Jack’s Winning Words 12/9/08
“Smell is a potent wizard that transports you across thousands of miles and all the years you have lived.” (Helen Keller) H.K. may have been deprived of hearing and seeing, but she still had a good mind…and a sense of smell. Are there some favorite aromas that come to mind as you wander back through time? I remember the smell of a new leather baseball glove and my old sweaty basketball clothes. ;-) Jack

FROM D.C. IN MI: Anyway, I remember Pearl Harbor Day, even though I was five. Friday night, the 5th, we went to Lake Lillian, MN for some meeting, and I always liked to go there because they had decorated sugar cubes. Anyway, when we got home my dad noticed a tire was flat. So I guess because war stories, or the expectation of the same, caused him to go downtown Hector on the 6th and buy 4 new tires for the '35 Pontiac. People thought he must have had inside news, because they were frozen by the 8th, and he couldn't have bought any, (We had that car until 1951.) And then I remember them listening to the radio on the 7th. I also remember that the over-the-street Christmas lights were only half up and so they lit them, but then in 1942 and 1943 there were no lights at all

FROM R.I. IN BOSTON: One of the best was my mother making fresh sugared donuts when I arrived home from elementary school. MORE: Yeah, and her home-made bread too. When a loaf was needed, Mom kneaded.

FROM PR J.S. IN MI: "Moline, Moline, You can tell when you get there, by the odor in the air!!!" An old refrain we used to sing in the old days.

FROM P.H. IN MN: I do recall a perfume my first girl friend used and I later found out it was called Ambush!!! Actually I really liked it!

FROM DMF IN MN: Granny A’s Cardamom bread.

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: My dad grew up on the AuSable River off of Louie's Landing Road in Grayling. Across the dirt road from my grandmother's house was an old cabin built around 1830. Sometime in the late 1800's Martha and her husband Louie (Louie's Landing was named after him) had a bakery/restaurant in this little cabin and they cooked for the Voyageurs who took the logs down the AuSable River. I never met Louie, as he had passed away, but my grandmother and my dad knew them both very well. Martha continued to bake for years and years and people came from all over the Grayling area to purchase bread and her special bakery items. She was German and had a heavy accent. As kids, we used to love to go to her cabin. As you neared the cabin...you could already smell the baking bread. She past away when I was 17. My grandmother took care of Martha in her later years and Marth a left the property and cabin to her. When we would go "up north", we would stay in Martha's cabin. The truly wonderful smell of bread never left the cabin and I still remember it as if it were yesterday.

FROM MOLINER, J.T.: As an old farm boy, I remember smells also. I won't list them here.

FROM MOLINER C.F.: The smell of the ocean on the way back from overseas. Especially at night. It conjures up the joy of coming home. 31 days of anticipation.

FROM G.M. IN MI: The odor of a new car that your father brough home . The smell of the turkey on Thanksgiving. The first day of spring. FROM JACK: Isn't it interesting that you can buy an air freshener for your car that has the new cae smell?

FROM MY SEMINARY ROOMMATE: I remember the smell of your athletic clothes, too....

FROM M.L. IN IL.: my mom always smelled like "tabu" and my dad like "old spice". i keep a bottle of each to awaken my sensory memory. i love the occasional random scent when i am in a crowd. often times i choose to believe that it is their spirits making contact. it's a good feeling. noxema, original jergens lotion, cornhuskers lotion, sen-sen breath mints, pipe tobacco, and, and, and ...the list could go on and on...

FROM J.T. IN MI: I now know that it is a pollutant but I love the smell of burning leaves in the fall (one of the childhood memories.) FROM JACK: How about the incense at church?

FROM EMT SINGS IN MI: Schools still smell the same and I love it!

FROM PR F.M. IN WI: We just had an old fashion snow storm . . . the smell of the air was just great this evening as I walked to our mail box for our mail.

FROM B.S. NEAR ORLANDO: Yes, yes, yes,: The smell of Gardenias at Graduation dinner in Frieden's gym in 1945, the smell of Hyathins at Easter in our kitchen, the smell of Lilacs in our backyard to announce the running of the white bass on the Wolf River near the Union Star Cheese factory at Zittau, Wis on hyw 10. Oh Lord what memories. Sorry I am crying. We just had to get old, Wow, what memories.

FROM B.S. NEAR ORLANDO: That keen sense of smell has done me in. The smell of dust and mold and a few other choice items exacerbate my asthma, thank you. I thinkHelen Keller was a real gift, a role model for people of all ages.