Stop and Sniff
"You're always sniffing things," Big Dog tells me.
I guess it's true. It's the dog in me.
A couple of years ago, when we were in Hawaii with my mother, I found a noni tree in a small but pretty garden near the Zoo. The garden was filled with dozens of different kinds of hibiscus, all with fanciful names, as well as native flora. I don't know if the noni is a native of these islands -- the picture on the bottles of Noni Juice I've seen in health food stores looks more Tahitian -- but I was excited to come across an actual noni tree and scoured the ground for any fruit that might have dropped.
Aha! There was a large, fist-sized specimen right there under the tree! I quickly picked it up and gave it a whiff. And immediately started coughing.
"Ack! Smell it!" I tried to hand the fruit over to Big Dog so he could share in the god-awful ammonia-like smell, but he is not a sniffer dog and refused.
Okay, sometimes I miss, but it hasn't stopped me from smelling everything I see and touch. I am forever sticking my nose in flowers and bushes, pressing my nose up against trees to smell their bark. Fortunately, the islands are filled with lots of sweet, fragrant things. Ginger, plumeria, little neon red flowers on bushes, large purple flowers on trees… What must this island have smelled like back when there were sandalwood groves? Mmmm…heavennnnnn.
The DogFather is still glued to the construction site/sight ("They're only using rebar. I don't see any big steel beams, like I-beams. And this is going up to what, 38 floors?") but we're able to pull him away for little walks in the afternoon and I am enjoying the slower pace. Like an unleashed dog, I stop and sniff, run back to the Boys, stop and sniff some more.
I guess it's true. It's the dog in me.
A couple of years ago, when we were in Hawaii with my mother, I found a noni tree in a small but pretty garden near the Zoo. The garden was filled with dozens of different kinds of hibiscus, all with fanciful names, as well as native flora. I don't know if the noni is a native of these islands -- the picture on the bottles of Noni Juice I've seen in health food stores looks more Tahitian -- but I was excited to come across an actual noni tree and scoured the ground for any fruit that might have dropped.
Aha! There was a large, fist-sized specimen right there under the tree! I quickly picked it up and gave it a whiff. And immediately started coughing.
"Ack! Smell it!" I tried to hand the fruit over to Big Dog so he could share in the god-awful ammonia-like smell, but he is not a sniffer dog and refused.
Okay, sometimes I miss, but it hasn't stopped me from smelling everything I see and touch. I am forever sticking my nose in flowers and bushes, pressing my nose up against trees to smell their bark. Fortunately, the islands are filled with lots of sweet, fragrant things. Ginger, plumeria, little neon red flowers on bushes, large purple flowers on trees… What must this island have smelled like back when there were sandalwood groves? Mmmm…heavennnnnn.
The DogFather is still glued to the construction site/sight ("They're only using rebar. I don't see any big steel beams, like I-beams. And this is going up to what, 38 floors?") but we're able to pull him away for little walks in the afternoon and I am enjoying the slower pace. Like an unleashed dog, I stop and sniff, run back to the Boys, stop and sniff some more.
posted by bad-dog at 9:18 PM
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