It’s Monday Listicles time, and this week I’ve put a local twist on the topic, “10 fabulous smells.” I live in a part of the world full of great smells…good thing, as I have a very keen sense of smell! Two smells I am most definitely not fond of are eggs cooking and boys’ bathrooms…which can be a challenge in my house of egg-loving males!
But here are wonderful smells I never get tired of, many native to or widespread in the Pacific Northwest:
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| Tryon Creek State Park, near our house |
1. The forest after spring rain
This is, hands down, one of the best smells in the world. And in Oregon, we have abundant forests and rain! I wish I could bottle it up to sniff whenever I need a lift!
2. Roses
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| Photo taken at the Rose Gardens last summer |
Portland, my hometown, is known as the City of Roses. We have a number of beautiful gardens, including an amazing Japanese Garden, the Chinese Garden, the Rhododendron Garden, and several public rose gardens. The most famous of all is the International Rose Test Gardens in Washington Park–which is completely free. Wikipedia says it has 7,000 plants of approximately 550 varieties and it’s the oldest continuously operating rose test garden in the world. Roses bloom there from early spring to late fall–absolutely gorgeous and so fun to go from rose to rose, smelling as many as possible!
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| Mike’s cousin Tammy had a flight attendant layover last year, so we took her to see the roses |
3. Fresh rosemary
One of my two favorite herbs, we have found rosemary to be prolific in this climate. We have a large bush in our front yard (which grows very little because of the enormous trees) and another one in the back garden.
4. Fresh basil
And this is my other favorite herb. We grow some every year, but never enough, it seems, to satisfy my demands! I love to eat fresh basil on garden-fresh tomatoes with mozzarrella cheese…or make pesto pizza.
5. Daphne odoro
This is one of my favorite flowers, but our plant doesn’t seem to produce many of the wonderful-smelling flowers. I guess rosemary does better in our front yard than daphne. When daphne does flower, the blooms don’t last very long…similar to lilacs.
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| Stumptown Coffee |
6. Local coffee, freshly brewed
Portland is a big coffee town, and we have amazing locally roasted and brewed beans. Stumptown is the classic Portland coffee (it prides itself on its direct trade with coffee farmers), and as much as I enjoy coffee, I do think it smells even better than it tastes!
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| Perhaps the last time we went to the beach–last summer–too long ago!! |
7. The beach
Since the kids have gotten heavily involved with theater, we haven’t been able to get to the beach nearly as often this year. I miss the sounds, the smells, and the feel of the ocean and the beach. Whenever I smell the sea air, my cares ease away and I feel much more relaxed.
Just to point out to Erin and Ellen, I would have fit in on your Big Love camping trip with my Keen shoes! Can I come next time? 😉
8. Lilacs
We have two lilac bushes in our backyard–one lavender and one white–and they smell heavily in the spring. I usually cut a few bouquets to place around the house and take one to the office. They always make me think about Walt Whitman’s poem, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d.”
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| Stash tea store |
9. Looseleaf tea
We have so many great tea outfits in Portland nowadays…we are the home of the world-famous Stash tea, and last year I visited their local store for the first time. We now had a tea shop right in Multnomah Village, the quaint little village within a city that is just 1/2 mile away from us. Service is still a bit uneven there, but it’s fun to be able to choose your own teapot and drink freshly brewed tea. Teabags don’t smell like much, but looseleaf tea is aromatic and reminds me of the terraced rice fields in Bali, Indonesia, and the sweet smell of fresh tatami in Japan. I do use teabags often for convenience, but the taste of looseleaf tea is vastly superior.
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| Tea Zone in the Pearl |
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| Having tea with my dear friends Shelia and April at Medley |
10. My homegrown babies’ heads
Babies smell so delicious, especially when they are your own! Of course, boys don’t smell nearly as delectable as they get older! But even now, when my kids have bathed and shampooed, I still like smelling their heads! Babies no longer, though…
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| Chris, June 1997 (9 months adjusted) |
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| Kieran, 2003 |
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| Nicholas, 2006 |
Every Day Is a Miracle 