As spinners of stories, we are also magicians in that we can take our audiences on time travel trips. No, not physically, but with the mind, their senses. Physical teleportation has not yet been perfected but being there in one’s mind’s eye is still phenomenal and wonderful.
I have titled this introduction as Smells, Songs, and Stories. I do not know what your smells are, mine are Hoppes Power Solvent, gun smoke, and Coppertone suntan lotion, and to remind me of Christmas, Orange peels and Cranberries. I have read somewhere that the sense of smell is the most direct access to the brain and has the most primitive arousal and recognition of all the senses.
Some of my favorite memories were of hunting and the smell of gun smoke, then cleaning the weapon with Hoppes power solvent and recalling the thrill of the hunt. Since where I lived and the time, during the depression, oranges, and any kind of citrus was not a common item in our diet. Usually at Christmas the community Christmas party would include all the children receiving a cellophane bag with candy, nuts, and fruit, which usually would have at least one orange.
I suspect that a whiff of your mother’s perfume or face powder, or your father’s after shave cologne, of a sudden sniff of wood stove smoke, maybe like your grandmother’s kitchen would have the magical transportation of us all back to a different era.
Songs, particularly those we heard or played a long time ago also have this magical way of grabbing us and our consciousness and transporting us to another time and place. Different genres for different decades, but still magical.
Finally, and third, stories have a way of bonding the teller with the hearers in a magical and intimate fashion. I suspect many of us can even hear our mother, or father’s voice as well as the words of the story. And we may have repeated these same stories to our children and grandchildren.
As writers, we are all heirs of Moses, the first college graduate to download information on a tablet in written words. Before that, all were oral stories handed down by the campfire in front of the tent, or mouth of a cave, and repeated over generations and centuries, while spinning magical spells for the hearers. Over the centuries, historical information, moral, ethical, and practical behavior information woven into the fabric of these stories to ensure the success and survival of the tribe.
I have often joked that if I could play a musical instrument I would go on the road. Well, I am already on the road, so I am in the process of learning to play the banjo. I have sold two rifles I no longer use to finance the purchase and lessons. I do not want to hear from anyone SAY they are too old to undertake a “wild and crazy” idea, something they have always wanted to do but are afraid to launch out. I had never touched a banjo before my age of 85!
If you want it bad enough to spend the hours learning how to play, or whatever is required to master your idea, you can do it! Everything that is stopping you is within your head. So, stop with all the negative thoughts and go ahead and start the dream you have had. Just give yourself permission! Give two examples of learning something difficult! Golfing: When I was much younger, I played golf. I always seemed to have a reasonably long drive off the tee box but would slice to the right into the woods or creek. Finally, I say to myself, “this is ridiculous, so I taught myself how to hit a straight drive!
On another occasion, I had a doctor friend who wanted me to take up archery so we could hunt in October, which is set aside for archers to hunt deer. At first, I resisted, being a rife hunter and knowing rifles are much more efficient and long ranged. But archery did offer some benefits by having a full month early in the season and the chance to be out in the woods and safe from other hunters. So, it took me a full year to become proficient but by the second season I was a successful deer hunter with bow and arrow. This did not happen overnight, since it required a lot of hours of practice.
I believe our lives should consist of prioritizing and doing, never being constrained by the fear of failure. We will never be able to do all that we would like to do, so choose wisely and well! Just Sayin…RJS
Robert J Samples wrote:
As spinners of stories, we are also magicians in that we can take our audiences on time travel trips. No, not physically, but with the mind, their senses. Physical teleportation has not yet been perfected but being there in one’s mind’s eye is still phenomenal and wonderful.
I have titled this introduction as Smells, Songs, and Stories. I do not know what your smells are, mine are Hoppes Power Solvent, gun smoke, and Coppertone suntan lotion, and to remind me of Christmas, Orange peels and Cranberries. I have read somewhere that the sense of smell is the most direct access to the brain and has the most primitive arousal and recognition of all the senses.
Some of my favorite memories were of hunting and the smell of gun smoke, then cleaning the weapon with Hoppes power solvent and recalling the thrill of the hunt. Since where I lived and the time, during the depression, oranges, and any kind of citrus was not a common item in our diet. Usually at Christmas the community Christmas party would include all the children receiving a cellophane bag with candy, nuts, and fruit, which usually would have at least one orange.
I suspect that a whiff of your mother’s perfume or face powder, or your father’s after shave cologne, of a sudden sniff of wood stove smoke, maybe like your grandmother’s kitchen would have the magical transportation of us all back to a different era.
Songs, particularly those we heard or played a long time ago also have this magical way of grabbing us and our consciousness and transporting us to another time and place. Different genres for different decades, but still magical.
Finally, and third, stories have a way of bonding the teller with the hearers in a magical and intimate fashion. I suspect many of us can even hear our mother, or father’s voice as well as the words of the story. And we may have repeated these same stories to our children and grandchildren.
As writers, we are all heirs of Moses, the first college graduate to download information on a tablet in written words. Before that, all were oral stories handed down by the campfire in front of the tent, or mouth of a cave, and repeated over generations and centuries, while spinning magical spells for the hearers. Over the centuries, historical information, moral, ethical, and practical behavior information woven into the fabric of these stories to ensure the success and survival of the tribe.
I have often joked that if I could play a musical instrument I would go on the road. Well, I am already on the road, so I am in the process of learning to play the banjo. I have sold two rifles I no longer use to finance the purchase and lessons. I do not want to hear from anyone SAY they are too old to undertake a “wild and crazy” idea, something they have always wanted to do but are afraid to launch out. I had never touched a banjo before my age of 85!
If you want it bad enough to spend the hours learning how to play, or whatever is required to master your idea, you can do it! Everything that is stopping you is within your head. So, stop with all the negative thoughts and go ahead and start the dream you have had. Just give yourself permission! Give two examples of learning something difficult! Golfing: When I was much younger, I played golf. I always seemed to have a reasonably long drive off the tee box but would slice to the right into the woods or creek. Finally, I say to myself, “this is ridiculous, so I taught myself how to hit a straight drive!
On another occasion, I had a doctor friend who wanted me to take up archery so we could hunt in October, which is set aside for archers to hunt deer. At first, I resisted, being a rife hunter and knowing rifles are much more efficient and long ranged. But archery did offer some benefits by having a full month early in the season and the chance to be out in the woods and safe from other hunters. So, it took me a full year to become proficient but by the second season I was a successful deer hunter with bow and arrow. This did not happen overnight, since it required a lot of hours of practice.
I believe our lives should consist of prioritizing and doing, never being constrained by the fear of failure. We will never be able to do all that we would like to do, so choose wisely and well! Just Sayin…RJS
As spinners of stories, we are also magicians in t... (
show quote)
Well put Robert,
Funny, but Hoppes No. 9 Powder Solvent has the same effect on me. My Wife likes it, too.
I also love the smell of birch bark and it may seem strange to most, but the smell of the leaves in the Fall as they turn color and fall to the Earth. It is intoxicating to me. It brings back memories of hunting with my folks, yes Mom hunted, too. She may have been the best shot in the family at ducks. Dad had the pheasants covered, though. Nowadays, walking behind “Sam the Wonderdog” as she runs the fire lanes in search of grouse is my favorite activity. It is the setting, not the kill which I enjoy. The sounds and the smells are cleansing and no matter how many miles we walk, it is always a treat. The Wife comes along and loves to watch the dog as although her family never hunted, she enjoys the experience and I love to see this through her eyes. Am looking forward to getting back out there in a couple months. I know the fishing is best in the Fall, but the birds are still calling and as long as Sam and I have it in us, we’ll get after them.
stuco
Loc: Northern Utah - Salt Lake City
Robert J Samples wrote:
As spinners of stories, we are also magicians in that we can take our audiences on time travel trips. No, not physically, but with the mind, their senses. Physical teleportation has not yet been perfected but being there in one’s mind’s eye is still phenomenal and wonderful.
I have titled this introduction as Smells, Songs, and Stories. I do not know what your smells are, mine are Hoppes Power Solvent, gun smoke, and Coppertone suntan lotion, and to remind me of Christmas, Orange peels and Cranberries. I have read somewhere that the sense of smell is the most direct access to the brain and has the most primitive arousal and recognition of all the senses.
Some of my favorite memories were of hunting and the smell of gun smoke, then cleaning the weapon with Hoppes power solvent and recalling the thrill of the hunt. Since where I lived and the time, during the depression, oranges, and any kind of citrus was not a common item in our diet. Usually at Christmas the community Christmas party would include all the children receiving a cellophane bag with candy, nuts, and fruit, which usually would have at least one orange.
I suspect that a whiff of your mother’s perfume or face powder, or your father’s after shave cologne, of a sudden sniff of wood stove smoke, maybe like your grandmother’s kitchen would have the magical transportation of us all back to a different era.
Songs, particularly those we heard or played a long time ago also have this magical way of grabbing us and our consciousness and transporting us to another time and place. Different genres for different decades, but still magical.
Finally, and third, stories have a way of bonding the teller with the hearers in a magical and intimate fashion. I suspect many of us can even hear our mother, or father’s voice as well as the words of the story. And we may have repeated these same stories to our children and grandchildren.
As writers, we are all heirs of Moses, the first college graduate to download information on a tablet in written words. Before that, all were oral stories handed down by the campfire in front of the tent, or mouth of a cave, and repeated over generations and centuries, while spinning magical spells for the hearers. Over the centuries, historical information, moral, ethical, and practical behavior information woven into the fabric of these stories to ensure the success and survival of the tribe.
I have often joked that if I could play a musical instrument I would go on the road. Well, I am already on the road, so I am in the process of learning to play the banjo. I have sold two rifles I no longer use to finance the purchase and lessons. I do not want to hear from anyone SAY they are too old to undertake a “wild and crazy” idea, something they have always wanted to do but are afraid to launch out. I had never touched a banjo before my age of 85!
If you want it bad enough to spend the hours learning how to play, or whatever is required to master your idea, you can do it! Everything that is stopping you is within your head. So, stop with all the negative thoughts and go ahead and start the dream you have had. Just give yourself permission! Give two examples of learning something difficult! Golfing: When I was much younger, I played golf. I always seemed to have a reasonably long drive off the tee box but would slice to the right into the woods or creek. Finally, I say to myself, “this is ridiculous, so I taught myself how to hit a straight drive!
On another occasion, I had a doctor friend who wanted me to take up archery so we could hunt in October, which is set aside for archers to hunt deer. At first, I resisted, being a rife hunter and knowing rifles are much more efficient and long ranged. But archery did offer some benefits by having a full month early in the season and the chance to be out in the woods and safe from other hunters. So, it took me a full year to become proficient but by the second season I was a successful deer hunter with bow and arrow. This did not happen overnight, since it required a lot of hours of practice.
I believe our lives should consist of prioritizing and doing, never being constrained by the fear of failure. We will never be able to do all that we would like to do, so choose wisely and well! Just Sayin…RJS
As spinners of stories, we are also magicians in t... (
show quote)
Thank you once again Robert. Your wisdom and eloquence is always welcome and inspiring.
Robert J Samples wrote:
As spinners of stories, we are also magicians in that we can take our audiences on time travel trips. No, not physically, but with the mind, their senses. Physical teleportation has not yet been perfected but being there in one’s mind’s eye is still phenomenal and wonderful.
I have titled this introduction as Smells, Songs, and Stories. I do not know what your smells are, mine are Hoppes Power Solvent, gun smoke, and Coppertone suntan lotion, and to remind me of Christmas, Orange peels and Cranberries. I have read somewhere that the sense of smell is the most direct access to the brain and has the most primitive arousal and recognition of all the senses.
Some of my favorite memories were of hunting and the smell of gun smoke, then cleaning the weapon with Hoppes power solvent and recalling the thrill of the hunt. Since where I lived and the time, during the depression, oranges, and any kind of citrus was not a common item in our diet. Usually at Christmas the community Christmas party would include all the children receiving a cellophane bag with candy, nuts, and fruit, which usually would have at least one orange.
I suspect that a whiff of your mother’s perfume or face powder, or your father’s after shave cologne, of a sudden sniff of wood stove smoke, maybe like your grandmother’s kitchen would have the magical transportation of us all back to a different era.
Songs, particularly those we heard or played a long time ago also have this magical way of grabbing us and our consciousness and transporting us to another time and place. Different genres for different decades, but still magical.
Finally, and third, stories have a way of bonding the teller with the hearers in a magical and intimate fashion. I suspect many of us can even hear our mother, or father’s voice as well as the words of the story. And we may have repeated these same stories to our children and grandchildren.
As writers, we are all heirs of Moses, the first college graduate to download information on a tablet in written words. Before that, all were oral stories handed down by the campfire in front of the tent, or mouth of a cave, and repeated over generations and centuries, while spinning magical spells for the hearers. Over the centuries, historical information, moral, ethical, and practical behavior information woven into the fabric of these stories to ensure the success and survival of the tribe.
I have often joked that if I could play a musical instrument I would go on the road. Well, I am already on the road, so I am in the process of learning to play the banjo. I have sold two rifles I no longer use to finance the purchase and lessons. I do not want to hear from anyone SAY they are too old to undertake a “wild and crazy” idea, something they have always wanted to do but are afraid to launch out. I had never touched a banjo before my age of 85!
If you want it bad enough to spend the hours learning how to play, or whatever is required to master your idea, you can do it! Everything that is stopping you is within your head. So, stop with all the negative thoughts and go ahead and start the dream you have had. Just give yourself permission! Give two examples of learning something difficult! Golfing: When I was much younger, I played golf. I always seemed to have a reasonably long drive off the tee box but would slice to the right into the woods or creek. Finally, I say to myself, “this is ridiculous, so I taught myself how to hit a straight drive!
On another occasion, I had a doctor friend who wanted me to take up archery so we could hunt in October, which is set aside for archers to hunt deer. At first, I resisted, being a rife hunter and knowing rifles are much more efficient and long ranged. But archery did offer some benefits by having a full month early in the season and the chance to be out in the woods and safe from other hunters. So, it took me a full year to become proficient but by the second season I was a successful deer hunter with bow and arrow. This did not happen overnight, since it required a lot of hours of practice.
I believe our lives should consist of prioritizing and doing, never being constrained by the fear of failure. We will never be able to do all that we would like to do, so choose wisely and well! Just Sayin…RJS
As spinners of stories, we are also magicians in t... (
show quote)
Well said sir, I have a lot of memories that come to me at times. A lot of things I miss as I age. 10 years ago my sense of smell departed, don't know why but trying to adapt to it. Only took up hunting 6 years ago and do bow hunt taking 2 so far. I will keep on with what I want until I don't enjoy it, so far that's not wanting.
Thank you for your insight,.
Thank You! You guys have just confirmed my private feelings about things and what I've written about. Just Sayin...RJS
Robert J Samples wrote:
As spinners of stories, we are also magicians in that we can take our audiences on time travel trips. No, not physically, but with the mind, their senses. Physical teleportation has not yet been perfected but being there in one’s mind’s eye is still phenomenal and wonderful.
I have titled this introduction as Smells, Songs, and Stories. I do not know what your smells are, mine are Hoppes Power Solvent, gun smoke, and Coppertone suntan lotion, and to remind me of Christmas, Orange peels and Cranberries. I have read somewhere that the sense of smell is the most direct access to the brain and has the most primitive arousal and recognition of all the senses.
Some of my favorite memories were of hunting and the smell of gun smoke, then cleaning the weapon with Hoppes power solvent and recalling the thrill of the hunt. Since where I lived and the time, during the depression, oranges, and any kind of citrus was not a common item in our diet. Usually at Christmas the community Christmas party would include all the children receiving a cellophane bag with candy, nuts, and fruit, which usually would have at least one orange.
I suspect that a whiff of your mother’s perfume or face powder, or your father’s after shave cologne, of a sudden sniff of wood stove smoke, maybe like your grandmother’s kitchen would have the magical transportation of us all back to a different era.
Songs, particularly those we heard or played a long time ago also have this magical way of grabbing us and our consciousness and transporting us to another time and place. Different genres for different decades, but still magical.
Finally, and third, stories have a way of bonding the teller with the hearers in a magical and intimate fashion. I suspect many of us can even hear our mother, or father’s voice as well as the words of the story. And we may have repeated these same stories to our children and grandchildren.
As writers, we are all heirs of Moses, the first college graduate to download information on a tablet in written words. Before that, all were oral stories handed down by the campfire in front of the tent, or mouth of a cave, and repeated over generations and centuries, while spinning magical spells for the hearers. Over the centuries, historical information, moral, ethical, and practical behavior information woven into the fabric of these stories to ensure the success and survival of the tribe.
I have often joked that if I could play a musical instrument I would go on the road. Well, I am already on the road, so I am in the process of learning to play the banjo. I have sold two rifles I no longer use to finance the purchase and lessons. I do not want to hear from anyone SAY they are too old to undertake a “wild and crazy” idea, something they have always wanted to do but are afraid to launch out. I had never touched a banjo before my age of 85!
If you want it bad enough to spend the hours learning how to play, or whatever is required to master your idea, you can do it! Everything that is stopping you is within your head. So, stop with all the negative thoughts and go ahead and start the dream you have had. Just give yourself permission! Give two examples of learning something difficult! Golfing: When I was much younger, I played golf. I always seemed to have a reasonably long drive off the tee box but would slice to the right into the woods or creek. Finally, I say to myself, “this is ridiculous, so I taught myself how to hit a straight drive!
On another occasion, I had a doctor friend who wanted me to take up archery so we could hunt in October, which is set aside for archers to hunt deer. At first, I resisted, being a rife hunter and knowing rifles are much more efficient and long ranged. But archery did offer some benefits by having a full month early in the season and the chance to be out in the woods and safe from other hunters. So, it took me a full year to become proficient but by the second season I was a successful deer hunter with bow and arrow. This did not happen overnight, since it required a lot of hours of practice.
I believe our lives should consist of prioritizing and doing, never being constrained by the fear of failure. We will never be able to do all that we would like to do, so choose wisely and well! Just Sayin…RJS
As spinners of stories, we are also magicians in t... (
show quote)
you can sure tell good stories. You should write a book.
msmllm: Well Hoss, I have. the title is MY STORIES. I have a second one being forematted, so it can be published in a month or two. Let me know if you want a copy. I charge $20, which covers the book, shipping and sales tax. I don't know yet what I'll need to charge on the second one, depends upon what the printer costs me. That will probably be in September.
I used to be an archery hunter, killed 4 deer. Story in the first book. Just Sayin...RJS
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