Well, the storm blew through here, just seconds after I published yesterday’s post. I shut off the computer and pulled its plug. It was the fourth storm with severe potential in two days, and I am sure I was not alone in the camp of weary weather worriers.
But Saturday night’s volatile weather, unlike the other three recent storms in Southeast Michigan, targeted my neck of the woods. While I was preparing the post about the moon landing, I was back-and-forth to Twitter checking the weather service, and local meteorologists’ posts regarding the progress of the impending storm, as well as reviewing a flurry of warnings by Nixle, the service that alerts residents to impending community disasters, weather-related or otherwise. I heard the whoosh of the wind, the slow, long rumbles of thunder and the rhythmic pitter patter of rain on the patio roof, but no hail yet, thankfully. I switched the radio on to monitor whether conditions were in fact still ripe for a tornado, a prediction that had been mentioned earlier in the day. There was a seemingly endless list of traffic issues due to quick ponding on the roads, but nothing like the 60-vehicle accident last week, when sheets of rain caused drivers to hydroplane into one another. I snapped the A/C off, as well as the radio, so I could hear any emergency sirens.
Mother Nature sure has a bee in her bonnet this season – that’s for sure. Even Garfield the Cat tweeted out the above cartoon about the #2019heatwave.
Summer – I hate this “new norm” and want the Summer of yesteryear back!
Within minutes after turning the A/C off, it began to feel a bit stifling, so I switched on the fan. I heard no emergency alert sirens, just the endless drone of the metal blades whirring around and redistributing the hot air. I felt a bit sleepy and started to zone out. My mind began to drift to yesteryear – Summer, with its seemingly endless, fun-in-the-sun days, spent playing with friends, and evenings outside collecting fireflies with a jam jar with tiny holes in the tin lid – how they lit up the night!
Back in the day, we soaked in our wading pools, or giggled when we ran through the sprinkler to cool off. We didn’t sit in the house like a potted plant, stationed in front of a fan just because it was too hot to be outside. Not at all – we were outside soaking up the sun, our arms and legs turning golden brown; we were towheads by the end of the season, with hair bleached from so many hours in the sun. Our lips were puckered after chugging down a glass of lemonade, or purple from sucking on a grape Popsicle.
We caught grasshoppers with our bare hands, then felt them tickling our hands and they left “tobacco stains” on our fingers and palms when we released them. We’d study fuzzy caterpillars as they inched up trees or bricks warmed by the sun. Even the orb-weaver spiders fascinated us, while we’d watch them spinning their ornate webs between each cedar bush. With wide-eyed wonderment we’d see them lure their prey into those sticky filaments. Summer was not just fun, but a learning experience as well!
No wonder we were tuckered out at night, as we were either riding our trikes or bikes, or walking to the end of Sandmere Place, where we ran and played in the meadow for hours on end. We would pick handfuls of sweet pink clover and pull the petals out and suck on the ends … it tasted like honey and looked like this.
We’d lay on our backs, gazing at the shapes of the clouds and guessing if they reminded us of animals or whatnot, while enjoying our clover break. Clover didn’t give us cavities or make us too full for supper.
It was never too hot to enjoy our Summer break from school – we were young and carefree. Summer seemed to hold so much allure back then.
Those honey bunnies love their clover too.
I watched some bunnies at Council Point Park recently. Now that the ducks and geese have left this venue and Harry the Heron can’t land on the flooded cement landing, critter pickin’s for photo ops are slim. (I’ve saved some squirrel photos though in case you need a “squirrel fix” and I’ll be sharing them soon.) My squirrels, when they are not up in their nests, are on the ground or lower tree branches wilted and not their usual perky selves these days. The birds are up in their nests. So by default, the bunnies are the only furry friends left to enjoy right now.
While the bunnies are more chipper than the squirrels, they don’t interact with you and cannot be lured over with a peanut. I’ve even bought baby carrots for them in the past, and, if you put some on the perimeter path, it really doesn’t interest them at all. They want to munch on grass, unless you startle them and they’ll bound off, their powderpuff tail flashing at you. The bunnies will find grass somewhere else with no humans looming over them.
The Park bunnies are brave these days, because the clover is plentiful at the Park, as you see below. This is just ordinary white clover, but there is plenty of pink clover too, though I’ll pass on that treat now – we never worried about pesticides back when we were kids.
Come to think of it, I don’t think we worried about anything to tell you the truth.
I saw this interesting chalk art the other day and I’m going to use it to segue from bunnies to ice cream.
Today is National Ice Cream Day.
Growing up I wasn’t allowed to eat candy except at holidays, but I guess frozen confections like Popsicles or creamy treats like ice cream weren’t in that category, because they seemed to be plentiful in the good ol’ Summertime. Last year I waxed nostalgic about splitting and eating grape Popsicles in the wading pool with my best friend Linda Crosby.
So, when I popped onto Twitter earlier today, I was surprised to see that there is a movement underway to bring back “Popsicle Twins” as they were known to us.
When I was a kid, if our family went into town, we’d stop at a little store that sold ice cream and old-fashioned candy. While waiting for our ice cream cones, I would wander around peering through the big glass jars that contained all types of candy. I always stopped at the jars of black licorice Scotty dogs or black licorice pipes. That black licorice wasn’t sweet because it was pure licorice, made with licorice root and anise, so it was brown inside and a little bitter. I think the bigger draw, more than that bitter-tasting licorice, was the fact that it made your tongue black. So, the licorice treats I was allowed to have occasionally, but the gumballs and sticky, gooey caramels and peanut butter kisses were strictly verboten.
When we got our ice cream cones they were a double scoop, but not like you’re used to today – they were side-by-side ice cream scoops. I searched around for a photo of one of those old, very cool-looking, double-cone ice cream cones and sure enough I found one image on Pinterest. The shop sold Sealtest brand ice cream and I’d get a scoop each of strawberry and chocolate – my parents never strayed from vanilla.
The brutal reality.
It was nice going back a little and remembering how fun Summer used to be. In 2018 and 2019 Summer has lost its luster in my opinion – in fact it has become a bit of a drag. I’m feeling fortunate, however, because this morning upon reviewing our City’s crime and local news Facebook site, I was amazed to see that the high winds took down several trees and many power lines just a few blocks away – they are on a different grid than me. Meijer, my spot to walk in this oppressive heat, similarly lost power so I skipped a walk today. Almost 400,00 homes or businesses are without power right now and some won’t have restoration until late Tuesday.
One last reflection on the past, if you’ll indulge me. Even though the wicked storms and volatile weather which took down power lines and left us in the dark with no juice, were few and far between, back then, our neighbors banded together to make things more comfortable for one another. We all know how neighbors want to borrow a cup of sugar for a recipe, but our neighbors across the street, upon losing their power, once asked if they could hook up an extension cord to our garage power outlet to get some “juice” to run a fan. We indulged them. My next-door neighbor brought over coffee and bacon and eggs made on their gas grill when we both had a power outage … her son, who lived in nearby Wyandotte at the time, took all our frozen food to their home, as he was a hunter and had a chest freezer in the garage. They even accommodated some of our refrigerated food, thus angst relieved over food spoilage. We lived like that for an entire week one time in the heat of the Summer.
But it still does not rival what is happening these days.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
Loved the ice cream trucks. Some had prepared treats like popsicles, fudgsicles and twinsicles and some had soft serve. Loved them all!
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Me too. We still have them in our neighborhoods, though I can’t say I heard them this weekend with all the heat – perhaps they figured no one was outside?
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We were out in Pittsburgh this weekend. As we sat at a baseball game on Saturday night, I felt a few drips falling on my shoulder. I thought someone seated behind me spilled a drink. It was a storm blowing through! It was soon pouring and all in attendance were running for shelter in the grandstands!
We didn’t have AC when I was a kid either. Bill and I were just talking about kids piling into the back of a pickup truck (definitely not done these days) and one of the dads of the neighborhood taking all of us kids to the local ice cream parlor for a treat.
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We had rain delays over the weekend too Laurie for the Tiger game – amazing how this weather is affecting everything that we used to just do or schedule and not give a thought about it. I think last night there were lightning strikes as that storm passed through so it was dicey. The Detroit Tigers are so abysmal as they are all young (though they did win today), that most of the spectators just left. They did lose in the end.
Yup, you’d be off to jail these days for putting the kids in the back of a pickup truck. Life is not as fun anymore now.
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That ice cream cone was amazing! I never saw anything like it.
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You know I didn’t think I have ever seen an ice-cream cone over here like that either, so it must be a Canadian thing – I was glad I could find a photo to use to show it … it reminds me of a motorcycle rider with a side car for a friend (or trusty dog).
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LOL!
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I remember those double ice cream cones so it might just be a Canadian thing. We didn’t have those Good Humor Ice Cream carts here so when I when to stay with our cousins in Detroit suburbia it was a novelty to see them going down the street ringing the bell and all the neighbourhood kids coming out to buy ice cream from the cart.
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Yup, we still have them – one that circles around our neighborhood plays “Turkey in the Straw” all the time (I mean ALL THE TIME all day long) – I did not hear it all weekend, likely due to the hot weather as they figured no one was out. I think you are right that the double ice-cream cones must be a Canadian thing – they never had a scoop piled on top of one another as I recall.
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I only remember those types of ice-cream cones growing up – I don’t think we had sugar cones in those days. Ahh, the good ol’ days.
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Thanks for the nostalgic memories of childhood summers. I don’t even see ANY kids out playing these days, although they must be outdoors some if they are enrolled in day camps, so I’m thinking summers couldn’t have been as hot back then, or at least not for as long, or maybe it’s the humidity which is worse now?
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You’re welcome Joni – hope it brought back some fun memories … I am sure our moms would have kept us inside if it was oppressively hot. I was sent out to play with friends all year around – wrapped up like an Eskimo in Winter but out I went … I don’t see how it impacted me in any way. I heard a person on the radio speaking about climate change – we won’t be around in 2065 (likely) but it will be 20 degrees warmer in the Summer on average by then – I always say I wish I was born in an earlier era, and now more than ever. The heat is bad enough – in my opinion the erratic weather and threats of severe storms all the time is extremely scary to me.
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I can’t imagine 20 degrees warmer than this! You have had such bad luck with storms…most of them missed us. I found it the way in the winter too. We seem to be in a little sheltered enclave here.
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That is a good thing Joni. There are four places in Michigan that were hit badly – two were up in the northern part of Michigan, then two cities down here. There are 200,000 people without power as I write this and some will not get power back until Thursday. The cooling shelters in the City are a big church (they may have been knocked out as well since they are behind Meijer Grocery Store), the police station and the library. I am such a weather worrier that I’m starting to worry about Winter and losing power, frozen pipes – it’s all too much sometimes.
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Is it an infrastructure problem with the city not maintaining things properly due to lack of money? I’m thinking I should replace my furnace boiler, it’s hot water heat but it’s 25 years old, and August is the time to get a deal, so it’s not too early to start thinking about winter! Sometimes those old boilers can go for 40 years (they were better made) so it’s hard to know what to do, but if we are to have colder winters and hotter summers henceforth we’d better get prepared! It is all too much sometimes I think it would be better to live in an apartment and let someone else take care of stuff.
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I am like you Joni and like to be proactive – our first furnace and A/C lasted 35 years and we got a new person in to do a furnace check and he said there was a problem – that is a long story and I’ll tell you about it one day as we had to get two furnaces and two A/C units within a few years … so something not right with all that and this one I have now is a high-efficiency furnace and it and the A/C were installed in 2012. I had the same company replace the hot water tank in 2010 just because it was 10 or 12 years old and we had had a hot water tank spring a leak on a Saturday evening while I was doing laundry – I wanted that not to happen ever again. I think more and more often that an apartment is the way to go – I tire of the problems and today I will call the garage door place after taking a picture – I am mad at what happened and it was installed 4 weeks ago today. Sometimes you just get fed up with the problems and I now worry about a big freeze taking the power in the Winter and having broken pipes from no heat but instant on generators are costly though. I just don’t know. And don’t you think that our hot summer in 2018, early Fall (I had a hard freeze the last week in September) and the brutal Winter might mean we’ll have the same Winter this year? I worried with the -45 wind chill that we would lose power. My friend Ann Marie sent me an e-mail last nite and had just gotten power back – she lost power and she confirmed that Meijer did lose power – I figured as all the businesses on that street lost power for two or three days – we had an earlier storm on Friday but I don’t think it affected Lincoln Park … so they have a generator but sorry, I’m not sure I want to buy anything refrigerated there for a while. The other grocery store (Krogers) nearby also lost power.
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P.S. – Yes it is partly an infrastructure problem and the Governor was on the radio yesterday morning as the NAACP Convention is here in Detroit and she was attending it as they dedicated a portion of a freeway to Aretha Franklin and she signed the proclamation/renaming in a pink Cadillac and she said we have old infrastructure for highways and for electrical grid – the best is underground power lines, but we won’t see that in my lifetime I think.
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I remember when I was a child,then I ate ice cream all summer.😃 What nice pictures you have taken on the rabbit! How did you do that? I never get close to them.
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Yes, back in those days I know we spent all day long outdoors – the weather was not oppressive so we would have had to stay in the house – and there was ice cream treats to enjoy as well. Summer was fun back then – our Summer here right now is not fun. You had this last year so you know what it’s like. Half of our City has no power and there is a reporter interviewing businesses less than a mile from me. I was lucky, though the extreme heat is gone, but we have rain this morning … stormy next weekend. So much for a long walk at a big park on the weekend – thwarted again by the weather. Glad you like the rabbits John – they are mostly young and I think not scared so much of humans as they linger nearby, especially the ones munching on the clover. I like when the early sun makes their ears seem pale pink and translucent.
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I´m glad I was born when it wasn’t any computer, cellphones video games and other stuff. We where out all day long. Today’s youngster sitting indoors and socialize by sms and chat…
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You’re right John – that’s not good for those kids as they don’t get out in the fresh air and sunshine, all things that are good for you, whether you are a kid or an adult. I was not meant to be in this era – I was meant for an earlier era as I have often said the world moves too fast for me sometimes.
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Wow you really had a bad storm! We have completely missed everything. A few pop up showers ands that’s it. Kids today will never experience what we did with their electronics…so sad!
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Diane – I lucked out as half of our City is in the dark (though I’ve been in that boat before when across the street had power and we did not – it happened last June as a matter of fact). We were hit hard as was three other cities and they may not have power restored until Tuesday night. Yesterday DTE Energy had a spokesperson on the radio and she said they put out a request for 800 linemen, mostly from Indiana, Illinois and Ohio. Ohio was not able to accommodate a share of linemen as they were expecting severe weather and wanted to ensure they had enough linemen for their repairs – so maybe another part of Oho, not you? Hopefully?! I hate this weather … it is dangerous as bad as uncomfortable.
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Ah, the old days of summer. Now it’s too freaking hot and I don’t tolerate the sun well anymore. Many memories as a young girl of spending all day outside with friends. We just moved and we have a bunch of rabbits that like to eat the grass at our complex. We spotted 6 yesterday on our evening walk around the place. They are so cute. Won’t be long before I start naming them all!
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I agree Sarah about the good old days. I know our folks would not have put us outside to play in oppressive weather. We played all day long, only coming inside to eat as I recall – fireflies sessions were outside with our parents . Much better Summer than we have now and it’s just going to get worse. All four seasons have been wacky and erratic for about two, if not three years now. You’ll be naming those rabbits like I name the squirrels.
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Ooo I love this post! Love seeing and reading about nature 🙂 🙂
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Thank you – glad you liked it. I usually try to have some nature in all my posts – usually they are squirrels, but these bunnies were just too cute to pass up!
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hehe aw yeah they are definitely cute!! nature is so relaxing to look at 🙂 🙂 hope you’re having a good summer!
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It has been a very hot and unsettled Summer here and even worse than last year. We usually only got this weather in August for a few days, maybe a week at most, but the last two, maybe even three years have been very erratic due to climate change … you know, I hoped it was just strange and unusual weather the last year or so, but I am believing in climate change more and more as each season progresses. This morning it is just 58 degrees! A few days ago it was 78 in the morning and climbed to 96 or 97 degrees. The squirrels had no pep, and were on the pathway or branches of trees looking listless and worn out. They will be full of energy this morning and begging for peanuts like crazy!! 🙂
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Linda,
I loved and enjoyed your memories. I come from a different climate zone but I can’t remember anyone complaining about the heat except once when we went to New Delhi and then it was hot( 1979). Otherwise it was mostly people complaining about the eternal rains and the cold and sweater weather. Do you remember the Archie comics- they used to enjoy their summer weather in them. Shorts and T shirts and ice creams, and pools and everything outdoors including a hammock.
Susie
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Hi Susie – I have finally located this comment that was in SPAM and I approved it and thought I moved it – I do remember the Archie comics and this weather is not the norm and has not been the norm in 2019 or 2018 and maybe even 2017 as it was a little odd then too … all the seasons are “not right” and erratic. We had another storm last night and not as bad becaue yesterday was coolish, low dew points, no humidity, then suddenly a storm blew in … I understood the northern suburbs were to be hit, not us, next thing I see warnings about high winds 40-50 mph … and cloud to ground lightning, so I pulled the plug on everything. The weather is very unsettling … I wish we could return to regular weather once again. It is beautiful now (well, as of this minute) through Sunday, and I hope they are right about it. I also hope I see my squirrel buddies this morning – there were none in the neighborhood or at the Park yesterday and the weather was cool, breezy, not humid … perfect as you could get.
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Its It’s good to see your posts ….
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Thanks Eliza – it was good to write again – I wanted to do one of my squirrel posts … maybe tomorrow … worked late last night as we are swamped again.
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I hope you get time to yourself soon.
Lotsa love
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Well we had another storm last night around 7:00 p.m. I worked late, shut down the computers and pulled the plug and had no internet this morning. Angry but hopefully I will catch up tonight – no storms or bad weather for five days.
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5 days is a nice amount of time.
The storm here last night woke me up at 2am. My sister said she saw the streaks of lightning (the other side of the house)
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Yikes! It probably lit up the room – not great waking your sister out of a sound sleep. I am looking forward to what they say is likely the nicest week in the entire Summer.
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I hope its worth it!
Lotsa love
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Me too – back at you!
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Linda, if you ever want to spend an evening catching fireflies head on up to the farm. I love to see them light up the field at night. We don’t catch them like when we were kids but it is cool to watch them.
I think we have become so accustomed to our creature comforts that we don’t deal well with these extremes. When we were kids sitting in an air conditioned house was not an option so being outside playing in the water from the garden hose, wading in the creek or even sitting under a shade tree was a much better option. I think that many of the modern conveniences that we have become accustomed to have really weakened use as individuals and as a society.
Glad to hear your power didn’t go out.
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Thank you Ruth – it would be a wonderful way to recreate my childhood – you should bottle a few, take some pictures, then set them free. I am glad the power did not go out – most of the neighborhood lost it (different grid) and my grocery store lost it as well, so I did not return there to walk. We had another storm last night – it was predicted that it could have high winds (40 – 50 mph) and it was rumbling and lightning so I shut down and this morning had no internet so had to troubleshoot with Comcasdt. I don’t know if it was power related – I did not lose my power last night to my knowledge … digitals were not flashing. We have nice weather through sunday night they say – I am giddy.
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Thankfully the storms that have come through here (Saturday and last night) have not been severe but have provided enough rain that we haven’t had to water the gardens. Saturdays storm did knock down a large dead tree at the farm but we have actually been hoping it would come down that way. It was much easier and safer than my husband trying to cut it down. We will now cut it up and use it for firewood this winter. I do hope you enjoy this upcoming stretch of nice weather.
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Glad you got a break with the watering Ruth … the weather and its erratic behavior is worrisome, especially last weekend, on/off storms all day, or predicted to be storms. At least you have firewood and it came down painlessly and without damage … so Mother Nature did you a favor. 🙂 I’m looking forward to the nice weather. Rain again Monday and Tuesday, but I’ll deal with that if we can just enjoy some nice cool, rain-and-storm-free weather a few days.
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I wonder if we would be better off not to listen to the forecast. I know it is helpful in severe weather cases but sometime I think there is more hype than necessary and sometimes they are just wrong. I certainly won’t count on rain for Monday and Tuesday – it’s just too soon to tell.
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You’re right Ruth and my mom used to tell me the same thing … in fact she seemed to have a saying for many things including this one: “believe half of what you hear and all of what you see.” Very true. I finally told myself that I had lost several walks after believing what they said as to rain in the morning, only to wake up and see it was sunny and rain-free. I think they predicted better before the use of all the computer models. On Click on Detroit, I really like meteorologist Paul Gross – I follow him on Twitter as he will give updates during severe storms. But he says they have three different models. That was surprising to me.
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They are also forecasting for a large area so while you may get rain they might not the next city or county over.
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That’s true – we’ll enjoy this nice cool and rain-free spell as long as we can.
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I remember those side-by-side cones but they weren’t available near us. We had cones with one scoop on top of the other which was kind of troubling to me when I was young. I didn’t want the wrong flavor dripping from the top scoop onto the bottom scoop so I was fussy about the order of the scoops. Fortunately our local dairy had a kind older gentleman who scooped the cones and he was attentive to how I told him I wanted my cone built. Nice man, always smiling.
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Wow – Joni and I thought they were just a “Canadian thing” … that was nice that someone paid attention to how you liked your cone. Not everyone caters to youngsters. We have a local dairy about a mile from here. They do such big scoops that most people have their sugar cone upside down and the ice cream in the bottom of a cup and eat it like that. A high school friend worked there every Summer and used to make even bigger scoops whenever we went there – it’s a wonder I was not as big as a house. Good thing when she graduated from college she was gone. 🙂 Calder’s Dairy makes eggnog that you can stand your spoon in and their strawberry and chocolate milk tastes like a milkshake.
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I enjoyed the stroll down a summer’s memory lane. I enjoyed much of the same things you described. I’m glad you were not harmed by the storms. They were nasty here in WI too but missed us as well. I keep saying this, but someday it’ll be true, you’ll have a beautiful day to walk the park in, I’m sure of it. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you. xx
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Hi Shelley – glad you liked this post. I’m happy to report we are in day 2 of a 6-day nice run of weather. (Hopefully nothing mars that forecast.) Yesterday was great until late in the day when a thunderstorm and high winds cropped up, but it was over quickly. It’s cool, no humidity – just perfect.
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YAY! I’m so happy to read that, get out and enjoy the weather, you deserve it! xx
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Thanks Shelley – I am making the most of it – who knows … we might have to wait til Fall or even 2020 to see this nice weather again.
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Good for you. Oh, my, let’s hope not!
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Hope not either!
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Hi linda / it has been miserable here this month – I normally journal in the yard but I have been indoors.
And the memory of the week power outage reminded me of hurricane Isabel in 2003 – all of us on our street used the grills to cook food and we had lost power for ten days
—
Your memeory of childhood summers – getting tan – crickets and fireflies – was beautiful – ☀️
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My RVA friend has also been lamenting over the miserable weather – the entire Spring and Summer weather has not been to anyone’s liking around here, although this week we are having unusually cool weather and I’ve been making the most of it by taking long walks … I’ve been working later as we’ve been very busy, so I’m really grateful for the respite to get out every day to the Park; unfortunately the humidity is slowly creeping back in and they say a nice weekend, which will be nice as it’s been awhile for a nice weekend sans extreme heat/humidity or rain/storms to happen. Yes, I remember Isabel from Evelyn – one of the hurricanes, maybe Isabel, maybe Gaston (thinking Gaston), she lost her washer and dryer when water flooded the basement. Glad you liked those memories Yvette – I know we spent more outside time than inside time … the weather was hot, but enjoyable and manageable, not what we have these days. Stay cool.
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😊☀️🙏
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Miss Linda…………………………….I’m only answering now, I know it’s late but I never seen or heard of a double scoop ice cream cone before…………………….clever…………….kind of smart………………we lost our power and all traffic lights for a few days on Goddard Rd. and allen Rd……………………………I was in Meijer Store when they had no power and were running on generators………………it was dark and all of the refrigerated and fresh foods were covered with plastic………………….but the registers all accepted and ran the debit cards okay for check outs.
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Ann Marie – I didn’t realize you had lost your power until you e-mailed me earlier this week. I knew Meijer lost power because I saw in the Facebook Community Forum and Crime Reports that all the businesses along Dix Avenue had no power and Charlie Langton from WWJ and Fox 2 News did a report on it Monday morning. I called Meijer in Southgate and asked if they lost power as I’m not sure I want to get anything from our Meijer due to the generator problem. They said they did not lose power in Southgate and I didn’t see anyone saying that Southgate lost power – I also follow the Downriver Community Forum. I knew someone who got food poisoning from eating somethng not properly refrigerated and he was very sick – this was years ago and he was a high school classmate, and he was also an EMT, and he ate at a restaurant on his break and used mayo which was spoiled. I will go to Meijer in Southgate this time though I don’t know my way around there. The double-scoop ice cream cones were the only way I had ice cream until moving to the States – they were unique looking weren’t they? So are you finished with Vacation Bible School and can resume your walks again next week or is it a two-week stint for you teaching?
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you and I had roughly the same childhood Linda! We did the same things and yes back then we all knew our neighbours! These days people move about so much that the neighbourhood community is a by gone era.
Getting coloured tongues from popsicles was a perquisite!
Loved this posting!
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Yes, we did come from the same era Wayne … glad you liked this post and it maybe brought back fond memories of your childhood and your neighborhood pals, or even you and your siblings. I think in the Summer we disappeared all day long, as a group or with our best buddies, and only went home for lunch and dinner in those days. When we were really young, we’d cross the street to get to the meadow area by holding hands and walking across that way … we were careful. We didn’t worry about bee stings or tick bites or even mosquitoes … or anything else back in the day.
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it seems like childhood has become more dangerous! They are forced to grow up quicker to survive.
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It isn’t fun to be a kid today Wayne … we had fun and were allowed to be kids and not worry about things. I see kids today who are at the grocery store or the park using smartphones … I wasn’t even allowed to use the phone when I was a kid, even to answer it. It’s a whole new world out there!
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I’m very happy I had lots of fun as a child! If we had been born recently we’d be just as screwed up. We dodged a bullet!
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Yes indeed – and our parents put us aside in the Winter time too. I went outside bundled up from head to toe and played making snow forts with my friends or we went out on sleds or toboggans at the nearby hills. Ice-skating too, though I was not so good at that and took a few tumbles, but I was well padded with snow pants and a heavy jacket.
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I remember getting all bundled up for those days and nights out tobogganing!
The speed,the spills,the bruises were all enjoyed!
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Yup, we are none the worse for wear for those incidents and as I recall, those spills taken were just laughed over, not cried over … we turned out okay!
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exactly! Lets hope heaven has a really big (and smoooth!) hill!
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Oh, I think we’d have been fast friends, and even as children, you and me. I spent so much time outside as a child, and being an only child, often that time was spent alone. However, I remember firefly catching (or lightening bugs, depending on where you’re from😂), bike riding, tree climbing, mud pie making, endless outdoor fun! I miss the firefly gazing after dark. There doesn’t seem to be as many as when I was younger.
It seems I remember a double cone a time or two at our local Tastee Freeze, but maybe it was a special, because I don’t remember it being the norm. I would usually go for the chocolate dipped ice cream cone that you had to lick crazy-fast or risk it all dripping in you lap in the hot Florida (Panhandle) sun! If we didn’t have enough loose change to make it to TF, we’d stop by the local Tom Thumb, and I’d be sure to get a orange push-up pop. Tasted just like a orange dreamsicle (orange with vanilla inside) and only cost something like a quarter or fifty cents. Oh, I haven’t had one of those in ages. I think I’m getting a craving! 😂
I actually didn’t get taught about the punk clover’s sweetness until I was a teenager living in TN. However, honeysuckles were our favorites in the West Florida Panhandle. Oh, those piped up everywhere, all along fences and boundary lines. I’d pop if the ends of those beautiful yellow and white blooms and drink it’s sweetness till my heart’s content and still have room to fill up on mom’s dinner plans!
And the neighborly feelings were so inviting and appreciated. Especially NOW, as I look back on my younger years, when I would walk through our neighborhood, all alone, across a busy street, and play on the playground of the local middle school during those summer months when no one else was there…and with no “smartphone” even in existence! 😳 Looking back on those specific days, I’m thankful I had Someone above looking out for me! Wow! These days are so very different!
I love your bunny pics. He/she looks so sweet. Makes you want to just snuggle with it, but he’d surely hop away before you’d have the chance! 🐰💕
Hope your weather clears just a bit! ☀️
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Oh I agree 100% that we’d have been fast friends – we had the same type of childhood, even down to being an only child. I spent time with my friends in the Summertime outdoors and playing and enjoying nature, but once school started, it would only be on the weekends, if at all – it seemed that all of the weekends was time spent with my parents or studying for school, so a totally different picture after Labor Day. You grew up living in the heat and a warm client, where I had a four-season climate so that was a little different, but now in the South they have snow all the time – back in the day that would be just an oddball occurrence, I think what entertained us most was nature and we were never saying we were bored – and if we were, there were weeds to pull then. 🙂
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You’ve go that right! 😉😂
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Aww the little bunny is so sweet!! I see why they want to frolic in that clover field. I forgot about the double pops!! How fun. My mouth is watering at your description of the old fashion candy- although, I have to say black licorice is the only flavor in the world I can’t do. I got the worst migraine of my life in middle school after trying it and haven’t been able to eat it since! Thanks for sharing such a fun, reflective post, Linda!
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Glad you liked this post Mackenzie. Those bunnies are very sweet and in the morning, when the light shines just right, their light pink ears are almost translucent. They rarely budge if walkers go past them, as they’re intent on feasting. That’s a horrible experience you had – must have been pure black licorice which is a brownish-color when you bite into it and it is pure licorice root, rather bitter to be honest. A few years ago I heard on the news that black licorice caused blood pressure spikes and people with high BP should stay off it – I wonder if that’s what happened to you and caused your headache?
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Wow, this is sooo interesting!!! I have actually never heard this, but am very fascinated- I think you could be right!!
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My mother liked those Licorice Allsorts … they were something that we used to buy when we lived in Canada and I think they are a British candy, not so popular here. But she quit eating them after she read the story on the harm they caused.
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oh interesting! I had never heard of those!! I love all the little nuggets I learn from you!
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