Smell

Lately, it seems you don't have to be anywhere near a garden to stop and smell the roses. Smell is the latest way that businesses are attempting to woo customers, whether it be the scented candles at Hampden shop In Watermelon Sugar, the vanilla and cloves wafting through the air at Williams-Sonoma, or the pungent smell of colognes at trendy clothing chains. Technology to spread the scents have become more elaborate and includes a device that pumps fragrances through ventilation systems.

Having read your report, the story of the kidnapping and imprisonment of three women in Cleveland makes no sense whatever ("Women's 'nightmare is over,'" May 8). If true, something is drastically wrong with America. I am incredulous the women were held against their will for 10 years, incredulous that neighbors blame the police when the captives were right next door, incredulous one of the prisoners could have given birth and cared for a child for six years without anyone asking questions.

Something smells funny in Clarksville. A few residents have complained of a nauseating, pungent odor from the area of Maryland 108 and Sheppard Lane to Howard County's health department, said spokeswoman Lisa DeHernandez. She said the department's community hygiene program conducted a search of the area Wednesday and found the source to be coming from fertilizer on a large farm. They received the same calls last year, she said. They expect rain to reduce the stench. In the meantime, DeHernandez said, the farmer will be asked to wet the perimeter areas of the property to help reduce the odor but, because agricultural properties are mostly exempt from nuisance codes, there's no requirement or enforcement measures that the department can take.

Just when we were getting our heads around the idea that many (if not most) of us will lose brain function as we age, there is news that another one of those physical gifts we take for granted is likely to leave us. Our sense of smell. It is a bit of a blow, if you will excuse the pun. And it joins a growing list: balance, flexibility, muscle mass, strength, vision, hearing and hair, to name just a handful of the things the young take for granted. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that our sense of smell degrades as we age, reducing both pleasure and safety.

A powerful stench was in the air Saturday at the Inner Harbor as 12-year-olds Alison Chase and Marissa Westerbeke hunched over the water's edge, studying tiny crabs floating to the surface. The girls were in town from Connecticut for a relaxing annual vacation with Alison's family, but the pervasive smell of dead fish and rotting plant matter — caused by a massive algae bloom — had them totally grossed out. "It's, like, sad and disgusting," said Marissa. "It's gross.

Excitement is building for this weekend's release of "Marvel's The Avengers. " People definitely want to see the movie. But one Baltimore company is hoping people also want to smell like it. Fragrance manufacturer JADS International, a company that already makes perfumes based on "Star Wars" and "Star Trek," is selling seven Marvel-endorsed varieties of cologne, all inspired by the likes of Thor, Captain America, The Hulk and the rest of...

Everyone loves the smell of piping-hot pizza. But no one loves the smell of a burning pizza box. Turns out, this is a difficult scent to eradicate from the home, and I've tried — even frying tilapia for dinner one evening. But the scent of flaming cardboard somehow persists. Almost all of my friends use the oven, set very low, to keep their pizzas warm in the box while they wait for their guests to arrive, for the evening news to be over or for the salad to be made. No one I know has encountered a problem with this.

It happens every September. The weeks of summer vacation are fast becoming a blur and a memory.I'm crossing the Kent Narrows Bridge and take a deep breath. I smell the marshes between Grasonville and Stevensville. It's one of those heady Chesapeake fragrances that will never be bottled.The car moves toward Baltimore. All recollection of the Atlantic coast's clear skies and pounding surf evaporates.There's a damnable hot and hazy cloud inevitably hanging over Baltimore during the ninth month of the year.

A Boston-bound AirTran flight that left Baltimore-Washington International Airport yesterday morning turned around and landed without incident after passengers detected "a funny smell" in the cabin, an airline spokesman said. Maintenance workers later determined that a routine pre-flight check had caused oil to drip off an engine of the Boeing 717 and into the air-conditioning unit, said the spokesman, Tad Hutcheson. Flight 496 landed at BWI at 12:10 p.m., nearly an hour after takeoff.

CHILDHOOD ISN'T what it used to be. Looking at this world from my 4-year-old son's perspective made me realize that our times have become disturbingly artificial.When I was a child, it seems, the sounds and odors -- my most powerful memories -- were all different. Every time I smell the fragrance of lilacs, I am transported to the glorious white blossoms outside the bedroom window of my childhood.The house burned down long ago, but the aroma will be forever imprinted in the cluttered attic of my memory.

Sure, her official position is hazy -- and she might not even be getting paid, but Carrie Mathison is back at the CIA. And so are bunch of video screens fixed on Nicholas Brody. The recursive storylines that defined Homeland's first season were back in a big way in Episode 4 of Season 2, as Carrie returns to work on a top-secret surveillance team monitoring Brody. As the show's perspective switches between the two characters, we again see Carrie's life being defined by the Brody she sees and hears on screen.

Out and About At this beautiful time of year you don't need any special reason to visit the historic district. On the weekends the historic sites - the Thomas Isaac Log Cabin, the Firehouse Museum, the Heritage Orientation Center and the Patapsco Female Institute Historic Park - are all open to visitors. Lots of shops have samples of their wares out on the sidewalk, and a few restaurants offer outdoor seating. Grab an ice cream cone and sit on a picnic bench next to the Tiber.

Two Anne Arundel County men who were found smoking marijuana at a Pasadena gas station parking lot Tuesday evening face several drug-related charges. Justin Andrew Hartman, 22, of the 300 block Alameda Parkway in Arnold, the driver, was charged with drug and paraphernalia possession and intent to distribute. Scott Matthew Stein, 27, of the 200 block Fox Tree Drive in Glen Burnie, also faces possession and intent to distribute charges as well as failure to obey a lawful order and resisting arrest.

Things I'll be watching for during Maryland's season-opening football game against William & Mary at Byrd Stadium on Sept. 1. *Stefon Diggs' debut. Will he follow the Torrey Smith model and make his mark initially more as a kick returner than a receiver? Remember that Smith caught only 24 passes in his first season but averaged 25.9 yards on kickoffs, where his talents were immediately evident. *The new FieldTurf. Does it have that new car smell? *The uniforms. Does Maryland come out right away with those funky “Maryland Pride” uniforms, or does it keep them in reserve?

The mystery over what's caused the sewage smell in the Inner Harbor deepened today, as members of the watershed watchdog group Blue Water Baltimore reported seeing telltale debris floating in water that's reportedly turned grey since last Friday's downpour. David Flores, the group's water quality manager, and Tina Meyers, the Harbor Waterkeeper, spotted items they said are often seen after a sewage break or overflow, such as used condoms, tampon applicators and greaseballs in the water and on the shore by Domino's Sugar refinery and the Ritz-Carlton waterfront residences.

A powerful stench was in the air Saturday at the Inner Harbor as 12-year-olds Alison Chase and Marissa Westerbeke hunched over the water's edge, studying tiny crabs floating to the surface. The girls were in town from Connecticut for a relaxing annual vacation with Alison's family, but the pervasive smell of dead fish and rotting plant matter — caused by a massive algae bloom — had them totally grossed out. "It's, like, sad and disgusting," said Marissa. "It's gross.

If this page were scented, it might be scented with essence of tangerine, said to bring cheer and light to the ordinary and mundane.Or maybe marjoram, touted for its ability to ease irritability, worry and tension.Or ylang-ylang, supposed to help inspire one's appreciation for beauty.Whatever the essence, we would want you to be feeling good right now. Sort of warm all over. Comfortable. Content. And compelled to continue reading.You can't get aromatherapy from your newspaper. Yet.But you can get it from your hair stylist, masseuse, chiropractor, doctor and New Age healer.

The Beaux Arts building is a knockout, with its orange brick, slate roof and copper turrets. You'd never guess from the looks of the place that it's a sewage pumping station. But the nose knows. Nobody made a stink about smells wafting from the Eastern Avenue pumping station back in 1912, when it started doing its thing on Baltimore's grimy waterfront. But these days, the station sits amid pricey "Harbor East" housing and tourist attractions. In fact, the pumping station is a tourist attraction - home to the Baltimore Public Works Museum.

Excitement is building for this weekend's release of "Marvel's The Avengers. " People definitely want to see the movie. But one Baltimore company is hoping people also want to smell like it. Fragrance manufacturer JADS International, a company that already makes perfumes based on "Star Wars" and "Star Trek," is selling seven Marvel-endorsed varieties of cologne, all inspired by the likes of Thor, Captain America, The Hulk and the rest of...

This week "The Amazing Race"is all about hardcore competition. You think it was hardcore before? Have you ever seen a contestant stare death in the face, debate death versus a million bucks, and choose death? That's what I'm talking about.   Remember last week in Africa when JJ took his ball and went home and now he's dead to me? He's still mad. He'll even recap why he's mad, and Art will join in so we know that both of them are equally idiotic. Let's just forget about it and move on to India.