The Smells of Summer

We just returned from California on Saturday. One thing I wish I could have brought back with me is the smell of my grandmother's house. What's weird is that it smells just the same as it did when I was a girl. I'm not even sure exactly what the smell  is, but the minute I walked in, I remembered. Apparently I spent a lot more time there than I thought, because it brought back tons of memories.

When I first started using the Cherry Blossom scent from Bath and Body, it reminded me of getting out of the bath at her house, but that wasn't the scent at all when I was there in the house. I don't know why that scent triggered memories.

When we were in CA, we drove to the coast, up by San Simeon, then down to Morro Bay. The ocean in CA smells different than the ocean in Texas. The ocean in Texas has a warm, salty scent that carries on the strong southern winds. When the dh and I went down a couple of weeks ago, the minute I saw the water, I opened the roof to let the smell in.

Another smell I associate with summer is chlorine. When I was growing up, we'd go to the city pool in Seguin just about every day, then we'd stop at the grocery store, oftentimes still in our suits. I remember FREEZING in my bathing suit and wet hair as we hurried up and down the aisles. I also remember Double Stuff Oreos came out one of those summers. To this day, the smell of chlorine makes me hungry for Oreos.

Of course, there's the coconut scent of sunscreen, which takes me back to the summers when we'd take my son and little brother (they're 2 years apart) to Sea World. We had season passes and would maybe go to one show, then head to the water park.

One of my mom's favorite summer time scents is the sycamore tree. She remembers going down to the swimming hole in Del Rio and playing in the water under the big leafy trees.

What are your favorite summertime scents?