We have had a very rainy spring! Have you? It seems just when we have time to get out and work in the yard or on the house it clouds up and starts raining. Today we thought we would have most of the day before the forecasted rain, so I got busy planting more flowers, or I should say transplanting them. I’m not sure it’s the best time of year for it but, hopefully, they’ll settle in and produce next spring. My mother-in-law has always told me the first year they sleep, the second year they creep and the third year they leap. That adage has proven true in the past so I’m hoping for it to come true this time, too. David is also trying to get the exterior of our house done. He started working on the soffit and fascia and got about 10 feet done when it started raining. Good time to take a lunch break.
All the rain we’ve been having has reminded me of my years spent in Oregon as a kid. That is one rainy state!! No wonder everything is so green there, right? Interesting thing, though, about Oregon rain…many days it was more of a mist, not the pelting rainstorms we have in the Midwest. At least, that’s how I remember it.
We learned to do everything in the rain. I remember going to the coast in the rain, but it didn’t really matter because it was misty there a lot anyway. One of our favorite places was Depoe Bay. We enjoyed a bowl of clam chowder at the Chowder Bowl, directly across from the beach. This was long before bread bowls were popular, but to see a slab of butter melting in a big bowl of homemade clam chowder was heavenly. That and a basket of saltines and we were all happy campers.
We’d finish lunch and head down the street to watch saltwater taffy being made. The shop had the taffy pulling machine set up in the window which was fascinating to a kid like me. We always came away from there with a big old variety bag of taffy. Then we’d head down the highway to the Devil’s Punchbowl, a cool rock formation where heavy swirls of ocean water at high tide come rushing in and out. It’s officially called the Devil’s Punchbowl at Otters Rock, but we only ever saw sea lions there.
The Oregon coastline is the most beautiful in North America, in my opinion. The disadvantage is, while it is stunning, the water is way too cold for swimming. That, too, is my opinion. I remember when we’d make our day run to the beach, pack our swimsuits and pray it’d be warm enough to swim. It NEVER was!! It was warm enough to wade and splash around but not actually swim. Of course, the one time that we didn’t pack our swimsuits because we were just sure it’d be too cold and, lo and behold, the sun was shining, it was hot, and the water was tolerable. What did my cousin Deb and I do? We wanted so badly to go swimming, so my mom and aunt told us to go around behind a big rock (surely it wasn’t Haystack Rock- but, in my mind, that’s where we were), strip down to our underwear and dive in! We were about 7 and 8 so I guess it was OK, but I remember feeling very awkward about it. I guess the desire to go swimming won out.
Enjoying today’s rain, under the cover of my front porch, gave me an earthy scent from it falling on newly dug soil, giving my seeds and plants just what they needed at the right time. The rains we enjoyed on the Oregon coast were that, too, but also included a salty odor, mixed with the aroma of pine trees and sand dunes. Both have their unique, pleasurable scents.
Since I had to come inside, I’m choosing to duplicate the memory today by using my Bamboo Rain No-Mess Fragrance Tarts® in my Belle Aroma® Plugables® Mosaic Vase. Bamboo Rain fragrance top notes are Sandalwood (my favorite scent) and Musk. The base is Bamboo and Ozone. These No-Mess Fragrance Tarts are good for any low-temp scent warmers including the Belle Aroma ScenTrio® Petite Wax Warmer.
Lori Herr for The Gift of Scent