the seeing eye

i just about threw it in the trash--the school doesn't have extra money and i sure don't. but it was an art catalog. so it went in an arc from the basket to my desk top to look at during lunch. so many things (so much stuff) from a myriad of places. old art, new art, sculpture, postcards, samples, books, and lots of glorious color. there was a set of bold native american art posters reminding me i am still looking for a ghost dance poster like my sister has--that wasn't in the collection. there was postcards of austrailan art. i think, i know if i lose any of my senses, i hope sight is the last to go, not the first. although i would miss taste and smell, and sound. so a staff member sat by me at lunch and i was gushing over over the wonderfull images. she just turned up her nose. she would never have a crafty thing in her house, actually not even a degas! which suprised me. she is a musician--degree in performance -piano. she plays well and with enthusiasm. but she doesn't have art on her wall and her living room is not cosy to me. she is definately a martha stewart simplicity type person while i am the mary englebritt crafty type person. she said she took a test and it revealed she liked fine things. we are friends but we are completely different. i just can't comprehend a room without art.

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.