Over at pentalk today the challenge is to write about something you remember connected to weather.
Ed and I were talking about that yesterday as we dined on yummy sandwiches from Nora’s on Tamm Ave. They have amazing gluten free bread from Free Range Cookies.
As we were enjoying the cold blast of air coming from the ceiling we began to reminisce about the summers of our youth.
Neither the house or car had air-conditioning. On days like the one we have had the past few days where the temperature rises to 95 and higher my brother and I would soak wash clothes and plaster them to our bodies. Then we would stand in front of the fan. We never went to bed early. It was too hot. Instead it was late nights watching old movies with mom and eating popcorn. Sandwiches for dinner were always on the summer menu.
Going for a car ride meant windows down, even when we got out and left the car. Coming back and sitting on those seats brought yelps of pain.
The best part of cooling off had to be the sprinkler. Those delicious drops of cold water hitting hot skin was the afternoon treasure and sometimes a bucket of water over the head occurred.
After we were cooled, inside we went refreshed, we’d lay on top of blankets on the floor. The fan pushing air over us as our mom read to us.
posted by Diana Lesire Brandmeyer
Jen! Slip and slide! My kids had one, I tried it too. Lots of fun.
We went to the minor league baseball game Sunday and they threw water balloons into the crowd. The crowd loved it because it was so hot.
One of the best times my kids had was having a bunch of friends over and playing in the yard with squirt guns and water balloons. They did it for hours and didn't even want to come in to eat.
I think we'll definitely have to get a sprinkler this year to run around in. I have great memories of that as a kid. That and the Slip N Slide!
Water balloons would have been fun.
Diana, your post brings back childhood memories of Brooklyn during heat waves and how us kids enjoyed water-balloon fights.
Elaine
Vicky, glad you take the grandkids out for the experience.
Kate, that must have been exciting to get all that snow. I remember when snow was fun.
Growing up in Oklahoma, we had hot, hot summers! When I stayed overnight with my grandma, we'd pull mattresses out into the backyard to sleep because her upstairs was so hot. I loved her attic fan, and we installed one in our own home many years later.
I also remember one early March in Huntsville, AL, when we got 12 inches of snow overnight–unheard of! We were out in the yard & street on our cross-country skiis, and our neighbors (who had come south from Maine) had their snowshoes on. It was the best winter surprise I've ever had!
I remember those days…and I agree, I think that the ac is cheating the young ones today kind of like the computer is. They don't get out and enjoy hiking in the parks, water sprinklers, dangling their legs in cool creeks…I do try to get my grandchildren under the sprinklers…they love it…I just love reading your thoughts! Thanks for sharing and bringing back memories!
I think it might be making us forget and the younger ones aren't discovering it. Not that I want to give up the cool air. 🙂
I remember soft summer rains sans thunder and lightening when my brother and I would run around in our bathing suits. It was like a pool in the air. I loved the squish of wet grass through my toes. What fun.
Is air conditioning making us forget the joys that can be found on a hot summer day?