June 21, 2010 First Day of Summer.
Instead of being deep into a book I'm starting to clear out my clothes closets. Yes, there are two. And both full. I love just wearing the one and same thing day in and day out so why do I have closets full of clothes I don't wear? My book collection is still in the lead of the clothes. More books than clothes.
Shakespeare was so right when he said "Parting is such sweet sorrow...." even of old clothes. Each as a memory. When I was a child I remember Summer meant getting a big box out of the side closet and it was like getting a whole new wardrobe. Oh what fun and my Mother somehow made it all so special. Summer clothes came out at the end of school and winter cloths came out before school started. Who ever heard of buying new clothes every season.
Summers were spent at Indian Lake, Ohio. Most of the time I was with my Uncle Randolph and Great-grandmother Nanny. Some week ends my Grandmother and her husband, Joe, came up and some times my Mother and Step-father, Chester would visit. My Uncle owned the cottage. It had four rooms, three bedroom and one kitchen, the front porches were our living rooms. all the same size and no ceilings. With no ceilings sometimes my Grandmother, Audrey, would take a roll of toilet paper and in the dark at night throw it over into the next room just to be funny. You like pillow fights....try a toilet paper fight between adults and a child. Which reminds me there was only one electric light hanging down from the ceiling in the center of the four rooms. Also the cooking stove was made of Iron, a flat top stove my great grandmother was in charge of. There were four openings you could lift out the round top holed to put more firewood into or a chunk of coal to make heat to cook with. When we first get to the cottage Nanny, my great grandmother, would tell me to go gather wood to start the fire from a woods next door.
Oh, the very first thing when we arrived in town of Lake View, Ohio, (it was 50 miles from our home) where our cottage was located, we stopped at the ice plant and picked up ice to put into the big ice box that set on the back porch of the cottage. There we put food to keep cool. There were signs in those days you put out where the ice man could see them and depending which way you turned the sign you could get 25, 50, or a 100 lbs of ice delivered right into your ice box. This was true at home not just the cottage.
In summer that was so much fun for all kids, me included. The ice wagon was pulled by a horse. When the ice man stopped we would wait until he chopped the ice into size that was wanted and take it into the house and then we could run up to the wagon and pick up the broken pieces of ice to eat. Summer was a time of fun. Outdoor fun mostly.
Two large porches stretching across the front and back of the cottage. An enclosed outside toilet was located on the back porch. I remember when you sit down on the seat it would flush and keep flushing until you got up again. I never like that toilet. Plus there just might be a spider in a corner.
Another thing about this cottage, by the way it had a name printed on the front, PLEASANT HOURS. And they were always pleasant hours. I was always sick all winter, but the cottage was magic, don't remember ever, ever being sick when there.
The cottage had the worse tasting drinking water in the world.....like rotten eggs mixed with iron. Or was it sulfur?
The two porches were screen in. This was mosquito country. Both porches had large wooden
swings. I could lay across and put my foot on the chain and push to make the swing move back and forth and read my comic books.
Uncle Randolph and I would hunt night crawlers after a rain out in the mud with a big lantern. They lay next to each other. Randolph would grab one and I'd get the other one. Great for fishing bate the next day.
At noon every day a LOUD siren would go off. The fire department was a volunteer group. And this was their siren. I guess they were testing every day. But only at noon.
Wish Daryl was home as I think maybe I should start over and put more order to this rambling.
I'm new at this and just wanted to get my thoughts down before I forget again. If I have to put everything into order I probably never write here at all.
If anyone has suggestions for me I'm open.......
