A Scent of Winter

Today has a definite "wintery" smell to it. There's a chill in the air and my mind reels back to sixth grade in winter. The school building was old even then and at the back of everyroom was an authentic "cloak closet". It covered the entire back wall and louver-type opening doors without the louvers for ventilation. The closet wall was covered with hooks for coats to hang while class went on. Back then, we didn't change class rooms for each subject or period. The nun or teacher in that room taught everything. So when it snowed on the walk to school you can imagine 50-60 (yes, classes were big and the nuns ruled with an iron fist thinly veiled as a velvet glove) wet, wool winter coats hanging in the closed closet plus wool mittens and hats and scarves...all melting. Today's air has a bit of that scent to it. Wet wool.

When I had Siberian Huskies, I got to "enjoy" that fragrant memory about twice a year when we gave the kids a bath. Siberians fur is very clean and doesn't have the oils and dander like most dogs so bathing is not encouraged and can really dry their skin. Poodles fall into this catagory too although I don't know about the bathing part for them. It's utterly remarkable how much a wet Siberian can smell like wet wool!

In the midwest, there's a distinct smell after a snow fall. If you haven't experienced it, it's very hard to describe. But that's also kind of what today smells like. Usually, I don't smell "winter" in California. I know many people don't even "see" winter in So Cal. For some reason I do though.