But to be fair, there are a couple of summertime delights that I remember with fondness.
* Lightning bugs. They gave a fairytale touch to a humid Texas night. Unfortunately, they never lived long in our baby food jars (we punctured the lids for air flow). They did, however, make great glow-in-the-dark badges when you squished them on your clothes. I hardly see lightning bugs anymore. Where, oh where, have all the fireflies gone?
* The Cooke County Library. This was the one place in town where you might want to bring a jacket in July. It was heavenly cold. You could escape from the heat while you escaped into a good book. Rows upon rows of adventure -- Nancy Drew, Sue Barton, The Happy Hollisters, Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, hundreds of assorted mysteries in nondescript hardback covers. I spent many happy hours in that building, and even now I can remember where my favorite books were located. Now, I'm sure, the card catalog has been replaced with computers and the little blue library cards replaced by scanners. Sigh...
* Fresh, sweet blackberries straight from the vine. (And the cobblers that follow.)
* The bittersweet buzz-clicking song of cicadas. Listen to it here.
What are your summer delights?
3 comments:
What I wanted to say ...
Being warm, hanging out in the neighborhood as the sun set, dodging cars (I'll explain later), walking with my Mom, ice cream cones, chasing after our dog who had once again escaped and swimming lessons.
These days my summer delights are playing nintedo while sitting in my big overstuffed recliner with the fan on over me. (What did people do before air conditioning....I know....sweat)
As for back in the day, the fam used to get together and take a picnic lunch to the Chickasaw Recreation Area to swim in the ice cold spring water and climb Mount Bromide (just so you know this is more like a steep hill than a mountain). Dad would fry up some chicken and make some tater salad and baked beans. Yummmm....I get hungry just thinking about it.
Hmmm...things I haven't thought of in a long while. I guess my summer memories consist of playing on our swingset or in the woods behind our house, coming home with ticks and chigger bites, but not having a care in the world. We'd always go visit relatives in OK and TX (you were there, too, Jules!) and eat homemade ice cream and home-grown watermelons. Do you remember being at Granny and Papa's all the "big kids" and adults would have a quarter of a watermelon and just dig in? It was hot, too. Man, was it hot! The road trip there and back was always a joy, too...2 days in a car with your mom and sis, whew! I think I might kind of like that now :)
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