smells

isn't it weird where smells can take you?  i went to hawaii this evening when i was stocking frozen mango used for smoothies.  twenty pounds of freshly frozen mango totally smells like my memories of hawaii over the years. 

& then unexplainably, when i was walking into work one morning, i smelled a boat marina & i went back & visisted my childhood where i spent many many saturdays on a boat & around marinas.  maybe some salty air drifted up from the ocean, i donno.  but it was both the salty air & that fiberglass smell.  i can picture myself watching the boat launch scoop the boats in & out of the water, half in awe, half in fear that the boat would somehow slip.  i remember walking down steep ramps & that meant that the tide was either really high (or really low- i can't remember) & looking thru the water to see the orange starfish & sometimes a jellyfish.  i remember the times dad would let me sit up on the bow & straddle the rails & the wind would whip my hair into a knotty mess. i remember spending the night on the boat.  on one summer night dad called into his favorite oldies station & requested "summer in the city."  sometimes we would go dock downtown seattle by anthonys fish bar & walk around bell street pier. i remember bringing chapter books to read "below deck" because boating "bored" me. now i wish i could go back & appreciate it more.