It's a beautiful day. The sun is shining, I just spent the afternoon with a delightful gentleman, and I'm about to make this for dinner. Oh, and it's Friday! I'm in a great mood.

The gentleman, an author, fits the profile of the men I enjoy spending time with--intelligent, genuine, interesting and very pleasant. I'm always pleased when my screening process actually does net me one of those (and it usually does), but when he turns out to be an excellent lover too---well, that's just a total bonus. He was a terrific kisser, and had magic fingers and tongue too. I suppose I'm always hopeful that I'm going to enjoy the actual sex part, but it's rare for someone to just have the right kind of touch without needing a bunch of direction on my part. I usually expect to have to work harder for my fun. Sometimes I just luck out though, and today was one of those times.

I got an email from a reader asking me some questions all pertaining to the sense of smell.

1) Do clients usually wear cologne? Do you like that? Do they often wear too much? (I know I tend toward the "more is better" attitude toward life in general, and cologne in particular, one of my great failings :)) 2) how important is a man's scent to you?? do you prefer a more natural, clean scent, or cologne? what is your favorite cologne?

Interesting. My clients do not usually wear cologne. I do like cologne, but I prefer it applied so that I actually have to have my nose very close to the gentleman to smell it, vs. being able to tell from 5 feet away that he's wearing it. I find too much to be distracting.

Scent is very important to me. My boyfriend, for example, always somehow manages to just naturally smell marvelous. He doesn't wear cologne, and I'm glad because it would cover up his natural scent. God only knows why, but his neck always smells to me like clean laundry. Weird.

On the other hand, my buddy X always smells fabulous, too, and he does wear cologne. I particularly like it when he wears Le Man by Jean Paul Gaultier. It smells fantastic on him. He doesn't know this, but sometimes when I see him I'll put a little on my wrist so I can sniff it later after I've left. Yeah, ok, maybe I'm strange.

I find it interesting how certain smells can bring up instant memories. For instance, whenever I smell a warm wet paper towel, I think about being a little girl, standing in front of my grandmother's sink. It was a little ritual having her wash my messy face after a Fudgsicle in the summertime.