H = Hoagies
If you ask any member of my large family what they identify with our Aunt Jean the answer would be pizza. She was the pizza maker and it remains some of the very best pizza I've ever eaten. This treat was a frequent staple during the fall and winter seasons.
Perhaps because she was the closest in age to my mother, the youngest of the family, we also had Aunt Jean's hoagies in the summer months. We'd go to the deli and buy hoagie rolls, lunchmeat at the local butcher, lettuce, onion and tomato provided by our garden and the whole sandwich topped off by a special sauce made by Aunt Jean.
In conversations with my many cousins when I mentioned these hoagies made by Aunt Jean, to a person my cousins look at me quizzically....they never had the the pleasure, the hoagies were Snyder experiences....must be rough for the rest. Here's to the blessing of birth order.
I = Ice CreamMy mother and I would welcome the start of the summer season by having a banana split. Throughout summer, we'd make frequent trips to the local frozen custard stand, DEL's, and every trip mum always got raspberry custard, when she splurged it was a butterscotch sundae. Me? Then and now, I remain a chocolate and vanilla twist girl only deviating when banana custard is on the menu and twisting that with chocolate.
When the family would go on our summer vacation to spend a week camping in the woods near the Tionesta River, the plan was when we drew near the "Shannon-Dell" ice cream stand my job was to express that I needed to use the restroom. Clearly, this was not the most creative nor intellectually lofty plan and our parents were definitely not fooled. Yet, I was daddy's little girl, spoiled and he would stop...every time...worked like a charm.
Of course, when eating ice cream in the heat of summer older siblings play an essential role. As the ice cream melts, drips and starts to lean, an older brother would take the cone, lick the ice cream into order and hand it back to me...all good; not the most sanitary, yet, very effective.
J = JULY
This is the month that symbolizes summer. The Fourth of July, baseball season in full swing (pun intended), summer camps catching their stride, picnics and gatherings and reunions all on calendars the month is a synonym for the season of summer.
K = KOOL AID
Do they even still make Kool-Aid?
My family's summer beverage was Lemon Blend, iced tea and for the kids the occasional cup of Kool-Aid. It was the staple of Vacation Bible Schools, Little League post-season picnics and neighborhood weenie roasts.
Of course as a kid, the bright, primary colors and its taste and association with the great times of summer makes Kool-Aid the beverage. Because of these things, most kids, I was one, open a pack of Kool-Aid for a taste test. BLAH! SOUR! Perhaps the fact that it is the ridiculous amount of sugar that makes Kool-Aid drinkable....probably that is why Kool-Aid most likely is no longer the kids' beverage of summer.
L = LIGHT
Summer is high energy and that energy is gleaned from sunshine. Why did it always seems one's courage ran stronger during summer? Perhaps all this light made us finally jump off the high dive at the community pool; step up to the plate with the clear intention to swing the bat; walk around the cemetery at night...all alone....; say YES to the questions that began "would you want to ...."
M = MOWING GRASS
I eulogized a gentleman of whom it was said he loved to mow his lawn because it was job that he could always look and see progress.
A good point, there is something about mowing grass that readily allows one to see what yet needs to be done and what has been accomplished. After cutting the grass it is a good feeling to grab a cold beverage, take a seat on the deck and admire a job well done and that thankfully is over until the next week...sigh....
I have a major fear of snakes (see the entry in the 2021 summer alphabet). Be it king cobra, anaconda, rattle or garter I despise each and all equally. When cutting the large expanse of grass at my childhood home, I always kept a look out for any type of movement or slither and spotting it, have been known to leave the mower and run inside imploring one of my brothers to finish the task. It was only recently that I realized (truth) the fear-inducing movement I saw in the grass beside the mower which I thought was a snake was actually the air released from the mower.....
N = NERF
No, I'm not talking football. Nerf was what my brother called the swimming hole where we spent many a summer cooling off.
Put on your suit, grab your towel, cross the highway (looking both ways of course) and walk down the rock strewn trail through the woods down to the creek. The Nerf swimming hole had easy access and was a decent depth. Of course, it was only many years into adulthood that I realized what we swam in...the water was never clear....cold, yes; rocks and crayfish and minnows, definitely....Board of Health approved...definitely not.
O = OUTDOORS
My father loved the outdoors. He was the ringer who helped me ace my third grade trees assignment, one of those persons who quickly and easily identifies trees by their bark and leaves. Some of my fondest memories of my dad are spending time at the large garden in the upper field, he and I would survey the status of the garden, weed a bit and then sit under the large oak tree and drink cold water from a glass jug with a rope attached so my father could easily carry it by slinging it across his shoulders.
During summer I am most content outside in a park on a trail in the woods at a quiet place near a stream or lake.
P = PICNIC TABLE
At my mother's funeral service, the church pastor remarked on the large, wooden dining room table. It was a perfect metaphor for my mother and her hospitality and amazing skills in cooking, baking, nurturing. For my father an apt image would be the large, dad-made picnic table. This was an impressive table, large, stained, secured. From mid-May through late September we ate our dinners at this table. Dad even made a shelf that he secured to the house under the dining room window so we could put it up and make the carrying of the food from kitchen to picnic table easier.
Q = QUIZ
My line are definitely porch people. On the glider, the Adirondack chairs, the glider chair we gathered regularly and at some point my brother would break out a brain teaser quiz book. Making sure all could play and answer and feel ones brain sufificiently teased he would announce for whom was the question or puzzle thus giving the kids a fair chance to impress with their knowledge.
R = RADIO
Call me old....I am...I won't mind. That fact stated allow me to sound rather crotchety and say better than a Walkman (see, told you I was old) or ear buds connected to one's mobile phone, the very best way to listen to music is communally. One learns tolerance and patience until it's your turn to pick your music. In the summertime, being outside at the local park, or on the porch and hearing a radio tuned to the Pirates game is bliss.
How it came to be named this, I do not know, yet, it was how we referred to the home of my Aunt Ruth and Uncle Chuck. Located near the Allegheny River in the small town of Kennerdale this was where the Beale line gathered on the Fourth of July for our family reunion.
Memories of those gatherings are an amazing spread of food placed on multiple tables, my cousin Chucky's grilled chicken, throwing frisbee, tossing the football, playing lawn darts and after dinner had settled heading to the river.
The Beale line established a where-in-the-river one was permitted to swim hierarchy. For several years along with my younger cousins I was a mud-wallower, allowed only to wade, splash and sit in the shallows. As one aged and displayed skill at staying afloat, one could go into waters a bit deeper. Having learned to swim, one was free to jump off the dock. This ebb and flow maturation process taught patience, goal setting and the joy of mud.
As noted my father loved the outdoors and therefore our summer vacations were spent camping in the woods near the Tionesta River. This was serious camping, no camp site wussery for the Snyders; we hiked over mile down hill into the deep woods. As we traversed the rock-strewn ground we carried our gear, tents, skillets, a dutch oven and our food and supplies for a week spent in the woods.
Jobs were assigned and as a little kid mine was to place the pop cans into the sand of the mountain stream beneath the big rock. I looked forward to this task every summer, the cold water, the soft sand, going under the ledge of the rock to bury cans and keep them extra cool.
U = UNWIND
Compared with the rest of the world, we Americans take far fewer vacations. We tend to pride ourselves in lengthy to-do lists, multitasking acumen and long overtime hours worked. Clearly we need a reminder to ease up and relax. Deck time, beach moments spending days staring at the ocean, the summer game of baseball which is easy and lends itself to conversation and working to get everyone home safely, the ease of hot dogs on the grill, inner tubing on the river or floating in the pool, summer just is one giant nudge telling us to unwind.....
V = VOLLEYBALL Once the "you know I played and coached the sport" ego is wisely put away, picnic volleyball is really quite delightful. Everyone one can play and it's a total kick when the oldest family member takes the court and owns the net. Of course, in my family, we are not blessed with height and our vertical jumps are maybe 3 inches....and that's a combined score.....
W = WATER
Kiddie pools, creeks of questionable water sources, community pools, rivers, lakes and oceans....
Water balloons, squirt gun battles, hoses and buckets.....
Splashing, floating, lounging, swimming, treading.....
X = for MYSTERY
Schedules should be mostly non-existent during summer and we should keep our option open billed with the possibility of a summer day to unfold as it will.....
Y = YARDS
My mother really enjoyed the summer car ride. On our way to the local Ambrose Farmer's Market for her cantaloupe fix, we always took the long way through the back roads and the fields and the big yards. When a large lawn is newly mowed (and I didn't have to do it) that is an image of summer and a witness to one of the greatest blessings of our nation which is our wide-open spaces.
Z = ZUKES
I know...I know.....zukes or zucchini has been used previously in the summer alphabet. Yet, there are so damn many of these gourds every summer one just has to keep writing about 'em.
We grew or own and received many from neighbors and friends. My mother would gratefully receive the gifted zucchini and then proceed to use it in salads, pickle it, make zucchini bread, chocolate zucchini cake, use the zukes for the noodles in lasagne and I know if she could have found a way to proof it we would've bottled it.
