Senses & Sensibility, Part 2

When I stepped out of the shower this morning, I buried my face in my towel and caught an unexpected whiff of...summer camp.

Not the I've-worn-my-jeans-three-days-straight-including-to-bed-in-a-smelly-sleeping-bag smell.

More like...mmm, yes, that's it, the camp store! It always smelled like candy and Colorforms.

I don't think they sold Colorforms, but they did sell candy, and we could only buy two treats per day so I carefully planned out my selections.

I often leaned toward a Smarties lollipop:

They had a most delightful texture and grittiness and after about three licks I chewed them up with relish. No, Dad, not the pickle kind.

Another satisfying choice was a Sugar Daddy:

Mainly because they lasted the rest of the day, first in a long, tongue-like stretch of caramel on the stick, and then in every nook and cranny of my teeth.

But I deviate - I've gone from smells to tastes.

Tonight the house is filled with the fragrant odor of burnt sloppy joes. Mike's been cooking again, on HIGH, as usual.

That's okay, though; there aren't too many cooking smells that I don't love. Love onions, bacon, fish...ooooh, bread, cake, steak on the grill, anything with cinnamon...

But pee-yew, there are those few raunchy-smelling vegetables.

Once when I was visiting my in-laws, we came back from the beach and my father-in-law greeted us at the door. As I passed him, I thought, "Wow, talk about bad breath." Turns out it wasn't his breath at all. My mother-in-law was BOILING TURNIPS.

I can't stand the smell of collard greens either. Sorry, all my southern friends.

Our house also smells like a candle shop. One of those overwhelming kinds that you smell from three doors down. This is because our electricity went out today and every candle in the house is lit.

Flutterbug and I came home this afternoon to the sound of water gushing. Running to the back porch, Flutterbug discovered that it was flooded and water was spewing from behind the washing machine.

I climbed up onto the washer on my hands and knees and peered down behind it. There were turn-off faucets back there, but when I saw that there was also an electrical outlet, I asked Flutterbug to flip the main circuit breaker off.

Then I proceeded to lean way down behind the washer and twist the spigots shut, Flutterbug busily snapping photos of my backside while laughing hysterically. I had to threaten her with bodily harm to keep them off her blog.

When we tried to turn the electricity back on, nothing happened.

After two visits from an electrician friend and one visit from the power company, we have a temporarily-rigged circuit box and a limited amount of power.

So, we've got lots of candles burning, because, after all, internet access, TV and heat are the highest priorities.

The house smells like a pine forest full of apple blossoms sprinkled with cinnamon and doused in vanilla morning glory spiced pear raindrops and charred sloppy joes.

My nose is suffering from olfactory overload.

On the plus side, my sinuses are clear for the first time in six weeks.