"Odiferous!"

 

Good Sunday Morning, y'all.

The rains from the night before not only washed away the last vestige of pollen from off of the cars, but in the misty morning also cleared out the air. The catbird is back and just in time to inspect the progress of my and our neighbor's blueberries. It's an annual event!

About a month or so ago, when I'd take Pierre for his morning constitutional, I would commune with all the sights, sounds and smells of the dawn.

But the dawn didn't always smell so great. Usually, I send the dog out in my shorts and tee shirt. I read somewhere that as a part of that partnership with nature one should walk barefoot on the lawn... It's kinda an Indian thing!

Still, something very subtle but unmistakably in the air surrounded me. It wasn't the dog's pee or his poop. It wasn't the night jasmine on the trellis next to the bird bath. It wasn't the smell of the grass I cut days before. It didn't seem to be from somewhere. It kinda seemed to follow me as I "went American Indian" all over the yard.

I smelled my shirt and smelled my shorts. I'm no longer flexible enough to smell my feet but for certain their was a dis-stink order coming from me... Every day.

It never dawned on me that my diet was the culprit. For a week or more, I was eating a combination of roasted garlic hummus and a garlic cheese that I mistakenly bought at Whole Foods. The unforgivable morning odor disappeared when, over time, I finished consuming both aromatic snacks. A week or so later I finally figured it all out.

It reminds me of a receptionist at a local CPA firm where my wife worked as an assistant to one of the partners. The woman used to pop cloves of garlic like candy and no one could place where the odor came from until one of the partners saw her chomping down on a clove or two. It was like seeping through her pores.

I don't remember if the receptionist was fired, asked to refrain from such a snack and by doing so was attacked by a blood sucking Transylvanian, or sent downstairs into bowels of the building to file tax returns forever. Funny...

Guess you are what you eat... and drink!

Second cup, y'all...

Copyright 2021/ Ben Bensen III