I love the stories you readers share with me whenever I send out a newsletter and have a giveaway. As I say in the newsletter, stories aren’t necessary to enter the drawing for the prizes (this time B&N gift cards and one of my books) but they are fun. It’s a treat for me to read your stories and I do hope you feel it’s a treat to share those stories. Sometimes we forget that we have good stories to share about times in the past and we just talk about the now. But it’s like being on the front porch swing and listening to family talk when you share your stories. I will be drawing for the winners on Wednesday morning, so if you haven’t entered yet, now’s your chance. Just leave a comment saying you’d like to throw your name in my drawing hat. But now on to some of your stories.
First up is Betty W. who remembers summers when she was a child back when most of us did not have air conditioners and did have clotheslines out in the yard.
Betty writes: I always loved summers, but hated the heat, We had NO air conditioner, only a large window fan in the back bedroom to pull in cool air. Sleeping with my head through the cutout of the bed’s headboard. Only way to cool down was to lay my head on the window ledge as close to the screen as humanly possible. The schools had programs to get kids out of the house & out of trouble. Our school system had sports, games, crafts & ice cold almost frozen chocolate milk. My best friend & I won the city’s 3-legged sack race. I loved playing box hockey & painting plaster of Paris statutes. Learned how to weave various braids for key chains. Sold through my dad’s lunchbox.
I’d walk to the library every Saturday to return books & check out as many as I could carry home(no bags or backpack). Walk was about 1-1/2 miles.
Once I had my free time at school, then I’d come home it was time for chores. Ironing my dad’s work clothes & to help with getting the clothes off the clothes line & folded & put away. Sometimes helping with doing the laundry with a wooden ringer to run the clothes through to remove the excess water, then hang the laundry, including sheets, underwear (for all to see) outside on the line to dry before the sun set.
It was always a special treat to have popcorn while watching a black & white TV, with only 3 channels to select from. I’d retreat to my bedroom to read. I’d climb trees to the tallest branch to read. Reading has always been something I need to survive. I put myself through college, working at the library part time. Loved the theme of each summer reading club. I was one of a few that assisted the children’s librarian with the feature movie of the week; ran the reel to reel projector, making crafts each week. I couldn’t survive without books & crafts.
I hated talking on the telephone because everyone in the house could hear your conversation, along with other neighbors on the party line. I didn’t have or need a cell phone, until 2007 when I started working with AT&T, assisting customers with technical support. Pretty stressful job learning everything about every phone on the market. Wow! I’ve come a long way baby. Still go the library at least 1-3 times a week & working on making baby blankets which are donated to local charities to share the joy of a new baby, with a soft colorful blanket.
Vicki writes about her best summer ever. My best summer ever was … after 6th grade. My bff’s parents were building a new house. They had a creek on their property. I would stay there for days at a time, sleeping under the stars, playing in the creek during the day, riding bikes on the non-paved roads. Yes, it was back in the days before all of these electronics and the best ever. Kids really don’t know what they are missing.
Bonnie was off on her bicycle too. I grew up in a small Ohio town. In the summer, we played outside from dawn til dusk. We would saddle up our “horses,”aka Schwin bikes, and the Indian princesses were off to explore! The first stop would be to the old apple tree with the plaque that read, John Chapman, known as Johnny Appleseed planted this tree. We would pack PBJ sandwiches and ride to the Black’s mansion, park our bikes inside the gorgeous formal gardens and eat our lunch, surrounded by the most beautiful flowers and plants. How gracious of the owners to allow us a golden memory of childhood, summer and that sacred romance with God’s creation!
Thanks for sharing your great summer memories, Betty, Vicki, and Bonnie. We were enjoying those summers along with you.
For an illustration of this post, I picked the original cover for my book The Scent of Lilacs. I think the cover looks like memories happening and it has that bike Jocie loved to ride the same as Vicki and Bonnie off on their bikes in the stories they shared. Scent of Lilacs was re-issued with a different cover which I like too. For that story I mined some of my memories of growing up in a small Kentucky town in the 1960’s to fill in the background of the story. Jocie and her family and friends in Hollyhill were fun to get to know. You can still catch up with what Jocie is doing sometimes on her Heart of Hollyhill blog posts. She even wrote a whole kid’s story called Bailey’s Bug that you can read there. These days, Jocie is a bit lazy about posting every week the way she used to. Now she still reports from Hollyhill now and again. Maybe she will next week. Meanwhile you can go check out her archives to see what she was up to.
Do you like remembering your summer days when you were a kid? Have you shared any of your stories with your kids or grandkids?
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Summers were daylong adventures to the creek, armed with cane poles, a jar of peanut butter and a box of crackers….and a bucket if blackberries were ripe. Other days, were spent on the ridge under a big oak tree with a book…escaping a houseful of rowdy brothers. Bike rides to my friend’s house when we lived in the country, and roller skating when we lived in town. But the best times were when my aunt took all of us on vacations to the Smokies or the beach, and surprise “girls day out” with just the two of us. Another summer memory was when I was 7 or 8. My grandmother went back to school to finish her master’s degree and she parked me in the library at EKU…I was in heaven!
Author
You did have some great adventures, Lavon. Sounds like you had a wonderful extended family too with your aunt and grandmother helping with those special summer times. I need to do some “girls days out” with my grandgirls.
I have so wonderful memories of growing up. We had so much fun playing ball, riding bikes, climbing trees, helping mama cook, and the list goes on and on.
Author
It’s such a blessing to have a happy childhood to remember, Lucy. One I share too. I had plenty of chores that I sometimes grumbled about doing, but I had plenty of time to have fun too. And read. Those lazy reading days were the best.
Ann,
Can you believe my mean parents wouldn’t let me ride my bike to the store just down the road. Afraid a car might hit me! My mother’s brother owned a little country store and my best friend lived across the street. Within sight of our house!
Well, (cough, cough), guess who wouldn’t let her child ride his bike to the store?
In my defense, people drive crazier, more traffic, etc. I was a mean mama, too.
Author
We do like to protect those we love. And people are definitely crazier and drive faster and there are more of them. Mean mamas when mean in the right way are the best, Loretta. But I did let my son ride out of sight down the road to his friend’s house. Worried some, but let him.
Summertime was going barefoot, hitting the outdoors as soon as you woke up and not coming in until dark & lightning bugs swarmed. Also, sitting in the boat on the lake reading while my grandparents caught fish for a yummy meal.
Author
I went barefoot all summer, Lisa. My feet got so tough I could run over rocks with no problem. And love catching lightning bugs. But I think I liked that even more with my grandkids. Sounds as though you had wonderful summers when you were a kid.
I remember going fishing with my family. Since I usually only caught rocks, I would rather explore, read, or head to the little store for some penny candy and orange creamsicles. I remember the summer we moved before my 3rd grade year. My new friend and I walked to the school and climbed up the fire escape to peak in the windows. We watched the prettiest lady we had ever seen setting up her classroom and hoped like anything that she would be our teacher. She ended up being mine and was one of the best teachers I ever had. She was as nice as she was pretty. I remember playing kick-the-can with the all the neighborhood kids late into the night. Life was so simple when we were kids, and so good.
Author
Good memories, Roma. Thanks for sharing them. I remember those orange creamsicles. Yum. What a treat when I was a kid. It was always hard to decide between those and the fudgesicles. I think I need to buy some ice cream treats at the grocery. 🙂 Those simple times of childhood do make wonderful memories. You have to wonder what good memories today’s children will remember when they get older.
I remember one summer that my sister and I took in iroing at 3cents an item. We also baby sat for a couple that owned a bakery two towns away. They would pick one of us up at 2:30 in the morning and we would go to their house and sleep on the sofa til their three kids got up in the morning and feed them breakfast. Then the other one of us would bike to their house about 2 1/2 miles away across the river to the other side of town, and stay til the parents got home about 3:00 in the afternoon. The first one would bike home . Then we would trade off the next day. I don’t remember how much we got paid but I bet we spent the money on comic books and ice cream.
Author
Comic books and ice cream sound pretty good, Paula. I do remember buying a few comic books when I was a kid. They were fun to read. I don’t think you can find that kind of comic books on magazine stands these days. Maybe the super hero ones. I bought one of those once as a Christmas gift for a grandkid and had to take it back after I read parts of it. It wasn’t written for kids. I’m impressed that you took in ironing and did babysitting. You and your sister were ready to make a little money and you had a neat job sharing system. Thanks for sharing your memories.