Friday, May 15, 2015

After The Rain

Last night we had about 10 minutes of a steady, thick, downpour of rain.  We even had some flashes of lightening and loud cracks of rolling thunder.  Southern California is in such a dire drought right now, it's pretty unnerving.  So last night's shower was a little blessing for us.  Whenever it rains here, it's as if we get a new slate.  The sky is cleansed, and the air smells sweet and fresh.  The hills change from dry brown to lush green.  The plants and animals are happy.  I walked outside today and smelled wet earth for the first time in a while.  Growing up in rural Pennsylvania, I always loved this smell, but of course took it for granted at the time.  Smelling dampened soil today took me back to playing in the woods in PA, to camping trips in the Summer, to sitting under the stars around a campfire with my family.  I think I prefer the smell of the earth and woods more than any flower, more than any ocean.  LA gets a bad rap for 'not having seasons', but today we have Spring.

What smells do you love?  Bring back memories?  Remind you of home?

love,
p.a.

10 comments:

  1. The best smell, to me, is early morning in autumn. I live in New England, so the air feels so clear in the chill, the smells, sounds, and even sights seeming to move more easily through it, the conspicuous lack of leaves making it all feel a bit less cluttered. If you walk through the right neighborhoods (by which I s'pose I just mean neighborhoods with lots of fireplaces), you can get the underlying scent of last night's fires lingering in the tips of chimneys, running through the emptiness of the atmosphere. "Emptiness" makes it sounds desolate and lonely, but it's not. It's a good sort of emptiness, a clean sort.

    (Big fan, by the way, and this is the first blog post comment thing I've done... anywhere... ever, actually. Sorry if it was a bit long-winded, I'm not quite sure how one goes about these things.)

    -- Dan.

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  2. the crisp smell of just cut ginger

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  3. One of my favorite smells is the smell of autumn leaves on a cool day as they're falling from the trees. Most people don't notice, or are unaware of it, but leaves have a distinct aroma as they're changing and falling from the trees.

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  4. Hi Priscilla,

    This is my first time commenting on your blog. I couldn't help but write to tell you that I'm glad we share a love for something in common. This is such a nice article that really lightened up my mood and brought a smile on my face. Living in a metropolitan city in India, far away from home, which is tucked away in the hilly north-eastern part of the country, this brings a wave of nostalgia. Yes, there is definitely something about that smell of earth from the first rain! Something you rarely experience in a city. Ah! that perfect after-shower weather where everything seems as fresh as the morning.

    With love,
    Zing.

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  5. Sometimes I live in LA and sometimes I am up in Northern California where I grew up. It rains a lot there (well it used to before the drought) and I still haven't gotten used to how dry LA can be. But the fresh rain is always my favorite smell.

    Your music is absolutely beautiful. <3

    xx
    Jenna
    scarlettandgiselle.blogspot.com

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  6. The gentle breeze of the the New England spring evokes so many memories, but lilacs always bring back memories of home. Growing up my mother would cut lilacs in the spring and put them in a vase on the countertop and it would engulf the entire house.

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  8. Smell of soil after rain of course !! I am a big fan of yours from india !

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  9. The smell of burnt fish scales and barbeque <3

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  10. There's something magical about that few minutes after a really good rain when nobody is outside and everything smells amazing and fresh. It's one of the things I can't give up, having move to the east coast from the deserts out west.

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