the nose

just before christmas i dashed around the country side taking picutres of students preforming community service. at the one of the well known charitable orgainizations there were several buildings and i wandered around a while before i could find the students. one of the buildings held a used items store tended by an elderly heavy older lady. the first thing that struck me however, was the oder--the oder of old. i know everything didn't come from old houses and old people, but the whole room smelled old. does everything after awhile aquire this smell no matter where it lives or does it suddenly aquire it when it is separated from its owner? and if you bought it and took it home and paid a little attention to it, like lots of bleach, brushing, and scrubbing, would it lose its old forlorn smell?
now i am an older item and living in an old house which must have an old smell. i think it was there before i moved in. my sister bought me a candle to burn when she came to visit me and my daughter boughte me candles and her husband a car deoderizer when they came to visit me. i am beginning to wonder if the oder of the house is taking over and is stronger than the items i brought to the house. if i move will my things lose the house scent?
to top it all off, as i am growing older i am loosing my sense of smell. i think. it may be that it is like smelling a perfume. after you smell three you can no longer differentiate between fragrances. maybe my nose is dead to the particular smell of this house. i keep burning candles. they look pretty and i do smell them.