Summer Memories -- 2



from Earline

I live across the road from my in-laws, they are gone now been gone about 5 years, it is out in the country, just far enough to be nice. Every evening most all of the family would drop by and visit for a spell. Granny Barger spent most of her time in the yard...she loved her lawn chairs. Living on a dead end road they only went about another mile down the road she knew every car that went down the road and who they were going to visit.

If one was different she would worry until she found out who it belonged to. I guess this kept her mind going she lived to be 90 before her she had problems with her memory. Sure do miss those evening for a while would walk across the road and just sit by myself. until they tore the house down. Now I can barely stand to look over there. nothing but a bunch of rubbish they have never cleared the mess up just left it setting. (been wanting to gripe about that for a while...now I got it off my chest)



from Bill

Gayle, you mentioned tying a string around a June Bug's leg and letting him fly around. As kids we used to do this all the time. Before we were old enough to know the difference we used to catch those June Bugs that looked the same but rolled little balls of stuff around. They didn't want to fly and they smelled awful.



from Barbara

Yes, days are not like they use to be. I remember the swings, and how cozy it was to just curl up and swing yourself to sleep. Nothing as relaxing as swaying back and forth. Sometimes we got to going to fast, and then the "grownups" would come and make us slow down.

My grandmother and I use to sit out on the "stoop" every night and wait till the evening train went by. Then we would wave at the people on the train and imagine where they were all going. She lived way out in the country, just by the railroad tracks.

This was our time of the day, and I cherish each memory.



from our ListHostess, Shirley

Dad rarely had a sense of humor but once in a while it popped out. For some reason he kept telling folks that all Mom fed him at home was mud pies. You guessed it...he got up one morning and that's what she served him for breakfast!

(And you wondered where I got my sense of humor...)



from Jackie

Ohhhhh my land Shirley...what did your father say...I would have hated to imagined what my dad would have said. BTW, how long did you 'bake" your mudpies? Mine had to sit in the sun for several days b-4 they were done baking... they had to be hard as rocks...so our porch was lined with these containers full of mud and debris that was drying!!! Mom just swept around them!!



from LaRae

I have a great photo of my sister and I -- in dresses, of course, but barefooted -- making mud pies with all sorts of donated kitchen pots and dishes....so sad I would never allow my daughters to get so dirty...thank goodness my granddaughter benefits from the wisdom of my 'old age'!



from Shirley G.

Whew, does that bring back memories. When I was 4 years old, I would make play under 2 Mulberry trees in our yard. I had a "kitchen" and I made mud pies. I would climb the fence to our barnyard to get water out of the faucet over the watering trough for our cows. Well, one day, I fell off that fence and cut a great big gash on my upper thigh with the barbwire at the top of the fence. Well, you talk about screaming. The man that worked for my Daddy came running from the barn and gathered me up and went running to the house. Mama doctored me up. It wasn't that deep but I still have a scar to this day. But that didn't keep me from playing under those Mulberry trees.



from Adette

Lightning bugs area like little yellow diamonds over the grass in the back yard ,winking off an on as they slowly fly upwards looking for a mate .There are thousands of them out over our yard and in our tree line .It is really beautiful. The kids used to catch them in Canning jars or Mayonnaise jars with holes poke in the lids. Then took the jars to bed to watch as they feel asleep. Lightning bugs are truly great to watch on a dark summer night. I can smell
the roses and honeysuckle as I type. What memories !!!!!!!!



from Richard

Gayle,
I've started a memory book for my grandkids (and my children) . My mom is 86 years old, lived thru the depression, and a lot of hard times. I've been writing down all that she can remember about the "good ol' days" plus all that I can remember about growing up. My kids can hardly believe the wonderful times my mom had back then. I'm afraid if I don't save the information somehow, it will be lost forever. Sometime these memories will make for some mighty good stories to tell..

from Sarge aka Gus

My parents were also of the front porch spittin' seed type. They didn't, however, care for me going out and stealing some melons. Tanned the seat of my pants GOOD!!!



from LaRae

Gus, did you ever get ahold of a melon with crouton oil??? The farmers around McLean, Texas, would inject it into selected ones near the roads....if you were unlucky to pick one of those, you'd think a long time before trying to do it again!!!! I learned my lesson well...



from Gus

Nope. Only swiped one melon, and got caught.
So much for my life of crime...
What reaction/taste/whatever did the crouton oil give?



from LaRae

Crouton Oil was used to discourage kids from taking watermelon from a farmer's field....it had the same effect as a laxative. They were marked in some way that was not visible at night, so you never could tell which ones had been 'marked.' It may not have been the first melon I had ever enjoyed in front of a pair of headlights on a hot summers night, but the first tainted one...was for sure my last!