Day 51-You look like a monkey, and you smell like one, too.

As I walked through the fresh morning, I was relishing the sweet smells of wet grass and blackberry vines, after last night's carnage of explosive gunpowder and sulphur. Not that I minded that carnage---in fact, I liked it quite a lot. 

Ah, explosives...

Last night, a little neighbor was over as we blasted the works, and she complained about the smell--ewww...I hate that! It's gross! Lola and I looked at each other, surprised, and both said, "Really? I like it!"

Lola's cool. But the reason we like it, I bet? Because for us, it meant 4th of July, fireworks, pie, sunshine, camel-dung punks, family, parade...all those things matter to us, so the smell matters, too.

I like smells. Granted, a fart smell isn't pleasant (unless it's mine), and little inflames my wrath more than walking into strangers' farts in a crowd. I don't know why, but it makes me want to hit. 

Anyway, I like smells, because they are the best, and most honest identifiers. Every morning, my walk smells a little different, but I know it is morning by the smell. I could smell my kids' heads, and never hear, see or touch them yet pick them out of a lineup. I'm pretty good at smelling a sneak, a phony, a liar and a cheat, too, but that may be more intuitive---hard to study scientifically.

Here is an interesting excerpt from a terrific report titled "The Vivid World of Odors" from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, by Maya Pines:

Being civilized and human means, for one thing, that our lives are not ruled by smells. The social behavior of most animals is controlled by smells and other chemical signals. Dogs and mice rely on odors to locate food, recognize trails and territory, identify kin, find a receptive mate. Social insects such as ants send and receive intricate chemical signals that tell them precisely where to go and how to behave at all times of day. 

But humans "see" the world largely through eyes and ears. We neglect the sense of smell—and often suppress our awareness of what our nose tells us. Many of us have been taught that there is something shameful about odors.

Yet mothers can recognize their babies by smell, and newborns recognize their mothers in the same way. The smells that surround us affect our well-being throughout our lives.

So if you're in front of a computer all day, or at the gym, or in the mall, you may not be venturing out enough to add to your catalog of smells that lives within your being. Going on your daily walkabout is a great way to use that instrument that is the most potent of tools in your sensory toolbox. What do you smell? Whether it is manure or sweet hay, asphalt and exhaust or wild roses and fresh dew, it all is part of YOUR surroundings. You would do well do relish it, for just a moment, and give it the importance it is due.

Smell ya later, 

Dani