Re: Memories linked to smell « Reply #60 on Jun 9, 2010, 11:10am »
I'm put off eating toast because of a memory of a woman that I once knew who ate it while talking rubbish and now that's put me off for ever I think. The woman was everything that I disagreed with. Very off putting. And I somehow associate toast with her now.
I just went to Berlin for a few days. One of the subway stations (Klosterstr.?) is right beside a building with some French flags on it (no, not the embassy), and the smell in the subway station is exactly that of the Paris subway. We figured they must spray something because none of the other stations smelled that way.
Isn't there something electrical that creates a smell? I'm always reading about the "ozone smell" in subways, but don't really know what that is. Is it possible a switching mechanism in a subway station would create a certain smell?
The streetcars in New Orleans have a certain smell, too, that I think comes from the cables. It seems to me it was always more noticeable at night.
I was cleaning some stuff in the shed out back this morning and got a whiff of some kerosene,immediately transported me back to the farm of my childhood. I've always loved the smell of it.
Whoo ~~ just reading the above gave me an intense visual and sensory memory.
My grandfather's general store had a narrow wood-floored room between the main store and the big warehouse. The narrow room had a wide mesh door at each end. It was full of things like salt blocks for cattle, leather tackle, rope, and fencing. At one end of the room was the "coal oil" pump, a large, sticky smelly red box with a pumping apparatus on top.
I am there right now -- standing in the light coming from the mesh door, smelling the coal oil and cattle feed and listening to the ticking of the metal roof in the hot sun.
Just THINKING about a smell can have the same effect as smelling it, it would appear.
I've been reading that Alzheimer's patients who have entirely lost their memory can regain some recall if they hear music from their past. Family members provide a playlist for an iPod that staff at the nursing home can play in their room. Perhaps they should also be pumping scents into their rooms.
Just THINKING about a smell can have the same effect as smelling it, it would appear.
I've been reading that Alzheimer's patients who have entirely lost their memory can regain some recall if they hear music from their past. Family members provide a playlist for an iPod that staff at the nursing home can play in their room. Perhaps they should also be pumping scents into their rooms.
My very last job in social work was working with a geriatric population,mostly dementia patients. I loved it,however ,had no staff support,(they all wanted to watch soap operas and conjointly tried to sabotage every thing I wanted to do with the patients.) Anyway,one of my groups that I did involved playing some Louis Prima music and I brought in a bunch of gardenia blossoms as well. I was totally amazed at the reaction. It was astounding!! Men and women got up out of their chairs and began dancing,laughing,became alive again!!The nursing staff was not amused in the slightest.
Infuriating story, Casimira, in that your perfect touch was the opposite of what the staff wanted in the patients -- docility. Even when my dad was well in the throes of dementia, he was still a wonderful dancer who really enjoyed it.
one of my groups that I did involved playing some Louis Prima music and I brought in a bunch of gardenia blossoms as well. I was totally amazed at the reaction. It was astounding!! Men and women got up out of their chairs and began dancing, laughing, became alive again!!
What a sweet thing to do, casi. And what a revelation it caused. Why aren't ALL nursing homes doing this? Why aren't books being written to tell in-home caregivers that this sort of thing can work wonders in their aging loved one?
one of my groups that I did involved playing some Louis Prima music and I brought in a bunch of gardenia blossoms as well. I was totally amazed at the reaction. It was astounding!! Men and women got up out of their chairs and began dancing, laughing, became alive again!!
What a sweet thing to do, casi. And what a revelation it caused. Why aren't ALL nursing homes doing this? Why aren't books being written to tell in-home caregivers that this sort of thing can work wonders in their aging loved one?
Well Kimby,in the case of the hospital I spoke of and the story I related,it would mean that the nursing staff would have to actually work. I had the full support of the medical staff,other social workers,and of course the families,but,when you're in a room with a dozen elderly people,and only two assistant staff members,(tops),and don't have their undivided support,you're doomed to fail. Many of these assistants had been there for a very long time,and were accustomed to doing things their way. Along comes some upstart,and god forbid,shake up their routine,they will band together,thick as thieves,and see to it that your life is miserable.(It worked on me,this is the only job I ever walked out on,and was asked to come back,but,did not as I knew it was a losing battle). I think that there is more information out there about these benefits,however,the implementation of continues to be limited,because most institutions don't wanto rock the boat and disrupt the staffing.
I have bitched about all sorts of things at the nursing home, and everything always boils down to lack of staff. Fragrances and other odors sounds like a great idea to get a reaction out of these people.
I do admit that I bought my mother some Chanel N° 5 since that was a precious perfume of her young adulthood, and she clearly is pleased when I spray a little on her.
Beef stew with red wine simmering on the stove conjuring up wonderful memories of cool breezy days from just this past spring...far enough back for me right now to go. I adore these cool dry autumn days here.
I wish my olfactory recall was better! I'm attempting to declutter my bathroom closet by identifying (and hopefully using up) all the mystery products in unlabeled bottles....I don't want to toss "perfectly good" shampoo or conditioner or face cleanser or hand lotion, but I don't want to try to wash my hair with hand lotion either!
Yesterday I concluded that the brownish goop in an unlabeled bottle looks like my hair conditioner, which I buy in bulk and also is brownish goop (though nice-smelling brownish goop). The mystery goop had no odor, but maybe it was old enough to have lost its herbal essences....However, when I put it on my hair I was immediately aware that it was NOT hair conditioner, as it had grit in it. It's a facial scrub that I bought long ago and forgot about. Hopefully I didn't damage my baby fine hair.
I DID briefly flash on the incident in which the Sky Princess accidentally treated her hair to a chicken grease conditioning over the kitchen sink! Remember that?
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 25,286 Location: Mexico
Re: Olfactory Recall « Reply #81 on Nov 14, 2010, 6:42am »
I am getting major olfactory recall every time I walk through my living room. I bought some of that rubbery flooring material today to cover some concrete floors. It's spread out in the living room right now so that it will lie flat. Every time I walk through, I think it's a Christmas morning in my childhood and that I've gotten a new doll. The flooring has that exact same smell!
Joined: Jan 2013 Gender: Female Posts: 373 Location: NOLA,USA
Re: Olfactory Recall « Reply #82 on Nov 19, 2010, 8:17pm »
I had occassion to go into the very large cellar of the house I grew up in and had an immediate flashback to my childhood. the odor was concentrated in a single area and,for the life of me I could not identify it. I had to concentrate very hard and think back to what was in that space many,many years ago. Suddenly,it occured to me that this is where we had a manual pencil sharpener screwed into the wall and this is where we went to sharpen our pencils when doing our homework etc. The odor was of graphite pencil shavings. The pencil sharpener long gone from that site.
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 5,367 Location: Montana & Florida, USA
Re: Olfactory Recall « Reply #83 on Dec 22, 2010, 4:32pm »
I had a friend from Girl Scout camp who would refuse to wash her camp laundry when she got home. She would pack it up in a large trash bag instead. Over the long winter, whenever she was feeling "campsick", she would open the bag and inhale the campfire smoke and other funky odors to transport herself back to camp.
Joined: Jan 2013 Gender: Female Posts: 373 Location: NOLA,USA
Re: Olfactory Recall « Reply #84 on Jan 27, 2011, 11:12pm »
I went to grab a coat this morning to wear to a Dr.'s appointment I was particularly anxious about and caught a major whiff of my mother. It was very comforting. It was her wool pea coat that I had snatched.
Just curious, what scents consist of "mother" for you, casi? Cologne, soap, moth balls?
Stale Channel #5...,cloying and comforting all at the same time. I wanted to take it to the dry cleaner but,after yesterdays episode may not...I have other coats I can wear.
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 5,367 Location: Montana & Florida, USA
Re: Olfactory Recall « Reply #87 on Jan 29, 2011, 4:23pm »
My Mom smell is Tangee lipstick. Comes in one color and adapts to your individual chemistry. It's the only lipstick she has worn in all the years I've known her, she wears it every day and it smells just like her. (She finished a tube while visiting us some years back, and I fished it out of the wastebasket to keep as a memory-invoker of her...)
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 25,286 Location: Mexico
Re: Olfactory Recall « Reply #88 on Jan 30, 2011, 4:13pm »
I'm trying to imagine the scent of wool (which I like) mixed with the scent of Chanel #5 (my favored perfume). Coming off your mother's coat, it must have been like being hugged, Casimira. Your story reminded me that the word for coat/overcoat in Spanish can also mean shelter or refuge.
Kimby, I didn't know that Tangee lipstick was still being made. For women in a certain age group, that brand was everyone's first lipstick. I remember it in rather unfortunate pinks and oranges, though. It must have been the first brand to make the adaptive lipstick.
I'm trying to imagine the scent of wool (which I like) mixed with the scent of Chanel #5 (my favored perfume). Coming off your mother's coat, it must have been like being hugged, Casimira. Your story reminded me that the word for coat/overcoat in Spanish can also mean shelter or refuge.
Kimby, I didn't know that Tangee lipstick was still being made. For women in a certain age group, that brand was everyone's first lipstick. I remember it in rather unfortunate pinks and oranges, though. It must have been the first brand to make the adaptive lipstick.
Oh,I love that translation,how poetic... Well,I remember having to endure this particular smell in the confines of an automobile,and, I used to want to open the windows because it made me quasi nauseous,and,my mother would be worried about the wind mussing up her hair....and,also, sitting next to my mother in a church pew hearing Mass being said. Now,for obvious reasons,it's a comfort. As for Tangee lipstick,I have seen it made available through a mail order catalogue out of Vermont,The Vermont Country Storehttp://www.google.com/search?client=ubun....=utf-8&oe=utf-8. They have all manner of obscure items available that one would have thought were obsolete. It's a real trip down memory lane to look at,and especially fun to do with someone else who remembers so,you can feel old together!!
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