How to Keep Those Juicy, Zesty Memories of Summer

Fall has arrived, and most of us wish we could bottle something from the summer just gone.

What is it we love? The smell of new flowers. Dinner on the grill. Sunscreen and cut grass. Somebody else’s barbecue two gardens over. And that sharp zing of a lemon the moment you cut into it, before you squeeze it into a cocktail, an appetizer, or a big jug of lemonade.

We All Have a Scent That Carries Summer in It

There is a real connection between smell and memory. A familiar scent can put you back in a place, or beside a person, before you have had time to think about it. You do not decide to remember. It simply happens, and you are 26 again, or nine, standing in somebody else’s kitchen. Nothing else works quite so quickly.

For me, it is lemons. That will surprise absolutely nobody. But it is more particular than just lemons. It is the smell of lemons in a warm kitchen with the door propped open, and too many people talking at once, and somebody telling me I am doing it wrong. Thirty years of that. One lemon, cut in half, and there they all are.

Here is the part I have come to love about getting older. You have more of these than you used to. Decades of summers, layered up, and any one of them can be opened again by something as small as a scent on your hands. Not everything about this stage of life is a trade. Some of it is accumulation.

What You Can Do to Bring Summer Back

So as the weather turns, here are a few easy ways to keep summer within reach.

The Counter

Keep a bowl of lemons on the kitchen counter. Not in the refrigerator, not in a drawer. Where you can see them and reach them. Rub a little zest between your fingers while you cook, for no reason at all.

In Your Water

Put a slice of lemon in your water in the morning. It is the smallest possible ritual, and it does something to the whole day.

Candle Scent

Light a candle that smells like the beach, or like citrus, or like whatever your summer smelled like. Nobody needs to know why you chose it.

Scent in a Jar

Dry a few slices of lemon in a low oven and keep them in a jar. They will scent a room quietly for weeks.

Touch Your Skin

And make yourself a lemon scrub. Two minutes, four ingredients, and the whole season comes back on your hands.

Summer has a season. Its memories do not.

BRING ME BACK LA LIMONE SCRUB (for one)

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons sugar or coarse salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil or coconut oil
• Half a teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• A little fresh lemon zest

Directions:

Mix everything together in a small bowl. Rub gently onto damp hands, arms, elbows, or feet, then rinse off with warm water. Pat dry.

A Word of Sense Before You Go

Go gently on skin that is dry or sensitive. Keep the scrub well away from your face and anywhere you have a cut, and if you are heading out into the sun straight afterward, rinse thoroughly first. Citrus and strong sunshine are not the best of friends.

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. And just like that, summer is back.

Let’s Chat:

What scents do you always connect with summer? If you like, please share a story! Have you found ways to bring back summer after the weather turns?