June 3, 2010

the taste of cinnamon

when i was a teenager i fell in love with cinnamon hard candies and i would have a jar of them in my room.  i would sit for hours with giant headphones covering my ears, sometimes singing along with whatever album that was spinning (usually something that is horribly embarrassing these days like donny osmond or the like) and i would savor the candies as they burnt the tip of my tongue.  i would explore the edges of the pits and valleys created by the melting away of the sugars and would from time to time cut the inside of my cheek on those sharp edges.

after my tongue and teeth would be fiery red and my mouth would still burn with the memories of the spicy cinnamon.  even now when i find a cinnamon disc in a bowl of hard candy, i think about those days when i had nothing better to do but play records and study the lyrics that seemed written just for me.

yesterday i downloaded too many songs that reminded me of that time in my life.  a co-worker laughed as the sounds of parliment, the o'jays and the commodores came from my office yesterday...blended with a bit of carol king, van morrison and perhaps a song or two by rod stewart (i'll never tell.)  my musical taste is always blurred up a bit with my parents as i listened to their music too. 

music and memories...always a good combination.

31 comments:

  1. Sweet, sweet memories. : ) I had a thing for those cinnamon candies too. Those and lemonheads.

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  2. Yep - sign me up for butterscotch hard candies. I haven't thought about those in a long time...lovely still life, too!

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  3. Beautiful memory!
    Wonderful post.

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  4. One of the things I love most in life is how we can always remember the lyrics of songs, I can't remember my own names sometimes, but boy can I bust out a lyric (while driving in the car alone, of course!)
    Beautiful post.

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  5. i loved those candies too....but never ate one without cutting my tongue on it....

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  6. My best friend and I used to play a game called Radio DJ; we'd sit on the phone together and play songs back and forth for each other. We always had so much fun doing that because we both had such different music collections we'd always wind up playing something the other person hadn't heard in years. Music and memories...you're right, what a great combo!

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  7. i love radio dj stephanie. i do. i do that now when i make some cd's for my car. my sister recently borrowed a few of those cds for songs she hasn't heard.

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  8. We heard Rod Stewart's Every Picture Tells A Story yesterday, and it brought me way back to when I saw him with Faces, and tickets were about $6.00. Cheers to music and memories :)

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  9. I was thining of that the other day, too - how I use to just sit and listen to Purple Rain over and over and blast it so loud I'm sure my parents heard it. And I would pretend I was playing a cello occassionally. No food involved, but I miss days like that.

    xo Erin

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  10. Ive never heard of those lollies (but love the way you call them candies, we don't call them that here.) but i love these memories
    x

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  11. I can so picture you with the big headphones just bopping along, I love it!

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  12. i love cinnamon but never have had a cinnamon candy. i've always loved music and the feelings it brings about when you hear an old song being played. sometime's even smells come back just from a song.

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  13. music is the great memory maker..i so agree...lovely bunch of blooms

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  14. I love to download oldies and have to say Rod is one of my secret loves... don't like cinnamon candies though, my treat was Matlesers, the English version of Whoppers.. they would melt in my mouth as I played U2 over and over.

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  15. Music, tastes, and smells will take me right back to associated places and times in a flash...good old fashioned peppermints were my hard candy of choice...and still are:)

    When I needed music that my sister loved for a recent memorial I made a Frankie Valli Pandora channel and had an entire afternoon of perfect oldies but goodies:)

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  16. shame on you. never be embarrassed to profess love for rod stewart.

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  17. Oh, I could taste the candy as I read your descriptions. Perfect. Wonderful writing. Wonderful living.

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  18. Mmmmmm, red hots and those Brocks cinnamon disks...yum! Oh yeah...don't forget Big Red chewing gum!

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  19. throw in some neil diamond, some carpenters, and some johnny cash. and maybe some butterscotch candies. i am STILL partial to those...30+ years later! :)

    hope you have a fab weekend!

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  20. I can relate to all of those and to listening to what my parents listened to too! ha
    Sweet sweet memories...they are so kind to us.

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  21. Jackson Browne, The Eagles... I actually sang "THe Best of My Love" with my friend's brother's band at a teen coffee house one night -- scary. :)

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  22. i am having a day like this today. ipod on, acting as though, i have nothing to do or no place to be. i loaded the o'jays last night. sweet!
    xo

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  23. It is a good combination. Nothing like music to bring nostalgia and remembrances.
    Brenda

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  24. my kind of music we are showing our age, my girls don't even know who some f those people and bands are. They don't knowwhat they are missing ha ha

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  25. Music always reminds me of the past. Always.

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  26. When I was little I tried a hotball or whatever they are called and it was so hot I put it in the refrigerator to cool off ;)

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  27. What were those candies? I remember them as well. Never did like sweet candy, but give me cinnamon any day!

    That bouquet is lovely. I think flowers look their very best in a mason jar!

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  28. Ohhh I still love those cinnamon candies. Funny, I have been downloading like crazy too!

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  29. I have never tried a cinnamon candle I don't think they are available here in the UK, it seems I have missed out :(

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  30. a couple years ago, a country-music-loving colleague of mine approached me with a rather sheepish look on his face and asked if i wanted to go to a Rod Stewart concert with him... his aunt had bought tickets and then couldn't make the concert, so she gave them to him.

    we went... and even though i was never a huge fan, it was a riot to watch the older ladies crowding the stage, and to hear women younger than me screaming out "hell ya!!' when he started singing "if you want my body, and you think i'm sexy..."

    and i'll admit it, it felt great to sing my heart out (along with everyone else there) to Maggie May.

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i feel as if each comment was between us as we sat and sipped something warm....i love to hear what you're thinking.