There’s something about winter air that smells different. It has a different odor than other seasons. Maybe it has blown in from distant place where the air has no odor and we take notice. I have read somewhere that odors are very powerful in triggering memories. Can’t remember where I read that so there must have been no defining odor at the time! The fact is, winter air has arrived and has me thinking of Christmas past in Pittsburg. Piling into the 1960 Valiant station wagon to drive around and look at the lights downtown and on Elmwood Drive where it seemed every house was lighted or just to drive around during the first big snowfall. Dinner one winter evening was at my Aunt and Uncle’s house on North Smelter. It was dark as we drove up Joplin St and it seemed that every house, however modest, had some kind of festive lights or Christmas tree visible through the front windows. As we approached their house I could see their Christmas tree glowing through the large front window which was covered with condensation from the meal being prepared in the kitchen giving each point of light a soft halo. Now their house was probably less than 2000 feet west of the Kansas City Southern Railroad Shops. You can still see the remnants of the great round house and many buildings on Google earth. With any visit to my Aunt and Uncles house you could hear the drone of machinery and locomotive engines. Once I heard what must have been a locomotive backing into a train of cars. As the engine coupled to the first car it caused it to bump into the second car and on and on down the train. It was like stereo on steroids! On that cold winter night I could hear the sounds of the “Shops” humming away and could smell the furnaces of countless houses, some of which were still burning coal at that time. As we passed through the front door all of that went away and was replaced with warm light, the smell of food cooking the laughter and conversation of family. May your Christmas be filled with warm light, good food, laughter and family. Jim Clark
Posted on: Wed, 27 Nov 2013 17:05:22 +0000
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