Oh those memories
Aug. 26th, 2010 08:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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ang_o's latest post about summers when she was growing up, of course you start thinking about your own childhood summers.
Random memories:
Playing Barbies with the other girls in the neighbourhood. There was a family of four girls next door to us and I can remember sitting on their front steps with all of our Barbie clothes and gear all laid out. I also would hang out with my best friend who lived on the street below ours and we'd have our Barbie dolls out a lot. I remember she had a huge German Shepherd dog that loved to chase birds in the back yard and they had a room in their basement full of bird cages. Don't know how the poor dog didn't lose her mind! lol!
We had a backyard that had two levels, a steepish hill between them. Dad always planted a vegetable garden on the lower level and there was a really big rock that had been rolled there from the lot behind before we moved there. It had a flat top and was probably about 4 feet high though it seemed higher when we were kids of course. We would sit on the rock and read, or play games in the sun or just chat as we got older. I wonder if it's still there?
Many nights after supper, Dad and sometimes Mom would take us to a local lake for a swim to cool off. We also took swimming lessons at the lake, as there weren't that many pools at the time for swimming lessons. But most of the kids in my family learned to swim out at the lake across from my Grandparents' camp which was about a half hour or 40 minute drive away. Sundays in summer everyone brought their families out and there would be picnics and cousins of all ages running around or swimming in the lake. There was a little store up the road and we'd walk there for ice cream or popsicles. I can still remember the mat at the door that was made of upside down bottle caps and how it scratched our bare feet. To get to the lake we either walked across the property across the road or went through a little path just up the road a bit, then crossed over train tracks, Mom holding a death grip on our hands even though we could see there were no trains coming. The tiny beach was down a steep drop and the lake was shallow for about 20 feet then had a drop off much deeper. The bigger kids could swim over their heads and sometimes had a boat they could take out. There wasn't sand on the shore, just dirt and rocks but the attraction was the water anyway.
The camp was just a small cottage but i can still see the interior of it as clear as day. There was electricity but no running water. You got water from the well and you peed in the outhouse. I saw a big spider in that once and refused to use it ever after! My aunt had a house next door and there were several other aunts and cousins that lived on the road too. We weren't supposed to be using their bathroom or they'd have streams of kids running in and out so you either used the outhouse or peed in the lake! There was always a bucket of well water in the camp kitchen and an enameled tin dipper (small pot) for a drink. I found one of those little pots at a flea market and had to buy it! I don't drink water out of it ;)
As a teen, I would be hanging out with friends, sitting in each other's bedrooms or on lawn chairs in a back yard in the sun. We walked everywhere. The boys played softball so we spent a lot of time on weekends or in the evening at the ball fields. There were lots of house parties on Saturday nights and later, as some of the guys got apartments, the parties would be there instead where the liquor flowed a bit more freely. We were all in our late teens and early 20s by then, though. Most of us also had part time jobs in high school so our activities were fitted in around that.
I can remember one day 13 of us piled into one big car to go to the beach. We were in several layers deep to fit everyone in. No minivans back then but the cars were enormous! However this one time, as we drove by a construction site, a tire went over an errant nail and popped it! Down we sunk. I can just imagine the looks on people's faces as they saw 13 full grown teenagers getting out of one car. Luckily it was right across the street from a garage so the tire got fixed but after summoning the brother of one of the guys, we split up into two vehicles and decided to go to a local park instead.
As an adult i work most summers. I generally always preferred to take vacations in the spring or fall and still do, especially once i started being able to travel. Flights and hotels are a bit cheaper then and the weather, at least in the fall, is always good. Never too warm. The summer of 1999 was different. It was a beautiful summer, hardly any rain. and i didn't have to work any of it it. Why? Because our union was on strike! It started at the beginning of July and we didn't go back to work until mid September. The summer of no money, stress and aggravation but at least the sun was shining! The strike was settled quite favourable for me because they adjusted our salaries to near-market value (Y2K and all that!) and then made the pay retroactive three years which everyone got. It was like winning the lottery for me which shows how sorely underpaid i was up to then!
Gosh. Summer is over already. But there's only 37 sleeps until i see my sweetie. We're meeting in Toronto first and flying back here together a few days later. yay!
ang_o's latest post about summers when she was growing up, of course you start thinking about your own childhood summers. Random memories:
Playing Barbies with the other girls in the neighbourhood. There was a family of four girls next door to us and I can remember sitting on their front steps with all of our Barbie clothes and gear all laid out. I also would hang out with my best friend who lived on the street below ours and we'd have our Barbie dolls out a lot. I remember she had a huge German Shepherd dog that loved to chase birds in the back yard and they had a room in their basement full of bird cages. Don't know how the poor dog didn't lose her mind! lol!
We had a backyard that had two levels, a steepish hill between them. Dad always planted a vegetable garden on the lower level and there was a really big rock that had been rolled there from the lot behind before we moved there. It had a flat top and was probably about 4 feet high though it seemed higher when we were kids of course. We would sit on the rock and read, or play games in the sun or just chat as we got older. I wonder if it's still there?
Many nights after supper, Dad and sometimes Mom would take us to a local lake for a swim to cool off. We also took swimming lessons at the lake, as there weren't that many pools at the time for swimming lessons. But most of the kids in my family learned to swim out at the lake across from my Grandparents' camp which was about a half hour or 40 minute drive away. Sundays in summer everyone brought their families out and there would be picnics and cousins of all ages running around or swimming in the lake. There was a little store up the road and we'd walk there for ice cream or popsicles. I can still remember the mat at the door that was made of upside down bottle caps and how it scratched our bare feet. To get to the lake we either walked across the property across the road or went through a little path just up the road a bit, then crossed over train tracks, Mom holding a death grip on our hands even though we could see there were no trains coming. The tiny beach was down a steep drop and the lake was shallow for about 20 feet then had a drop off much deeper. The bigger kids could swim over their heads and sometimes had a boat they could take out. There wasn't sand on the shore, just dirt and rocks but the attraction was the water anyway.
The camp was just a small cottage but i can still see the interior of it as clear as day. There was electricity but no running water. You got water from the well and you peed in the outhouse. I saw a big spider in that once and refused to use it ever after! My aunt had a house next door and there were several other aunts and cousins that lived on the road too. We weren't supposed to be using their bathroom or they'd have streams of kids running in and out so you either used the outhouse or peed in the lake! There was always a bucket of well water in the camp kitchen and an enameled tin dipper (small pot) for a drink. I found one of those little pots at a flea market and had to buy it! I don't drink water out of it ;)
As a teen, I would be hanging out with friends, sitting in each other's bedrooms or on lawn chairs in a back yard in the sun. We walked everywhere. The boys played softball so we spent a lot of time on weekends or in the evening at the ball fields. There were lots of house parties on Saturday nights and later, as some of the guys got apartments, the parties would be there instead where the liquor flowed a bit more freely. We were all in our late teens and early 20s by then, though. Most of us also had part time jobs in high school so our activities were fitted in around that.
I can remember one day 13 of us piled into one big car to go to the beach. We were in several layers deep to fit everyone in. No minivans back then but the cars were enormous! However this one time, as we drove by a construction site, a tire went over an errant nail and popped it! Down we sunk. I can just imagine the looks on people's faces as they saw 13 full grown teenagers getting out of one car. Luckily it was right across the street from a garage so the tire got fixed but after summoning the brother of one of the guys, we split up into two vehicles and decided to go to a local park instead.
As an adult i work most summers. I generally always preferred to take vacations in the spring or fall and still do, especially once i started being able to travel. Flights and hotels are a bit cheaper then and the weather, at least in the fall, is always good. Never too warm. The summer of 1999 was different. It was a beautiful summer, hardly any rain. and i didn't have to work any of it it. Why? Because our union was on strike! It started at the beginning of July and we didn't go back to work until mid September. The summer of no money, stress and aggravation but at least the sun was shining! The strike was settled quite favourable for me because they adjusted our salaries to near-market value (Y2K and all that!) and then made the pay retroactive three years which everyone got. It was like winning the lottery for me which shows how sorely underpaid i was up to then!
Gosh. Summer is over already. But there's only 37 sleeps until i see my sweetie. We're meeting in Toronto first and flying back here together a few days later. yay!
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no subject
Date: 2010-08-26 01:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-26 04:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-27 01:14 am (UTC)We also rented a cottage for a week, usually in the Southhampton, Ontario area. Those were wonderful times. I wonder if my Mum would agree? In retrospect I can't see that it would be much of a rest for her. :)
no subject
Date: 2010-08-27 09:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-27 11:47 pm (UTC)<----nostalgic me.