Tuesday, June 1, 2010

A Girl and Her Senses

I liked this meme of the senses, thought it different and interesting. Wanted to borrow the idea (and so I have). Here's my take:
`
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.

41 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh... I'm going to have to snag this for my blog. You don't mind do you?

Diane said...

Beautiful. I liked Kelly's too. :O)

Robin said...

I felt like I was right there with you. Where is that spider???

Terri Tiffany said...

I love your choices and descriptions!
My five senses? I'm hot! The sweat is dripping off my skin cause I don't want to turn the air down yet:)

Karen Lange said...

Like this! Great idea:)

Anonymous said...

Nice. 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.

Unknown said...

Always 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!!

Susan J. Reinhardt said...

Hi Janna -

Your use of the senses drew me into the post. My skin crawled when you talked about the spider.

Blessings,
Susan :)

Victoria Dixon said...

Hope you found the dessicated remnants of the spider! LOL

Nice 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.

Linda Hoye said...

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.

Angie Muresan said...

Great idea, Janna! Your attention to detail is superb.

Thinking of you and sending you a ton of hugs.

Wendy Paine Miller said...

I love incorporating senses into my writing. I taste the gritty seeds from my raspberry jam. They run, but they can't hide.

Sending love.
Wendy

April Plummer said...

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.

Karen said...

This was fun to read. I felt the spider crawling on me tho'! :)

Deb Shucka said...

What a fun thing to read, and to consider. A poem in senses, and a snapshot of your space in time.

Analisa said...

This is great here are mine.


Touch- 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.

T. Powell Coltrin said...

This is a good exercise, don't you think, to help flesh out characters.

My 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.

Lydia Kang said...

That was wonderful! I'm glad you snagged it!

Anonymous said...

I 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.

Stephen Tremp

Margo Berendsen said...

Beautiful writing - what a great exercise! I plan to try it.

I am so, so, so sorry about your loss.

Unspoken said...

I liked this idea! Nice. The name was perfect.

Marian Perera said...

Interesting idea, Janna! I love descriptions that make your mind stretch - word-built images that you remember for a long time afterwards.

Right 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.

Shannon O'Donnell said...

Oh, I loved this! I'll have to think a bit and give it a try. :-)

Joanne said...

I'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!

Jill Kemerer said...

I love your style. It's so relaxing and lyrical. Thank you for sharing this.

Nadine said...

Love this!
Touch - 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

Erin said...

Nothing beats touch, in my opinion ... the touch of a summer breeze blowing into my office.

Nishant said...

Beautiful. I liked Kelly's too.
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Capri K @ No Whining Allowed said...

Touching the keyboard

I 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!

Katie Ganshert said...

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. :)

Kathryn Magendie said...

*waah* I STILL do not know what a meme is - I am such a dweeb!

Kathryn Magendie said...

and I just wrote "dweeb" which makes me a bigger dweeb -

patti said...

VERY cool. I am ALWAYS wanting to use your posts, then forget 'em!

My five senses?
smell: honeysuckle
taste: chocolate
sight: colors, esp. pastels
hearing: bird twitter
touch: silks and satins

Carolina M. Valdez Schneider said...

So evocative! What a lovely meme. Well done.

Tabitha Bird said...

Great idea. I'd have to go find that spider though.

septembermom said...

Oh, 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 :)

Jessica Nelson said...

Good 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...
:-)
I love how you write!

Angie Ledbetter said...

Hey friend! That was a cool exercise. Hope all's well with you & yours. :) Hugs

Cassandra Frear said...

I'm way too sensitive.

But 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.

Margo Berendsen said...

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.

I read your previous post too about why you write and that's my same reason, too.

Janna Leadbetter said...

I found a (the?) spider this morning! Took care of him, so now I can relax a little.