It's surprising how powerful scent can be for memory.  On the way home I caught a whiff of a very familiar-smelling incense -- it brought back a flood of childhood memories, from burning cones myself in one of my incense-burners to visiting Chinese restaurants and the Chinese curios store that I insisted my mom take me to when I was a child.  I've no idea what the fragrance is called, but chances are you've smelled it too if you've been to enough authentic restaurants or visited shops in a Chinatown.

Amusingly enough, this fragrance calls to mind another childhood scent-memory for me... ink sticks.  The tung-wood soot used in them has a very distinctive, slightly spicy, earthy smell to it.  It in turn brings back still more memories of being taught how to hold a brush and write a few simple characters, and of painting simple landscapes in childish sumi-e.  If only I felt I could make the time to relearn those skills!