`
Touch
Feeling the sting of the sun--just above my knees, and the outer swatches of my upper arms--from having been out on the lake for the holiday weekend. The wrap of a band-aid, curling around the pad of my finger. My big toe, and its exposed nailbed, where I bungled and tore it days ago. `
Taste
Aftertaste, really. This afternoon I had a bottle of Gold Peak Tea, which has left a heavy sweetness on my tongue and at the roof of my mouth. I really need to brush.`
Sight
I see a web, running down a length of space between the beam above my desk and the side of my laptop, inches from my hand. Where, oh where, is the responsible spider? *shivers*`
Smell
Nothing. I try to breathe in the lavender from oils in the living room, just over and down from this balcony where I sit, or the fresh nostalgia that accompanies the first days of a summery house. I know they're both there. But for now, nothing.`
Hearing
The blow of the air conditioner. My husband's voice, none too quiet on the phone, as he talks someone through buying a car. My girls, distant and content, as they play in our basement a couple floors down.
`
What could you share about your five senses?
`
Thanks to Kelly from My Voice, My View, from whom I snagged the meme.
Oh... I'm going to have to snag this for my blog. You don't mind do you?
ReplyDeleteBeautiful. I liked Kelly's too. :O)
ReplyDeleteI felt like I was right there with you. Where is that spider???
ReplyDeleteI love your choices and descriptions!
ReplyDeleteMy five senses? I'm hot! The sweat is dripping off my skin cause I don't want to turn the air down yet:)
Like this! Great idea:)
ReplyDeleteNice. I like that it could bring you back, to where you are at that very moment, instead of wandering in regrets of the past, or fretting over the future.
ReplyDeleteAlways have the best ideas over here on your blog! Oh how I love lavender, what's funny is I have a headache and just you saying lavender started to soothe it!!
ReplyDeleteHi Janna -
ReplyDeleteYour use of the senses drew me into the post. My skin crawled when you talked about the spider.
Blessings,
Susan :)
Hope you found the dessicated remnants of the spider! LOL
ReplyDeleteNice idea. I was right there in your house, listening to the girls play. Kinda creepy, if you think about it. :0
My senses are cockeyed. Up is the wall, down is up. The doc can't see me until Fri. Sigh.
Wonderful descriptions, Janna. I may have to borrow this meme for my blog as well. Love your description of smell, a promise of things to come.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea, Janna! Your attention to detail is superb.
ReplyDeleteThinking of you and sending you a ton of hugs.
I love incorporating senses into my writing. I taste the gritty seeds from my raspberry jam. They run, but they can't hide.
ReplyDeleteSending love.
Wendy
That was beautiful. I"m going to snag this for tomorrow's blog! I especially loved your description of smell and and sound. I could imagine you at home...and it brought me back to my own home as well.
ReplyDeleteThis was fun to read. I felt the spider crawling on me tho'! :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun thing to read, and to consider. A poem in senses, and a snapshot of your space in time.
ReplyDeleteThis is great here are mine.
ReplyDeleteTouch- the roughness of a sore on my tummy against my blouse as it heals.
Taste-the salty taste of a bbq hotdog with the sweetness of baked beans, heavy on my tongue I clear it with bright spring water.
Sight-the canopy of trees outside my balcony sprinkled with sunshine and the shadows of birds in flight.
Smell-the strong assulting food cooking from my neighbors, galic,onions so many onions. I close my balcony door and spray neutralizer a new base for my sensitive nose.
This is a good exercise, don't you think, to help flesh out characters.
ReplyDeleteMy senses? I just finished mowing my yard and taking a shower. So I feeling good.
Touch: My computer keys to my fingertips - hard and unforgiving.
Taste- The sensation of chocolate still in my teeth from a tiny Butterfinger candy bar.I too need to brush after I enjoy it a little more
Sight- the yellow of my walls which cheers my mood.
Smell - me- Dove soap and Victoria Secret's Pure Seduction body wash.
Hearing- the hum of the air through the vents of which I am grateful on this 90 degree day.
Great exercise, Janna.
That was wonderful! I'm glad you snagged it!
ReplyDeleteI use the five senses as an inanimate character in my books. I love to weave the five senses into the very fabric of my stories. I have gone to great lengths to use sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch to describe what is happening. I want the reader to experience the events in real time, and what better way than to paint a picture, appeal to their five senses.
ReplyDeleteStephen Tremp
Beautiful writing - what a great exercise! I plan to try it.
ReplyDeleteI am so, so, so sorry about your loss.
I liked this idea! Nice. The name was perfect.
ReplyDeleteInteresting idea, Janna! I love descriptions that make your mind stretch - word-built images that you remember for a long time afterwards.
ReplyDeleteRight now all I can come up with is "the taste of water", because I ate a sickly-sweet canned guava (NEVER buy canned guavas, by the way) and need to get that taste out of my mouth.
Oh, I loved this! I'll have to think a bit and give it a try. :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm hearing the hum of the air conditioner here, too. It's been unseasonably warm here for May and now June, in the high 80s and low 90s. Which is more July and August weather. So I think I'll be hearing the ac often in the near future!
ReplyDeleteI love your style. It's so relaxing and lyrical. Thank you for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteLove this!
ReplyDeleteTouch - The keys
Taste - A banana I just ate
Sight - The trees outside my window
Smell - Nothing cause I have a head cold :(
Hearing - Lady Gaga playing from my computer
Nothing beats touch, in my opinion ... the touch of a summer breeze blowing into my office.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful. I liked Kelly's too.
ReplyDeleteAdsense Alternative
Touching the keyboard
ReplyDeleteI am tasting chai
I see a stack of my daughters books-which I LOVE to see!
I smell summer!
I hear the ceiling fan, spinning full tilt. I just drank chai and I'm trying to avoid a personal summer heat moment!
That's really cool! I love your voice. The details you used to describe each of these things really enabled me to feel each one. :)
ReplyDelete*waah* I STILL do not know what a meme is - I am such a dweeb!
ReplyDeleteand I just wrote "dweeb" which makes me a bigger dweeb -
ReplyDeleteVERY cool. I am ALWAYS wanting to use your posts, then forget 'em!
ReplyDeleteMy five senses?
smell: honeysuckle
taste: chocolate
sight: colors, esp. pastels
hearing: bird twitter
touch: silks and satins
So evocative! What a lovely meme. Well done.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea. I'd have to go find that spider though.
ReplyDeleteOh, you worked this meme so beautifully. I knew you would! What a gift to share with all of us. That writer in you is always strutting her stuff :)
ReplyDeleteGood idea! I'm watching a movie as I read blogs, so I'm hearing a lot of noise, seeing a lot of movement, feeling a kink in my knee because my legs are bent, tasting the wine I'm drinking...
ReplyDelete:-)
I love how you write!
Hey friend! That was a cool exercise. Hope all's well with you & yours. :) Hugs
ReplyDeleteI'm way too sensitive.
ReplyDeleteBut my husband says, "Sensitive is good."
I've not had trouble with feeling my life. Quite the opposite. Almost as though I am too alive, nerves all sticking out like sore thumbs.
Life comes at me in Technicolor and magnified sounds and smells. I have to shut it out sometimes. I have been known to take refuge in a dimly lit room with a cracked window and clean quiet.
Maybe it makes my writing better. Just maybe.
Oh this is a really good idea. I'm going to try this too. And I'm checking out that blog where you said you got the idea from.
ReplyDeleteI read your previous post too about why you write and that's my same reason, too.
I found a (the?) spider this morning! Took care of him, so now I can relax a little.
ReplyDelete