More oft than not, if someone describes the "smells" of a bayou, they have to include the musty, heavy smell of low tide. It is then that the mud is exposed. Here, we do not have the sandy beaches or even the hard clay bottoms. We have mud. Mud that swallows things completely in a matter of minutes. To give you an idea about this, when Pop was in his 70s, he was putting an outboard motor on his old, wooden skiff when he slipped. The outboard motor went into the 2 feet of water and submerged. Dad never found that motor. The boat was not 5 feet from shore and the motor still sank to parts unknown. The muck devoured the thing! He even took a long pole and gently shoved it into the mud thinking, if he hit something hard, he would know where to search. The pole was about 10 feet in length and he never hit anything. Time and time again, he prodded but with no luck. The mud is an entity in its own right. And, yes, that mud does smell bad to outsiders. We have become so accustomed to the "low-tide smell" that we never notice.
That does not mean that the Bayou is nothing but stench. Quite the contrary, my friends. When in bloom, the place smells heavenly! This far south, there is always something aromatic in the air. Right now, it is the Confederate Jasmine. This vine is one of those plants that was imported from Asia a century ago and has pretty much claimed the area as its own. The smell of jasmine wafting on the breeze, front screened porches, windows flung open and wooden rocking chairs pretty much adds up to a perfect evening.
The jasmine and roses are in full bloom right now, the azaleas with their sweet aroma and citrus trees just waned and the wisteria is setting buds as are the magnolias. It is practically a merry-go-round of delightful floral scents! Any of these are enough to make you forget all about our mud!
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