The last couple of days have been great, overcast, not too hot and we even got some rain last night! After the ridiculous tempretures we've been having (46.5 degrees C anyone?!?), it's a godsend. Summer always has its own particular smells. The big one for most of Australia is the smell of smoke, we've got huge bush fires all over the country. The last couple of summers we had a lot of rain & flooding. Now we're back to heat & fire. I'm lucky that even though we live near bush land that we are not affected by the fires. It's heartbreaking to see/hear of people who have lost everything (big shout out to our fireies who do a fantastic job)
So smoke is a big indicator that it's summer...our smoke smell comes from the impromptu BBQs we've been having with our next door neighbour. Steak, chicken, onion, potato, corn....whatever is lying around gets thrown on & it's always delicious.
I also relate the smells of tomatoes & basil with summer. Tomatoes ripening on the bench, tomatoes being cooked into relish, the whole house smelling of basil as I make pesto to freeze. You only get these smells when it's summer. The thing is you need to be in the kitchen, in the heat to do these things....but it is worth it to have pesto on pasta in the middle of winter.
The other smell of summer is harder to explain. It's the smell you get after having hot day after hot day and then in the late afternoon it storms. The smell of the soil as it cools with the rain is unbelievable.
What smells do you associate with summer?
