Ooo, That Smell*

Okay, so this post is a little bizarre, but I don't think anyone expects me to be very conventional anymore, right? Would you still be reading here if you were looking for stories from Dilbert-land (that part of my life is over, I hope, and thank God) or descriptions of my shoes (ugly, yet serviceable)? Didn't think so.

Onward with the topic at hand, which is . . . smells. Or, to be more delicate about it, scents. This topic presented itself (and isn't that lucky for you!) as I was working in the garden, inhaling the absolutely divine fragrance of the tomato plants. Not the tomatoes themselves, but the plants. That smell seems to me to be the scent equivalent of the color green. If you have no idea what I'm talking about (and I'm sure at least one of you is thinking, "Are you sure tomato plants are all you're sniffing, crazy lady?"), smell the vine part of the tomatoes on the vine at the supermarket. You'll get a faint idea of what I'm sniffing while I stake tomatoes in the garden. Tell the produce dude that you're getting high on life if he asks what you're doing. Then run away before he calls security.

The other scent that I was sniffing the other day with the avidity of the dog in the Beggin' Strips commercial (Bacon! I SMELL BACON! NOOO!! I CAN'T REEEEAD!!!--cracks me up every time) was basil. I do so love the smell of fresh basil. That is an incredibly penetrating scent. I could smell it in the dining room after the MiL had picked some and brought it inside for her lunch. It's so wonderfully spicy. The smell of it makes me consider that basil ice cream, an idea that seems repellent at first thought, might not be so bad.

And then, of course, there's the plebeian smell of garlic and shallots, both of which I have harvested in the past few days and which my hands still retain a faint odor of. I could almost smell them simmering in oil. Is there any more comforting smell in the world than garlic or onions cooking in oil?

There is also the unmistakable and disgusting stench of skunk, which woke me up last night and is now permeating the entire house because of the open windows. Gross. Maybe I'll walk around with a tomato vine under my nose all day.


Right, I think I've droned on enough about a topic that is weird at best and at worst, incredibly boring. What can I say? It's Thursday, nothing exciting has happened recently (well, there was another BAAAAAT in the house, but only the MiL saw it, so it wasn't really the next episode in "BAAAATS: A Blackrock Miniseries"), and these are the things I think about.

My mind--it's a strange, lonely place.


* Name that band, kids!