like rocks long for rain

Is it possible I learned the word petrichor from Tumblr? I believe I can thank Tumblr for both leading me to believe the lovely word referred to the scent of any and all earth after rain, and for teaching me that it's, more specifically, the smell of rain on dry earth. Petrichor, according to Wikipedia, is "the scent of rain on dry earth, or the scent of dust after rain. The word is constructed from Greek, petros, meaning stone + ichor, the fluid that flows in the veins of the gods in Greek mythology. It is defined as 'the distinctive scent which accompanies the first rain after a long warm dry spell.'" According to Scientific American, "Petrichor was first described in 1964 by mineralogists Isabel Joy Bear and R. G. Thomas...As they defined it, it occurs when airborne molecules from decomposing plant or animal matter become attached to mineral or clay surfaces. During a dry spell, these molecules chemically recombine with other elements on a rock's surface. Then when the rains came, the redolent combination of fatty acids, alcohols and hydrocarbons is released."

Our street corner (before the rains) in Kigali 

Petrichor is on my mind and in the air so much lately, here in Kigali. When we arrived it was so dry and dusty that the insides of my nostrils, when I tried to blow them clean at night, would be sometimes clogged with the same red dirt from the roads. Now the rainy season is beginning, and the wet fresh smell rising from all those stones and clay after rain is one of the very best things about being here. If you've gotten an e-mail from me lately, it's likely contained a lament about how much I'll miss fall, my favorite season, all those smoky, caramelly, woolly, crunchy-leaf smells. Petrichor may prove to be my consolation. Though it's not salty, it has the same calming effect as sea air I've smelled and loved in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Everything in the air here changes after these heavy rains--the light, the weight, the sounds. Things turn dark green and then golden and the smell is close to chlorinated, but with none of the burn. I will long for autumn as I’ve always known it, but feel lucky for the chance to fall in love with this new (to me) season’s smell also, all that wet clean rock, all that dark rushing road. 

twitter sniffer no. 4

Everybody wants to know just exactly how good Oprah smells. Can it be true that she doesn't wear scents?

"This is a thing you must know: I don't wear scents. I just bathe." --@Oprah just now why does everything on my body hurt am i exploding
— Julie Klausner (@julieklausner) August 16, 2013

not ready to take sides but planetariums smell a lot better than aquariums
— Mallory Ortberg (@mallelis) August 14, 2013

"I love the smell of Irish Spring soap....[but] I might as well just say it—you cannot use it on your vagina." http://t.co/zd9DMB82Oq
— Into The Gloss (@IntoTheGloss) August 12, 2013

"This body was fresh, only about two hours old, and it hadn’t started to smell yet." Patrolling the border in Arizona http://t.co/5WNoxB4rED
— Guernica Magazine (@GuernicaMag) August 8, 2013

@kittaveli @anamanaguchi @leiaj my brother and i literally dubbed our happiest moments to be 'as good as the smell of theme park water'
— ‡ Will Wiesenfeld ‡ (@BATHSmusic) August 8, 2013

I smell like someone who should be in better shape.
— Mike Birbiglia (@birbigs) August 8, 2013

Best subway eavesdropping: 2 guys who work in upper management for the Yankees trying to solve the very real issue of away game bus smell.
— Rachel Syme (@rachsyme) August 2, 2013

I can smell fall in the air. Time to take out my tartan tams and tap some tinctured talc into them.
— Paula Pell (@perlapell) August 16, 2013

I'm going to miss that fall-in-the-air smell so much this year!