WOOD

Are there any other closet wood sniffers here?

I love the smell of wood. It was one of the benefits of being a custom picture framer. Now and then, I would cut into some cheap wood that stunk to high heaven, but the smells of pine, cedar, and most other woods are comforting and pleasant.

Ever walk into a place, and the scent reminds you of grandma’s old house? It’s not unpleasant, just a kind of characteristic, musty, lived-in smell. It’s nostalgic, and immediately reminds me of sitting on Great-Grandma Burley’s ancient rug that covered an old solid wood floor in the living room of a house that had a turret and an upstairs porch. There were geraniums in the window. I’m eating molasses cookies and playing with her toys, which was a shoe box full of wooden thread spools. It was a quieter time of innocence.

The reason I’m bringing this up was yesterday we went to the hardware store, and I was caught in the lumber section sniffing wood.

I won’t apologize.