As the thermometer rises, so does the humidity and the wavy mirage above the road begins to appear or the haze hovering over the farm fields comes to mind. Even though we've had many days of scattered rain showers, so have we had a few days of a very warm sun overhead. As I ponder the season of summer, certain images come to mind just like old friends, or pages in time that I've left in an old mental diary as some of the best summer days I've loved and wanted to savor.
Growing up in the summer, you could wake in your pink rose papered room with pink ruffled cafe curtains on the north opened & screened double windows, and the cool breeze of the fan. It wouldn't take but a nana second for a quick idea of what you might do that day and in an instant you could throw back the sheet and white, pink & green chenille bedspread and pull on an old horizontal striped play T-shirt, a pair of cotton elastic waist shorts , a pair of white socks and lastly your favorite pair of Keds tennis shoes.
Next I would run into the yellow and white kitchen, pull over a vinyl yellow chair, stand on it and hop up on the counter to get a Flintstone jelly glass in which to make my favorite breakfast drink. After jumping down from the counter, I'd push back the chair, pull open the squeaky wooden drawer for a spoon and then over to the rounded Fridgidaire refridgerator with it's pull handle and lift out a heavy gallon of cold sweaty milk. I'd pull the chair over to another cupboard where behind the Quaker Old Fashioned Oats would be, "yes, there it is, the Nestle's Quik. I'd add the powder to my jelly glass then the milk and stir it to the perfect shade of chocolate. Nothing better to go with chocolate milk than two pieces of buttered Wonder Bread toast. I might grab some grapes or piece of other fruit that Mom usually had in a bowl in the center of the table and out the door I'd go to a world full of the greatest play! I'd usually head for the carport where I'd find one of my favorite riding toys.
A little tractor similiar to this one. I'm thinking mine was green though. I can't quite remember where Dad might have gotten it. It may have come from a neat old used store off of Brown Street in Dayton, or it could have been something someone dropped off at a near by junk yard, Dad saw it and fixed it up for me, I'm just not sure, but I remember riding it a lot and loving it. I think I rode it until leaving it in the rain enough times made the wheels wobble and finally fall off and then it magcally disappeared. Maybe I would be walking along beside our house where my Dad's little utility trailer would be parked with a load of sand inside for his sidewalk project leading to the basement. I'd climb up on the wheel and crawl over the side boards to a pile of soft, cool sand with the canopy of a big maple tree whose leaves gently waved in the breeze keeping me cool as I played for hours in that totally fun place. Behind the garage along a fence was a very tall 6-8' patch of sunflowers. I learned later that my older sister, Jean, planted them. They were so awesome! I could remember standing under them thinking how gigantic they were. They were prickly and sticky but I just loved them.
It was fun at times to bring an old blanket onto our front covered porch. It was cement and surrounded by a brick half wall where every other brick left an open space just right for spying on everyone. I'd bring out some of my dolls and sit and play.
I'd bring out Barbie.
And her case.
My talking Casper doll.
My talking Santa and Chatty Cathy.
And a few troll dolls.
I'd play and play arranging them all in just the right scenerio and sit back and appreciate them as some of my favorite most loved toys. One other item missing is a brown donkey stuffed animal that my older sister, Jean, had given me at Christmas. More about him as this Christmas nears. That porch was such a great place to be. One night my older brother Ron stayed up and painted it a gloss gray and surprised our Mom and Dad the next day with a beautifully done job. Cement porches do wear and chip, eventually they need to be maintained. It was a nice, thoughtful gesture on Ron's part, so that Dad wouldn't have to do it. It was also neat to be in a safe semi enclosed area attached to the house and you could still watch the occasional traffic go by or neighbors coming outside where you could all wave and gather in the field next to us and make...
the best
home made clubhouse! It was so great, my older brother John and another neighbor boy, Eddie, would mow a clearing in the field for us. Sometimes it would be in the shape of a maze, other times it would be an area where they would play horseshoes, baseball, kick ball, tag and such. We never had trouble thinking up games to play. When we got hungry everyone would run home and get something to bring back and we would sit on blankets, or beach towels or my table and chairs and have peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, Mike Sell's potato chips, maybe grapes and kool-aid. The clubhouse was always a great place to chew bubble gum and read the comic inside or eat cracker jacks and trade the little prizes inside those boxes.
We'd tell knock-knock jokes and make up stories or try to do puppet shows. I remember making the best decorative set up for a puppet show using my Barbie and having the neighbor kids over in the basement and charging everyone 5 cents to view it and when it was time for the actual acting of the show with my Barbie and other dolls, uh, I had nothin'... ( I was too inthrawled in the decorative stage aspect to think about script!) Ooops! Needless to say the neighborhood kids boo'd me, demanded their money back and left in disgust.
At times a sky blue swing set was my pass time where I'd swing right side up, upside down, or sideways and climb or hang upside down with all my hair almost touching the ground.
Maybe wild flowers growing in the field would catch my eye and I would pick flowers to make bouquets and sing a song or hum along to a tune, I don't know something like...
the Mr. Softee jingle.
We heard that jingle and bell ringing and everyone scattered to run home to ask their "Mom's" for .10 cents. You were more likely to get a whole dime from your Mom back then. Even the compressor to Mr. Softee's freezer had a certain sound you could here from a distance and the lights that lit up all around the truck at dusk was extra specially effective! Every once in a while Mr. Softee's rival Skipper's or Pirate Jack's, I can't remember the name of that truck would come by and we thought it was special to get ice cream from that yellow, white and red truck because he so seldom came by.
Possiblly, I might accompany my Mom to one of the little Mom and Pop markets such as Springer's Mkt., Bill's Mkt. or Hilltop Mkt. located in and around the neighborhood. They were great places with a squeaky screen door that always slammed shut on it's own with the aid of a long spring, a certain smell with the mixed aroma of fruit, lunch meat and other goods, a coca-cola chest with frosty cold coke in bottles, 2 for a penny candy and you could come out with a whole bag full for again, 10 cents. It was so great!
Sometimes Mom would have me take a bath, wash my hair and put it in a fresh, neat pony tail then have me put on a cute sleeveless top and short set made out of cool, crisp seersucker.
Nothing says summer to me as much as this fabric. I just love it. I might put on my white socks & Keds tennis shoes or I might decide on my flip flops.
We might go to the Liberal's grocery, Bargain Barn discount store, visit my aunts Mary, Delores, Rosella or grandparents, or possibly go to the DQ and bring back Mr. Misty's for us and the rest of the family at home.
DQ, they had the best char broiled hamburgers!
There were great family re-union picnics at Fridgidaire Park ( mom worked at Fridgidaire for a time) and at Englewood on behalf of the invitation of my oldest brother, Larry and where he worked at the time. That was a really fun day! I rode with Larry and his wife, my sister-in-law, Donna in a small corvaire convertible to the park where we enjoyed a carnival, shuffle board, bingo, food, dancing with colored lights strung above the temporary dance area. I think I remember some polka music. So fun! I'm not sure if Larry and Donna had their children, my nieces, Cindy and Cathy yet at that time. At the end of the evening the park set off fireworks and I watched eating cotton candy and being excited over the prizes I had won at the children's carnival area such as chinese finger things, lays, straw hat and other trinkets.
Every summer, I always have the same fond, fun memories as well as the ones I add as I get older like visits with my children, grandchildren, family members, road trips, an occasional estate auction or flea market, scenic walks, flower gardening, great old shows of the 60's like Andy Griffith, Father Knows Best, That Girl, favorite magazines like Country Living or now, my favorite blogs such as Back Porch Musings with beautiful photography and inspirations of Pat, Posie Gets Cozy with Alicia Paulson and her sewing/cooking segments, and others. I do love the term, "the good ol' summer time"!
I hope your summer is unfolding with great memories and new experiences to add to your list!
Have a great summer!
Love,
Kris
~
In loving memory of my niece, Cindy. God's blessings to her children, Josh and Emily and her loving parents my oldest brother, Larry and his wife, my sister-in-law, Donna.
