NOISE: when silence isn't enough

diary of smells
Last week I began my Diary of Smells. I’m training myself to become more aware of the smells I encounter each day.
It’s challenging because I have a rather insensitive nose. There are times I sniff and sniff and can’t discern a thing.
Other times my nose invents smells for me, like something burning or chemicals or a gas leak.

Here are Friday’s entries:
Breath enclosed in sheet: rancid cottage cheese. Unpleasant.
Moon over Madagascar tea: sharp sweet and clean. Very pleasant.
In the bakery; warm and yeasty. Pleasant.
Walking home: Smokey, dusky, woody. Cool air makes me aware of my nostrils. Pleasant.
Walking the dog: pungent aroma of dog poop. Very unpleasant.
Raking the yard: pine needle dust. When I blow my nose the tissue is stripped with dirt. Not pleasant.
Taking sweater from drawer: powerful gust of cedar. Very pleasant.
Walking in downtown St. Paul: generic food smell on St Peter St. Pleasant.
O’Gara’s Bar & Grill: greasy burgers, fries, and smoke. Very pleasant.
Back home: smoke in my clothes. Unpleasant.
It turns out that smells are pretty much either pleasant or unpleasant. I’m hoping to find more subtle ways to describe them as the experiment continues.

Monday:
Start out day with nose a bit stuffed. Not sensing much, if anything at all.
first smell of the day: garlic in olive oil as I cook my breakfast. Pleasant.
Walking Mookie: the stench of poop. Unpleasant.
It seems today is one of those days when not much is making it through. Garlic cooking in olive oil, the stench of dog poop; only the most pungent smells are getting in. When Mookie and I were walking back toward the house I sensed a flowery perfumey smell. It seemed heavenly at first but then I caught a chemical after-burn that told me it was manufactured, maybe a cleaning product or air freshener. What a shame.
today I could smell my own urine when I took a pee. Why?

Tuesday:
Again, nose stuffy and insensitive. Have a sore throat. Too much sniffing probably.
I smelled (and tasted) my fish oil capsules when I burped after breakfast. Ewww! Very unpleasant.
at noon I smelled my lunch burning. Evil zonkboard!

Wednesday:
fresh muffins in the bag when E brings them home. Very sweet and pleasant.
mookie’s fishy breath when I kiss her. Walks unpleasant/pleasant line.
the smell of menstrual blood when I change my pad. Ewww! But not THAT ewww, I’m used to it.

and Today(so far):
still stuffed up in the morning, not badly, but enough to impede sensitivity.
public restroom: stuffy; chemical meets defecation. Unpleasant.
addressing pkg. of croutons for my sister :Astringent nose burning smell of Sharpie marker.
inviting scent of broccoli and carrot cooked in soy sauce. Pleasant.
How best to describe the smell of things? I’m finding it difficult. I think about Deb’s quote from book of the senses about how if one can’t describe a smell, one can’t expect to describe the terrain of the human heart. But maybe one has been so focused on the human heart one hasn’t had time to develop language to describe a smell, maybe.

Current Mood: bloated
Current Music: birds chirping (my tune of the week)

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