SUMMER ALPHABET (CONTINUED)

 G = GARDEN  My parents always had a garden in summer and it extended into autumn. It was a point of pride for my father, we grew corn, tomatoes, peppers, onions, potatoes, strawberries, cucumbers and lettuce. An additonal flourish were the rows of gladiolias mum planted in the lower garden, rigtht by the road....they were the envy of every passing motorist. 

My father was a Type A personality. He strung line to make the rows precise and hoed each hole in uniformed accuracy.  A major job of mine was to plant the corn. Dad instructed to place five kernels of corn in the pattern of the five dots on a die. He would walk down the rows inspecting and I've seen him take his stick and nudge a not-in-the-exact place errant kernel back into place. 

H = HARVEST OF CORN   In late August/early September the entire immediate family and a few aunts and cousins gathered to harvest the corn.  We had rows and rows of corn. It was an operation of roles and responsibilities. My father set up his Coleman stove on the table outside near the picnic table. Inside the house, mum and assorted aunts woman-ed the stove boiling canning jars. Outside on the picnic table cooked corn was cut onto large trays and carried in to be canned. Empty cobs were dumped in the wheelbarrow and hauled to the compost pile.

I enjoyed the opportunity a brother would provide me to drive the car through the field to pick the corn and place it in the trunk and drive back.  Then the husking...the husking...the husking....did I mention the husking?

These are fond memories because the family labored together, each had a job and the energy of being with one another on a shared task was joy.

I = ICE CREAM  Frequently during the summer we went to the local "Del's Frozen Custard" stand for ice cream.  I was a twist girl, my mother favored the black raspberry flavor.   

Part of the summertime ice cream experience is to hone the skill of eating the ice cream before it melts. This particular skill seems to be the acumen of adults and older siblings who would quickly grab a melting ice cream cone from my hand, lick around it to stop the dripping...and...hand it back to me....yum.