Canada: Sensorium

The next few posts will delve into my sensorial experiences in British Colmbia over the last few weeks. This tour will take place through the five senses.

Canada Intro

I've just returned home from a very nurturing, fun, educational and exciting adventure in the British Columbia area of Canada. I feel restored with much to share after such a beauty filled journey.
The trip was a semi-vacation, due to Greg working on a CG (computer generated) animated film at Rainmaker Studios. My daughter, Eve, and I flew up to take in the sights and spend time with Greg while he was in Vancouver. I looked forward to new adventures to feed my inner artist while spending time with both Eve and Greg and getting away from home.
My one strong intention was to connect with a fellow, niche perfumer I have known for several years but never met in person. There is nothing like connecting, one on one, with another artist working in the same medium. This was my chance! Stay tuned as I share the full sensorium from the trip in the next series of blog entries.

Canada

Greetings from Vancouver, Canada, a city of tall, glass towers mimicked by tall green trees. It is quite a beautiful, metropolitan city along the North rim of the Pacific Ocean with dense wilderness. My first impression, looking down from the tiny window on the airplane, was GREEN. Quite a contrast to the Santa Monica Mountains which this time of year are a deep shade of ocher. I've concluded that this area is made up primarily of water+earth elementals, where as the Santa Monica Mountains are more fire+earth.

My first visit to this area was during art school. My grandma Ani, Mom, brother Luis and I all flew up to San Francisco, rented a car and then drove up the Pacific Coast. The most vivid memory from that trip is the striking, turquoise color of the water at Lake Louise and the trees of Jasper Forest. The picture, just above, is of my grandma and mom at Lake Louise.

The sensorium (how we experience or perceive the world through our senses) of Vancouver is very much like other mega-cities I have visited. Freshest in the archive of my mind it reminds me of Buenos Aires and New York. There is a definite modern European flavor and, although I've never been, it makes me think of Asian port cities such as Hong Kong. During this trip I have become keenly aware that the memory impressions of places are strongly made up of smell, influenced by both sight (the incredible view from our hotel) and sound (the constant drone of the city). The aroma of the underground parking garage mingled with the scent of frying immediately places me at my grandparents apartment on Libertador in Buenos Aires. Almost as if a parallel universe has opened up and transported me to family lunches, with homemade pastas, fresh farm cheese and dulce de leche from the ranch.