Colors and Smells of Spring

In the rain we've had the past few days, I've had the chance to observe many umbrellas. And I must say that I'm largely disappointed. I guess I should have anticipated it in the business area of Washington DC, but my goodness there are so many unicolor, and dark colored umbrellas. It all contributes to a rather glum feeling, particularly with the rain. So I'll go ahead and blame those things on my yucky day yesterday.

I have seen some pretty umbrellas though, and that's always nice. Seeing such makes me think about colors and the good things colors can do, particularly in writing. I've felt sometimes when I'm reading (even or particularly my own writing) that it lacks visual appeal--to black and white. It's been funny/interesting to note what the simple mention of a color can do to the imagination.

But visually, more literally, I love see colors in publications too. A color copy of one of the Wizard of Oz books was one of my happy collections from last year's silent auction at Hollins. It adds a fun layer. On a simple note, I love switching the calendars to the spring months, too, as the colors become more vibrant.

Along those lines, particularly since rain tends to enhance some smells, I've been thinking about memories attached to certain smells. Construction smells, for example. Perhaps many people don't really like the smell of wet soil mixed with concrete and metal and the oil from the machines. But I have to say that generally speaking this is one of my favorite smells. I grew up in a neighborhood that was under development, with houses coming up through fun and memorable times. We, the neighborhood kids, had picnic lunches in the basement of an unfinished house (it stayed in this status for a long time for some reason); then once it started building again, we played around and explored more in the crawl space and the levels, and we laughed and shrieked when we heard one of the bossy neighborhood men was coming to chew us out.

There's also the fun smell just of spring, of flowers coming up, yes, but also in the house--you can smell there's some opening up of the woodwork to allow the fresh air to come in after the long stagnant winter months. It also has a reminder of the smells of the end of the school year--the days when you could just run outside and didn't have to remember your coat. Oh joyous days.

Last night, although it is mid-May, I turned the heat back on because it's been sooo cold the past few nights and my bones couldn't take it any more, and even there, I had a nice smell reminder of the heat coming on, moving through the floor boards and hovering over my bed. Of course it felt more like fall, but it was as sweet and comfortable as spring. Mmmm.

What are some of your favorite smells?