abc......

Almost there and getting to Z...

Q = Quiet Maybe it’s the heat and the sun that lead to a slower pace; yet, there is a certain quiet to the season of summer. We slow down. We vacation. We sit on the beach and on deck chairs and just are. We go near water and watch. We spend time on rocking chairs and lounges on our porches. The early morning sun wakes us gently and with coffee in hand we sit on the deck and watch the soft light of a new day unfold to the tunes of birdsong. The quiet of summer renews us.

R = Raspberry picking My brother Mark would bring in a handful of ripe black raspberries --- the sign that over on the creek hill there would be bushes full of ripe berries just right for the picking. The next day we would take the clean coffee cans made into berry buckets and cross the road, go down the path and cross the creek and walk up the river hill and there divide ourselves between bushes bursting with black raspberries. We would pick our buckets full, pausing frequently for the random raspberry taste test. With three or more full buckets we would trek home and bring in our summer harvest. Mom would express her delight and wash the berries. Some were frozen and with others she would make a homemade black raspberry pie. For me, there was not a finer summer treat than hot, homemade, raspberry pie topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

S = Sleeping Out The warm temperatures and in a time when I knew no one who had a thing called air conditioning and because there was rarely anywhere I had to be the next morning, I enjoyed the occasion of sleeping out. Sometimes, my brothers would set up the tent in the side yard and I would gather my sleeping bag and pillow and sleep out….of course, at least one of my brothers had to join me because it was a little frightening….even though I was less than 25 yards from the house….still there were raccoons and woodchucks lurking in the night. I also remember going to my friend’s house and sleeping out in the back of her family pick-up truck. We watched the stars, ate cheese popcorn, drank Mountain Dew and laughed and talked until the wee hours of the morning.

T = Tennis I adored Chris Evert. I would stay up late and watch the Wimbledon update to catch an interview. She was part of the reason I took up the sport. My oldest brother, John, and I would play at the courts in New Kensington. The old joke that in tennis “love means nothing” was never truer than when John and I played…..it wasn’t a match, it was a war. When we played the folks on the courts next to us would leave. It was a bit intense.

U = UV Rays I am of the age (it’s the Maam stage of life) where I find myself frequently saying, “When I was a kid we didn’t worry about ____________! As a kid growing up and spending huge amounts of time outside in the summer, I do not recall all the fuss and worry over UV Rays and if we had sun block it was probably a SPF rating of 10. Yet, I do realize that as science and our knowledge advances that we learn and we adjust. It’s important to be careful out there --- wear the ball cap, put on the SPF 30 sunscreen and take care of you.

sj;

ABC

M = Marshmellows I'm talking about the roasted kind. Summer is a time for campfires and campfires are a time for roasting marshmellows and roasting marshmellows lead to smores....and that leads to bliss. As a kid when we had campfires roasting marshmellows was an art. I would take pride in roasting a marshmellow to that perfect golden brown and giving it to my mother. Of course, that was after I had already eaten three myself.

N = Nets Not soccer nets, although that has become a major sport, I never got into it because to me it just seemed like a bunch of kids running in a large field. I have a memory of being a kid and going with my brothers to the creek (be sure to pronounce it correctly) and helping them to catch minnows for fishing. How we did this was two people held a large net tied onto two big pieces of lumber and my job was to run down the middle of the creek yelling and scaring the minnows into the net. Years later, I realize the minnows would have swam downstream into the net; yet, I appreciate my brothers giving their baby sister the opportunity to yell and splash and run down the creek herding minnows.

O = Old Movies Several years ago my mother and I spent many late summer evenings watching old movies. Now this was in the era of the video store and I would rent those wonderful old movies that featured the stars from my mother's youth. I became enamored of Ingrid Bergman; loved the spunk of Katherine Hepburn (my Mom's favorite); and fell under the charm of Cary Grant.

P = Picnic Table Summer is a time to be outdoors. At the House of Snyder literally from Memorial Day through Labor Day we ate, weather permitting, every dinner outside at the picnic table that was under the branches of one of the big pine trees. In the House of Snyder we take our tables very seriously because we are family where the table remains the centerpiece of our life together. My father built the picnic table and it remains a wonderful piece of furniture that is huge and heavy and stained and varnished and weather-proofed. At the start of each summer, he would get his level and make sure the table was perfectly in line. Dad also built a small table that attached to the outside dining room window and served as a place for the dishes and food to sit as it was relayed from the kitchen to the picnic table. Those dinners shared at that picnic table remain a clear and celebrated memory of our family at table.

....Yes, I do know my abc's.....

I = Independence Nope, I’m not talking about the grand holiday of summer, the Fourth of July and the celebration of our nation’s independence. I am talking about summer being a season when children and youth begin to take smaller and then bigger and then major strides to independence. Kids stay out later; have sleep-over’s, spend lots of time with friends and on teams, and begin growing their own support systems. Each new support made is a breaking away from the family ties and into the creation of one’s own garment of individuality.

J = Jed When people tell tales of the summers of their youth, there always seems to be somewhere a dog involved. In my summer stories, the great dog featured in my story is Jed,our 120-pound, English style, black lab who came into my life in the summer between my fourth and fifth grade year. On Memorial Day weekend of that year, I accompanied my brother John to pick-up Jed and bring him home. When Jed came around the corner to meet the rest of the family gathered at the picnic table my Mom exclaimed, “I thought you were getting a puppy?” To which we answered, “We did. He’s only 3 months old.” Jed was a big, playful dog who failed to realize his size. He swam with us at the creek; he took our wiffleballs when we played in the field; he spent hours laying next to my Gram as she sat on the glider on the front porch; and served as lookout when Mom and Dad were gardening. Whenever I think of the summers of my childhood, I too, have the Rockwellian touch of those images including a big, black, loyal dog named Jed.

K= Kickball This was the game I played with the neighborhood gang nearly every day of many a summer. The location stayed the same --- our field was the Brenneman’s backyard. We played there so often the bases were permanently etched into the grass because that was the field and we played nearly all day. Of course all the joy and jerkiness of sports was present. We had rules such as three fouls and you’re out and kicking the ball onto the road was an automatic out. With the neighborhood gang, we tried our best to balance out the teams, yet, we with one neighborhood kid we were known to pronounce, “We took him yesterday, you have to take him today!”

L = Lightning Bugs Growing up on a big piece of property with many trees and a big field, this was a prime location for many lightning bugs. As night fell, I would watch for the lightning bugs and was amazed then and still am when there are so many lights fluttering in the summer night. Of course, it was so amazing that one got a jar, poked holes in the lid, and ran to catch lightning bugs. Lesson learned: the light caught and captured is never as beautiful nor alluring.

sj;