It was absolutely beautiful outside Casa Brillig today. The kind of New England October day where the sky is a cloudless blue, the air is crisp (a polite way of saying it’s 49F out) and you want to breathe in the moment. A friend invited me to go walking in a local park, and it was as nice as expected...
As we walked, I couldn’t avoid stepping on the fallen leaves, and that’s what brings me to tonight’s diary. Please grab a beverage, consider the message from our sponsor reminding everyone how much we here at Top Comments depend on YOU for our nightly offering, and listen to the leaves crunch as you step over the story break…
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When I stepped on the leaves, I heard them crunch, but that’s not what I notices most. If you’ve ever lived anywhere with the traditional four seasons, you know the smell of fallen leaves. It’s autumn and sweaters and cider and halloween and raking and… and…
Memories are triggered by our senses, often in strong and unexpected fashion. While sight and hearing are important, I’ve always found that the most powerful memories come from my sense of smell. When I noticed the smell of the fallen leaves under my feet, suddenly I was six and jumping into leaves on my front yard. I was walking across my college campus that first year, glad NOT to have to be raking them up after years! I was hiking Mt. Chocorua in NH with grad school labmates, mik, and our first dog, Brillig. All of that in a rush, and I had to explain to my friends what just stopped me in my tracks for a second.
In my attic, I keep a bottle of perfume. It’s almost 20 years old, and every now and again I allow myself to go upstairs, and spray a single time. I cry every time I do so, because that olfactory memory is my Mother. She wore one perfume for the entire time I can remember, and it reminds me of her in a visceral way that pictures, physical items or anything else does.
I can’t eat most blue cheeses, because the smell transports me instantly to my grad school days decades ago, when to get from my lab to the department office I had to walk by the room where contaminated cultures, glassware and agar plates were sterilized in the autoclave. I smell blue cheese and want to dip it in bleach to decontaminate it!!
Do certain smells carry memories for you? Do other senses more so than smell? Please share with us in the comments, after smelling the singular pixel aroma only Top Comments, Mojo and Pictures can provide! Thanks to BeninSC for ignoring any lingering odors in this freshly-prepared diary and formatting for me!
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From belinda ridgewood:
Jen Hayden had a diary about Stormy Daniels' answerto Trump's unsurprisingly disgusting tweet about her. The whole initial subthread in the comments is funny, but special props to the opening exchange: Elwood Dowd with the call and memofromturner with the response.
Highlighted by RainJustRain:
Is this OTHER comment from memofromturner, here on memofromturner night, nailing Arpaio, Norquist, Tucker Carlson and their ilk, all in one fell swoop!
Highlighted by WYgalinCali:
Is this fine rant comment by Janesaunt. Please read!
TOP MOJO
Top Mojo for yesterday, October 15th, 2018, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on FAQing Top Mojo.
TOP PICTURES
Top Pictures for October 16th, 2018. Click any picture to be taken to the full comment or picture. Thank you jotter!
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