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Best Smells on Earth


Eric
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It always amazes me the power of smell has to bring back memories.  The laundry in my grandmas house had a certain smell which I occasionally recreate with Tide and the right drying, takes me back to when I was 7.

 

Marvel Mystery Oil has a great smell.

Freshly started cold carburated engine that puts off a lot of unburned fuel as it warms up.

The smell of freshly dug moist dirt.  This varies all over the place but is always satisfying, especially if dug up with equipment.

The smell of old electronics - I have only smell it in surplus stores in theTwin Cities MN and inside ~70s gear.

The smell of machine shops.

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1 minute ago, RenoF250 said:

It always amazes me the power of smell has to bring back memories.  The laundry in my grandmas house had a certain smell which I occasionally recreate with Tide and the right drying, takes me back to when I was 7.

 

Marvel Mystery Oil has a great smell.

Freshly started cold carburated engine that puts off a lot of unburned fuel as it warms up.

The smell of freshly dug moist dirt.  This varies all over the place but is always satisfying, especially if dug up with equipment.

The smell of old electronics - I have only smell it in surplus stores in theTwin Cities MN and inside ~70s gear.

The smell of machine shops.

Smells and music too. They associate powerfully with memories. 

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Some great memories tied to many of the scents mentioned here.

Well-worn leather- like a baseball glove. 

That cotton-candy glitter spray the strippers use.

Burnt gunpowder.

Cut grass, wet with dew.

The scent of a fine whiskey in a Glencairn glass.

That first whiff of a bag of Red Man tobacco.

The smell of insulin- not necessarily a great smell, just one I've associated with work for most of my adult life.

The scent of one particular former coworker I hope for everyone's sake I never see again in my life.

Chainsaw in oak.

Diesel exhaust. Reminds me of my ambulance days.

The smell of cement as it is added to a mixer.

 

Scent is the sense most closely tied to memory. That's why a scent can suddenly flood your mind with images and reminders of the past.

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7 hours ago, Eric said:

The smell of suntan oil. Not this modern sunscreen crap, but Coppertone and the other suntan oils that smelled like summer. 

Oh yeah!

Especially when your young, blonde girlfriend in her bikini asks you to rub it on her back. And unties her top straps to make it easier.

Ooooohhhhh!!

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11 hours ago, RenoF250 said:

It always amazes me the power of smell has to bring back memories.  The laundry in my grandmas house had a certain smell which I occasionally recreate with Tide and the right drying, takes me back to when I was 7.

 

Marvel Mystery Oil has a great smell.

Freshly started cold carburated engine that puts off a lot of unburned fuel as it warms up.

The smell of freshly dug moist dirt.  This varies all over the place but is always satisfying, especially if dug up with equipment.

The smell of old electronics - I have only smell it in surplus stores in theTwin Cities MN and inside ~70s gear.

The smell of machine shops.

My father used to drive me 60 miles to get to Acme Liquidators (1605 Plymouth Ave. North) in the 50's.  He would sit in the car while waiting for me.  He said that if he went inside with me he wouldn't have any hubcaps left when he came out.  ABC was another place I frequented.  I forget what the other place on University Ave. across from the strip joint was called.

I visited them all the time over many years.  I took my son with me when he was very young.  He used to paw through the boxes on the tables and ask me "what is this for?".  I kept telling him to look at the shape and try to imagine what would fit around it and then what "could" it do.  I worked extra hard on my children to develop their imagination.  It is where all the creativity comes from.  The kids have done very well over the years.

For many years, every Saturday I would visit all the electronic surplus houses in Minneapolis and St. Paul.  It was sad when they all went away.

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46 minutes ago, janice6 said:

My father used to drive me 60 miles to get to Acme Liquidators (1605 Plymouth Ave. North) in the 50's.  He would sit in the car while waiting for me.  He said that if he went inside with me he wouldn't have any hubcaps left when he came out.  ABC was another place I frequented.  I forget what the other place on University Ave. across from the strip joint was called.

I visited them all the time over many years.  I took my son with me when he was very young.  He used to paw through the boxes on the tables and ask me "what is this for?".  I kept telling him to look at the shape and try to imagine what would fit around it and then what "could" it do.  I worked extra hard on my children to develop their imagination.  It is where all the creativity comes from.  The kids have done very well over the years.

For many years, every Saturday I would visit all the electronic surplus houses in Minneapolis and St. Paul.  It was sad when they all went away.

When I was a kid that was one of the main things we did when we went back to visit.  We would do about two a day with my uncles that still live there.  AxMan is one I remember, they had all kinds of weird stuff. 

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8 minutes ago, RenoF250 said:

When I was a kid that was one of the main things we did when we went back to visit.  We would do about two a day with my uncles that still live there.  AxMan is one I remember, they had all kinds of weird stuff. 

Surprisingly, The Axe Man is still in business.

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