Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Remembering Summer


Do you remember catching lightening bugs and putting them into empty mayonnaise jars with holes popped in the lids?

I love summer, the sights, the sounds, the smells and the feel. With the drizzly, damp, chilly, dark day today, I am lamenting that summer is almost gone. But instead of feeling down, I started to think back to the days when we didn't have air conditioning in our house or cars, when the kids played outside instead of sitting in front of a TV or computer and when summers were old fashioned fun.

Kids riding bikes with streamers hanging off the handle bars and a playing card clothes pinned to the spoke on the back wheel making the bike sound like it was racing down the street.

Grampa sitting in a lawnchair, listening to Ernie Harwell calling the Tigers' game on the radio, while the other men in the family were drinking a cold brew, congregated around the horseshoe pits.

Hanging upside down by our knees on the crossbars of the big swing set.

Standing in the long line at the Dairy Queen waiting to get our chocolate baby ice cream cone.

Climbing the big maple tree in the yard.

Riding in the car with all the windows down and the wind blowing in our faces, smelling the diesel smell of the trucks as we passed by.

Laying in bed on a Saturday night, with the windows open, listening to the race cars racing around the track at the Mt. Clemens Race Track five miles away.

Playing tag, red rover red rover, statue and red light green light in the front yard with all the other kids in the neighborhood.

Laying down in the middle of the grass looking up at the clouds, trying to figure out what shapes they made.

Penny candy like squirrels and candy cigarettes or Mary Jane's and black licorice whips.

The smell of freshly cut grass when it was too long and playing in the big piles of grass that didn't get raked up.

Running through the sprinkler.

Shucking corn on the back porch.

Listening to the crickets chirp outside the open window.

Summer memories, they are the best.

7 comments:

Brenda said...

Yup! I remember most of those and after a rain storm going barefoot and splashing though the puddles and under the downspouts. We were blessed.

Pat said...

All of these lovely things make me so nostalgic for "the good old days". When I saw the rain this morning, I too thought of the number of days left till the cold wind blows! To everything there is a season, I just wish the winter season was much shorter!!

Joyce said...

this post made me smile : )

Donna's Book Nook said...

Goodness! That really did bring back memories. Does that mean I'm getting old?! Heaven forbid!

Thanks for taking us down memory lane. I also remember washing our feet in a bucket at the end of the day, because we didn't take baths every day! Blessings. Donna

Dee said...

My memories of child hood summers are similar to yours but i never shucked corn on the back porch. :) I remember waiting for the milkman to bring the milk and getting a treat of chocolate milk, playing with toy cars in the gravel driveways with all my neighbor hood chums and playing at the school play ground..spinning, hanging, swinging and coming home with giant blisters on my hands. Good post...now i am left thinking of good summer time memories.

Life with Linda said...

yeah........that was nice.

Becky said...

AHH! Yep I remember catching ligghtening bugs in a jar. Looking across a field and seeing the flickerof the lights randomly lighting up like a strobe light. Penny candy ahhh the good ole days..Drive In theatres where we atched cartoons before every movie when we went with our parents.