Today after church we served Strawberry Shortcake. It was an idea for a little “Fun-Raising”. The purpose being to provide some social time to visit and chat while enjoying delicious Ontario strawberries. It was a ‘Pay What You Can’ offering so people could just make a donation. We had two very cute little girls managing the donation baskets and they were hard to refuse!
One of the women from the church raided her flower garden to bring in enough cuttings to put a fresh bouquet of blooms on each table. When it was all over I got to bring a bouquet home with me. As I carried the flowers in the door I got carried away with memories. The spicy-sweet fragrance of one of the flowers reminded me of flowers from my mother’s garden. The heady aroma took my imagination to June days of my childhood. Every year on a Sunday afternoon in June we would take bouquest of flowers to the Cemetery service where my relatives were buried. It is a rural tradition in old Onatrio to have ‘Decoration Day’ at the cemetery and we would go every year to place flowers on the grave of grandparents and great-grandparents. It was a tradition that saw a gathering of the clan. It seems a bit odd to think of meeting up at the cemetery but there we were with fresh cut flowers in hand. Always flowers from the garden – lilcas and snowballs, mock orange and bachelor’s buttons. I am sorry to say the tradition has pretty much ceased with my generation. I can seldom get there on a Sunday afternoon and my very busy siblings are in the same situation, so my parents do not get flowers placed on their graves on a June Sunday.
I was stuck by the power of fragrance and how it can transport our thinking to a diferent time and a different place. I bet if I were to name a food you would be able to imagine its aroma. If I were to name a place you have visited you would conjur up in your mind the smell assoicated with it. Say Nicaragua to me and I immediately think of the rich smell of mangos. Mention the fall Fair and in my mind I can smell the sugary candy floss and the hot oil from the French Fry truck. ASk about my childhood home and I can smell the smoke from the wood stove.
There is a wondeful story in the gospels about Jesus, after a long and tiring day, having a woman annoint his feet. It says the fragrance of the expensive ointment filled the room. The writer must have heard that story over and over to include it in the writing and a feature to the story must have been the power of the fragrance.
We have five amazing senses to take in the world around us. Our sense of smell is not one we often focus on, it does not seem quite as significant as sight and hearing, but it sure does make life rich and wonderful.
A great piece, that draws two comments: happy to say that Decoration Day is still practised in Stroud and Churchill, ON at their cemetaries. Also, we extended our patio this Spring and against its western border we planted phlox, three varieties. The fragrance as we sit next to them, almost any time of day, is fantastic!! I am thankful the sense of smell seems to be deteriorating more slowly than several others.