1) If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? Tomatoes

2) What food would you not eat if your life depended on it? Natto Honestly, I'd rather eat any other food that had been vomited up.

3) Do you eat to live or live to eat? Some days the only thing that gets me out of bed is the promise of a tasty meal.

4) What food brings you instantly back to your childhood? Bacon and tomato sandwiches.

5) What's the trashiest thing you secretly enjoy? Cheetos.

1) If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? Home-grown tomatoes.

2) What food would you not eat if your life depended on it? Liver.

3) Do you eat to live or live to eat? Yes.

4) What food brings you instantly back to your childhood? Macaroni and Tomatoes

5) What's the trashiest thing you secretly enjoy? Plain ol' McDonald's cheeseburgers - you know the ones: slim mystery-meat patty, a pickle chip, a squirt of ketchup and a sprinkling of reconstituted, extruded onion flakes.

1) If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Chocolate, baby, chocolate! Nature's most perfect food.

2) What food would you not eat if your life depended on it?
Hmmm - if it was eat or die, I could probably learn to like anything...

3) Do you eat to live or live to eat?
I'd like to say eat to live, but I suspect it's really the other way around.

4) What food brings you instantly back to your childhood?
Not a "food," per say, but Diet Vanilla Coca-Cola Zero. My abslute favorite thing when I was little was "Coke floats," aka Coke over ice cream, and that's exactly what the diet vanilla tastes like.

5) What's the trashiest thing you secretly enjoy?
Pork rinds.

1) If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? After thinking about this for a few minutes, I'm going to have to cheat - just too hard for me to choose. I can narrow it down to seven, one for each day of the week: fried oysters, boiled shrimp (New Orleans style) boiled crawfish, crabmeat au gratin, steak, medium-rare, barbequed shrimp 'Mosca', oysters on the half-shell, turtle soup, gumbo, sloppy roast beef poor-boy, pizza - spinach, artichoke, garlic and feta, meatballs and spaghetti, muffellata, fried shrimp, fajitas, gyros, red beans & rice w/ hot sausage, stewed chicken/rabbit, aligator/deer sausage... okay, that's my seven.

2) What food would you not eat if your life depended on it? Cooked carrots - puke! But raw carrots are great.


3) Do you eat to live or live to eat? Live to Eat.

4) What food brings you instantly back to your childhood? Fried chicken. I'm the youngest of seven. My mother would fry chickens for hours and if I was stupid enough to stay inside until dinner time, I'd watch the platters rise like pyramids with each batch.

5) What's the trashiest thing you secretly enjoy? I'm not shy about eating, so I don't have a trashy secret, but my family knows that my weakness is Baskin Robbins Chocolate Almond ice cream.

1) If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? Bread. Fresh baked.

2) What food would you not eat if your life depended on it? Stewed tomatoes

3) Do you eat to live or live to eat? Eat to live, but I love food anyway.

4) What food brings you instantly back to your childhood? My mother's cinnamon rolls and meatloaf.

5) What's the trashiest thing you secretly enjoy? I don't secretly enjoy any foods. I eat what I eat, and if you don't like it, nobody's gonna make YOU eat it.