Aromatherapy with Old Books

We attend very little to smell.  Common wisdom holds that smell is the least important sense for our species. On the other hand, smell is the only sense that affects the memory and emotion part of the brain. Each morning when I walk into our little office, I smell paper.  I would like to have the adjectives to describe the odour.   I will have to be satisfied with the comparison of old and new books.  An Old Book Odour wheel has been developed. What is said about new book paper is this:  "There are certain chemicals, such as sodium hydroxide (caustic soda), that are added to the paper to diminish its acidity and swelling of the fibres of the wood pulp used in the paper." And about old books:  "Old books have a sweet smell with notes of vanilla flowers and almonds, which is caused by the breakdown of chemical compounds in the paper, while new books smell like they do because of the carious chemicals used when they are manufactured". The Old Book Smell project is described in the smithsonianmag.com:  "With the help of visitors to the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery in England and a panel of library smellers at the historic Wren Library at St. Paul’s Cathedral, the team conducted a sensory analysis. They presented museumgoers with eight smells—one of which was an (unlabeled) historic book scent and seven were decidedly non-bookish, such as eau de fish market and coffee. The researchers then had participants answer a questionnaire, including a question asking descriptors of of the historic book smell. When museum sniffers described the book smell, they most frequently used words like “chocolate,” “coffee,” and “old.” Library smellers, however, selected words like “woody,” “smoky” and “earthy” from the list, and described the smell’s intensity and perceived pleasantness. Next, the team used all of the information they collected to create the Historic Book Odour Wheel, a descriptive wheel kind of like tools used to characterize the flavors of coffee or wine". The Grimsby Farmers' Market takes place on the Main Street of town - its name is Main Street.  This week's delights included the last of the strawberries and the first of the raspberries.  And the green and yellow beans are here.

Colour in Summer

COLOUR


It seems so far away that there could be this much colour all around us every day.  This is the Grimsby Market and the Wendalane Flower Farm stall.  I am enthralled by Jen's combination of floral materials - creative and inventive.  I've seen people point at a flower like the Queen Anne's Lace and say - 'that's a weed'.  And then they buy a posie or bouquet with it.  It is one of those graceful, delicate flowers with a vintage sense to it.  Jen is choosing her flowers for 2015 and will be starting seeds soon.  I hope she grows the Walking Gourds again.  They were fun in the garden urns in Autumn.

Here's their Facebook and website to take a look:
https://www.facebook.com/wendalanefarms
http://www.wendalane.com

It's the Thursday Farmers' Market in Grimsby

It's Thursday in Grimsby and that means that Main Street is closed and the farmers' market takes over from 3:00pm on.  I won't get there early today and know that my favourite items in fruits and vegetables will be gone by 4:00pm…oh well.

Here's a view from last week.