I love the ice cream story, what a sweetheart of a dad. (Mine’s a sweetheart, too!)

Old Spice, I hadn’t thought of that in a very long time. Smells do take you away quickly, don’t they?

If I ever make it to your neck of the woods, we’ll find that corner!

Did your dad always make two freezers of homemade ice cream on a Sunday afternoon following church and at the beach? One chocolate and one pineapple (because it was mother’s favorite)?

Do you remember your first gardenia wrist corsage when you smell gardenias blooming?

Does it take you all the way back to your highschool gym wen Star Dust comes on the radio?

You know, sweetheart, we are just gonna have to find a corner somewhere and visit for awhile.

I made my cup of hot tea, and snuggled into my favorite rocker this morning and yours was the first thing I read. Such a sweet way to begin my day. Thank you for taking the time to record a few of your memories. (I would LOVE to read as many pages as you cared to write!) Have a great day!

It’s funny how I can identify with so many of the memories everyone here has mentioned: Grandma Jack’s feeling that soft silky hair on her cheek while holding a baby; Blonde’s White Shoulders, which I used to call my signature “smell” for so many years; Linda’s playing in the warm rain (do we even have warm rain anymore?); and Tori’s pony. I had a horse growing up and she was my heart for so many years. The stories are unending. For example, did you ever let your pony swell his belly so that the girth was too loose and your saddle went over on his side later on during the ride? And there were those bouquets of lilacs that mother filled our home with when they were in bloom. My grandmother’s lemon butter that tasted like lemon pie filling and her watermellon preserves cooking on the stove.

Okay, okay, so you ought to know better than to ask an old lady about moments that take her back in time….and not have to read several pages, just for a starter.

blondie: LOVED the Aquarena article! And now I’m lonesome for Gammie…

pj: Oooh, make the lemony ones!

LindaB: What a lovely memory. Do kids even play in the rain anymore? We sure did!

auburn60: Ah, Camay. Jergens lotion can do that to me, too. Also Sea Breeze– remember that?

Two words: Camay soap. My grandmother used Camay soap and only Camay soap. It had a very strong, perfume smell that was kind of unique. She bought it in all 3 colors-white,pink and blue and had it in every bathroom.You could smell it in the hall before you ever got close to the bathroom. I had forgotten all about Camay soap until one year when we happened to be picking up groceries on a vacation in North Carolina. My husband found me standing in the soap aisle with a bar as far up my nose as I could get it, inhaling deeply. I was immediately transported to the house my grandparents lived in and could hear,actually HEAR the rattle of pans in the kitchen and my cousins slamming the back door as they ran in and out of the house. I ordered some Camay from Vermont Country Store one time, not to use it, but to keep it around to smell it. I also can be transported back to first grade when I smell a combination of chalk,horses and sweet clover, with a few notes of disinfectant and pencil shavings thrown in. My elementary school backed up to a field where horses came to the fence during recess so we could pet their noses. The school also had no AC and the windows were always open during the warmer months and the breeze blew in, blowing papers off our desks. I can still
feel those hard metal and wood desks. Someone stop me before I start telling you that I walked to school backwards in the snow…

Tori, we had neighbors named Venable too! And they were originally from Arkansas. Alvie and Mabel Venable. They became close friends to Mom and Dad. Good people.

Funny you should post this today. This morning I ran across this article on the web and was immediately taken back to the late 60’s early 70’s when I spent many fun-filled hours at Aquarena Springs. Have you ever seen a swimming pig? Well Sister, you haven’t lived until you do. The article is a little on the long side, but such fun!
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/the-real-mermaids-of-san-marcos-texas/

As far as smells go, if I ever catch the scent of “White Shoulders,” perfume or powder, I am instantly enveloped in a Gammie hug.

I love this topic, I could go on forever, but I’ll give someone else a turn.

My Grandparents raised me on a small WI dairy farm. My Grampa was the sweetest man and has been gone since 1991. I instantly think of him and of happy hours playing in the haymow when I smell newly mown hay!! LOVE IT!

And of course, the baby memories–love the smell, the sound of the coos and giggles, and the feel of the baby snuggling against me! Grandkids bring that back!!! (BTW, I think I told you all about my former Girl Scout troop–and that I claim all 10 of their BOYS as my Grandsons (3 are my bios). Well my youngest daughter has a baby due in January–and it’s a GIRL!!!!!!! I’ve only bought a “few” things for the baby!)