My children and I checked out Heat Wave by Eileen Spinelli this week from the library. It tells the story of a quiet, sleepy little town called Lumberville during the forties or fifties. Lumberville is hit by the summer sun and almost everything comes to a stop. The people of Lumberville play in hoses, sell lemonade, lay on cold linoleum to listen to the radio, and nap on park benches.
It's a pleasant story and it made me wishful for those more simple times. I live in one of the hottest places in the country and the only thing that closes come summertime is the golf course.
I miss summer at home in Indiana. You can't sit on porch swings and talk with the neighbors here.
I have been busy planning the rest of our summer activities this week. As I've picked out the best pool days and found the library story time schedule, I keep thinking back to my own childhood summers and I want so badly to recreate those summers for my own children. I lived outside during the summer (actually I was banned from the house). My siblings and I were either on the swings or crawling around in the field of weeds, making tunnels. We lived off of Popsicles and Schwans ice cream cups. I mowed in my bathing suit and hung laundry on the line. And now, looking back, I even miss picking all those acres of strawberries and selling them by the roadside.
But we can't do any of that here. If you're not in the pool you can't go outside because you're skin will burn - not from the sun, from the heat. And we don't have fields, or woods, or running water. Kids can't sell lemonade because there's no one outside to sell it to.
But we're going to try to make it a simple, fun summer. I bought extra ice cream treats today and we're already thinking about our Fourth of July decorations. Now if only I could get some fireflies to migrate west or a river to divert its course...
So, how about you? Are you looking forward to summer? Is it going to be anything like your childhood? Or is it just crazy busy and over-planned like everything else seems to be in this world?
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Summer Fun
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2 comments:
I am looking forward to summer--but I miss the woods. Growing up in Ohio, we had 18 acres of woods surrounding our house, so it was cool and shady and gorgeous. I hate living in a subdivision because guess what? All the trees are puny and our backyard feels like the Sahara (relatively speaking, since it's nothing like the heat you guys have). But this summer I've planned lots of "walk in the woods" days to try to recapture some of that childhood feeling.
I loved reading your post. However, you were not "banned from the house", at least not the whole summer. You made it sound abusing. But more kids these days need to be banned from the house. Love you and miss you! Mother
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