SUMMER

 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.”  And it was so.  

     Genesis 1:14-15

Are there words that make images pop into your mind?  Summer does that for me.  I remember  --- School’s out and summer begins.  We were free!!  Free to wonder around town.  We either walked or rode our bikes. 

The school yard (where I went the first four years) was only one block away.  There was a baseball diamond, of sorts, and we played pickup games.  I never was a good pitcher, but I could whack a ball.  As a matter of fact, I hit one that went through one of the school windows.  That was the end of playing ball there.

The swimming pool was 23 blocks away.  Yes, it was!  I looked up my home town and counted the blocks.  Usually there was my sister(s), neighbor kids, and me, walking barefoot and carrying our towel, 23 blocks to go to the pool.  It was a really unique pool and to swim cost a whopping 25¢.  It sure did cool us down.  Until we had to walk those 23 blocks back home.

My dad thought I would never learn to ride a bike, but I did finally get rid of the training wheels.  Once that happened, every corner of town was fair game.  We would ride across town to play Monopoly.  Or to sit under a tree and talk.  Or swoon over the latest movie star. 

My mother figured a way to enjoy her summer.  There were four of us kids and I do not think we were ever home at the same time.  We rotated spending a week with grandma and then started through the aunts and uncles.  By the time we returned home, mom would ship us off to see grandma again. 

And that is where the best memories are from.  There was no telephone, except the one on the wall that rang longs and shorts and we were not allowed to use it.  It was a party line and grandma said she didn’t want us listening to those gossips.  There was no television, but we didn’t have one at home either, so that was no biggie.  There were the best sugar cookies ever and a toaster where you had to open the sides and turn the bread to toast the other side.  Strange.  There was a door that folded in the middle and a room we were never to enter.  Apparently, the room was over the cistern or something and if we fell through the floor we would drown and die.  Yes, every grandchild went in that room at some time or other.  It had really neat old stuff.

There was only one problem with going to grandma’s and various aunts and uncles.  They all had out-houses!  Enough said.

What image do I see today when I think of summer?  AIR CONDITIONING!!