Thursday, June 2, 2011

Memories….

Sometimes I am struck by a smell, yes a smell that brings back my childhood.
When I was a little girl we lived in Chicago, in a two flat, popular in the “50’s”. We had a basement, the first level was our two bedroom home and my Grandmother lived upstairs in her two bedroom home.
Our backyard had plum trees and lilac bushes. My mother would make plum jelly every year and in May she would bring armloads of fresh lilacs into our home. The smell was pure Heaven.


Nope not our yard!!!
Later we all moved to where I still live now and when my husband and I built our home my parent bought us 10 lilac bushes to line our back yard. We have lived in this home for 25 years and you would think they would be huge and full of blooms, but alas, no, our back yard is a northern exposure and we have woods, do the pesky 100+ year old oak trees they provide to much shade for our bushes to flourish.


But to this day I adore that smell and the memories it brings.


Nope not our blooms!



One more special “smell” from my childhood…
Jergens lotion, the original scent. 


Oh my how I love this smell and how it takes me back to simpler times……



Yes I did get something done at my machine!!
My June block for the Bee There or Bee Square Bee.




Any wonderful, warm, happy "Memory" smells for you to share?

10 comments:

  1. I had to smile at the Jergens lotion...yep...that is a good memory....love the lilacs....

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  2. Lilacs... Memories! also the smell of warm honeysuckle. The smell of colorforms (remember those?) and brand new plastic dolls.

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  3. I often reminisce when I smell certain things too. Sometimes the smell will pull at a heart-string and I'll feel the emotion but don't know what the memory is. So annoying when that happens!

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  4. I love the smell of honeysuckle and lilacs in the spring.
    To me it is the ocean, the smells are home from my childhood and home.

    Debbie

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  5. Those lilacs are some of my favorite flowers and the smell is just heavenly. I still love the Jergens lotion for that "memory" smell. I can really relate to this post.

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  6. Same with me, my mother had an arbor with lilacs covering it, still my favorite scent. She loved her lilacs. Here in the south it is too warm for them (in the winter) to grow but one year she bought me one and brought it when she visited. 8 years and one move later it is 4 feet tall, and this year I actually had some small blossoms. Didn't matter how small, the smell instantly reminded me of home.

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  7. It is amazing how smells can bring back so many memories. Oatmeal does it for me. My grandma made the best oatmeal ever. I don't know what she did but it was good.
    I remember Jergens. Those are some great bottle you have too.

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  8. Jane I can't believe that you love the old Jergens too! I buy it all the time - it reminds me of my grandmother. :) blessings, marlene

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  9. ahhh well you know something we have white lilacs now and jergens well it has always been part of my past and present..sew we have that in common...I also love the smell of cinnamon...and bacon..but not together lol..

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  10. Love lilacs but have never lived close to a lilac bush. However, my mother had a mass of peonies..now that is a smell so wonderful it takes me as far back to being a toddler! Oh the Jergens was always on my mother's dresser...I think I shall buy some this week. Smells are my #1 way of memory jogging. As a young child, my mother would have me to smell any piece of clothing left behind by a guest and I could usually pinpoint the owner with amazing accuracy! Strange, isn't it??? Loved this post!! Took me back to some very good memories...let's see...the smell of Lifebouy? Prell shampoo? Baby Majic? Burning leaves, My Aunt's Royal Secret perfume, etc...
    Blessings
    Gmama Jane

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