Maree’s musings

WAKE UP and SMELL …

  Reading this month’s musings title, I’m sure my readers will wonder what I’m getting at, or possibly concerned that I can’t remember what I’m saying. Surely she means ‘… the Roses’? Well, I’ll get to that later. Meanwhile, I was treated to a fascinating talk recently about rescue dogs, and discovered how important their sense of smell is to detect live victims of earthquakes. This requires the combination of super sensitive smell detectors – noses, that is – and lots of training.

Us mere mortals have noses and a sense of smell too. We probably don’t rely on it as much as we could, although you might be surprised. Here’s a useful fact you can bring up in conversation: our noses have about six million and 400 different types of smell receptors. Whe knew? Scientists have discovered that every armpit odour is unique and early humans chose companions and recognised family from them without even realising. Today, not so much. But we still rely on sniffing things out. Things that smell bad warn you of danger. Some folk can even detect illness with a sniff test. Who hasn’t ‘smelled a rat’ when trouble is lurking? And smoke – leads to ‘where there’s smoke .. etc.’ 

Luckily, lots of things smell great too. Coffee. Stuff cooking in the oven. One thing I really like is ‘smell memories’ – everybody will have them and they’re worth keeping. When I was a kiddo, our family had holidays at an old famhouse situated in a paddock. I discovered pennyroyal growing amongst the grass and after sixty years or more, still love its perfume to bits. Another one was the hardboard that jigsaws were made of. That’s a bit weird. I must have been a puzzle fan and I still am but the cardboard backing is not quite the same. What about you readers? Smell recall is very good for your brain, so go for it!

Which brings me back to those roses. In my childhood days (again!) we had one lonely rose bush in the garden. Sniffing the gorgeous dark red blooms was such a joy, and I discovered it had a name. Fancy that? I was no expert on roses but knew the saying ‘a rose by any other name .. etc’ so that didn’t matter.

Do you all want a sensory symphony to bring you joy? Come along to our famous ‘Rose & Flower Show’ at the Town Hall on Saturday, November 9^th. . It’s going to be fantastic!