Hot fun in the Summertime...
So the temperatures here in the Northeast have been the same or higher than those in Louisiana, where one of our kids is living. It does bring me back to summer lazy days, and when no one had air conditioning, so everyone's windows were open, and you could hear all of the folks in the neighborhood. You knew what was on television (and we only had TVs in our living rooms or dens in those days), smelled what was for dinner, and knew when it was bedtime. You knew who drank coffee, and who drank tea, and who drank! We lived our lives in semi-privacy.
Stoop sitting was the norm. No one had a deck, and if you were lucky enough to have a pool (my parents' first one went in when I was already married...), you had a single ladder in. We went down the beach for evening swims at high tide. If you had a small sailboat, you pulled it down the street to put it in the water and catch the Sound breezes.
Mom, when we were little, brought us the 4 or so blocks down to Russian Beach. We never walked to any of the other beaches (Long or Short) - it was too far for her to pull the wagon, and I'm sure we would have pitched big time hissies (in those days, a big time hissy was just one word, "But", cause the slap after would shut us up). Of course, we would spend most of the day there, then at night, we would go to Pop's at the seawall, where Dad worked, and have dinner if it was really hot. Some time in the early 70's, they put an air conditioner there so it was even better. Before that, all the windows were screened, and the breeze off the wall was enough.
Today, that's why it's hard to find a parking space there...it is still one of the best places in town for a breeze in the heat. I find it hard to believe that people drive there, and keep their cars running for their air conditioning to stay on! But they do...I doubt they all have asthma (breathing problems are the only legit reason to park and keep your car running at the beach!).
If it wasn't a beach day, the porch or stoop worked. We had a great porch when we lived in the "bricks" (the houses across from the Fire Department were called the "bricks"...I always think of that when I watch the "Goonies"). A huge sugar maple in front kept that porch cool most of the day, and if that wasn't enough cool, we could turn on the hose in the back yard. When we moved closer to the beach, we had some great trees in the back with that soft grass that was great to lay under. Little kids only need shade and water, after all, when it's hot. And even the girls can go topless in the little pools. Yes, we always had a few of those, too. Probably bought at Town Fair. It was the ONLY department store in town, after all.
If my Mom thought we needed to come home, if we were laying under some one else's tree, she whistled, with 2 middle fingers under her tongue, and her pointer and pinky outside her mouth. Everyone in Lordship knew that whistle. You better hustle your ass home, let me tell you, when you heard it. No matter the time of day or night.
We only went to Short Beach if we took the playground bus for swimming lessons. My Mom taught us how to swim by throwing us in the pool when we went to see my Nonny in Florida, or the rare times we went on vacation where there was a pool. I was four, in Miami, my first time I swam. No swimmies, or bubbles or any of that. I don't recommend that at all, by the way. I don't think it makes kids tougher...just afraid of their parents! My Dad, for the record, did not approve. He still doesn't know how to swim.
Long Beach was the wild beach, and we were welcome to go by ourselves if we wanted to. So when we could ride a bike alone to the beach, that is the one we chose to go to. Eventually that was the one we went to for most of middle school and early years of high school, before we drove. The kids who lived on the "other side" of Lordship went to Short Beach. Long Beach was where few parents went so we could pretty much act stupid and wild. Past that first jetty off the parking lot was our favorite place to chill out.
High school years were different. We could drive, so that's where we went. That's also where most of our classmates were so party time was there. Again, few cars were air conditioned so all the car windows were down, our AM radio stations blasting, till we got cars with FM. We carried our transistor radios with us to the beach, and listened, often, to the same stations everyone else our age played.
We never had money, either. I was a newpaper girl, so sometimes I had a few quarters, after I turned 11. So going to the store was out of the question. If it didn't come out of someone's kitchen, we didn't eat or drink it. Some folks had good snacks, others not so much. And all our back doors were open to all the kids. I don't remember anyone taking advantage of that overly much either. If you did, remember that response to a "But"? Yeah, that would happen, only a bit more involved.
Lazy...nothing wrong with it in the middle of a heat wave, is there?
Stoop sitting was the norm. No one had a deck, and if you were lucky enough to have a pool (my parents' first one went in when I was already married...), you had a single ladder in. We went down the beach for evening swims at high tide. If you had a small sailboat, you pulled it down the street to put it in the water and catch the Sound breezes.
Mom, when we were little, brought us the 4 or so blocks down to Russian Beach. We never walked to any of the other beaches (Long or Short) - it was too far for her to pull the wagon, and I'm sure we would have pitched big time hissies (in those days, a big time hissy was just one word, "But", cause the slap after would shut us up). Of course, we would spend most of the day there, then at night, we would go to Pop's at the seawall, where Dad worked, and have dinner if it was really hot. Some time in the early 70's, they put an air conditioner there so it was even better. Before that, all the windows were screened, and the breeze off the wall was enough.
Today, that's why it's hard to find a parking space there...it is still one of the best places in town for a breeze in the heat. I find it hard to believe that people drive there, and keep their cars running for their air conditioning to stay on! But they do...I doubt they all have asthma (breathing problems are the only legit reason to park and keep your car running at the beach!).
If it wasn't a beach day, the porch or stoop worked. We had a great porch when we lived in the "bricks" (the houses across from the Fire Department were called the "bricks"...I always think of that when I watch the "Goonies"). A huge sugar maple in front kept that porch cool most of the day, and if that wasn't enough cool, we could turn on the hose in the back yard. When we moved closer to the beach, we had some great trees in the back with that soft grass that was great to lay under. Little kids only need shade and water, after all, when it's hot. And even the girls can go topless in the little pools. Yes, we always had a few of those, too. Probably bought at Town Fair. It was the ONLY department store in town, after all.
If my Mom thought we needed to come home, if we were laying under some one else's tree, she whistled, with 2 middle fingers under her tongue, and her pointer and pinky outside her mouth. Everyone in Lordship knew that whistle. You better hustle your ass home, let me tell you, when you heard it. No matter the time of day or night.
We only went to Short Beach if we took the playground bus for swimming lessons. My Mom taught us how to swim by throwing us in the pool when we went to see my Nonny in Florida, or the rare times we went on vacation where there was a pool. I was four, in Miami, my first time I swam. No swimmies, or bubbles or any of that. I don't recommend that at all, by the way. I don't think it makes kids tougher...just afraid of their parents! My Dad, for the record, did not approve. He still doesn't know how to swim.
Long Beach was the wild beach, and we were welcome to go by ourselves if we wanted to. So when we could ride a bike alone to the beach, that is the one we chose to go to. Eventually that was the one we went to for most of middle school and early years of high school, before we drove. The kids who lived on the "other side" of Lordship went to Short Beach. Long Beach was where few parents went so we could pretty much act stupid and wild. Past that first jetty off the parking lot was our favorite place to chill out.
High school years were different. We could drive, so that's where we went. That's also where most of our classmates were so party time was there. Again, few cars were air conditioned so all the car windows were down, our AM radio stations blasting, till we got cars with FM. We carried our transistor radios with us to the beach, and listened, often, to the same stations everyone else our age played.
We never had money, either. I was a newpaper girl, so sometimes I had a few quarters, after I turned 11. So going to the store was out of the question. If it didn't come out of someone's kitchen, we didn't eat or drink it. Some folks had good snacks, others not so much. And all our back doors were open to all the kids. I don't remember anyone taking advantage of that overly much either. If you did, remember that response to a "But"? Yeah, that would happen, only a bit more involved.
Lazy...nothing wrong with it in the middle of a heat wave, is there?
Thank you for sharing your memories with me. Lazy summers is how it should be!! - Chantel
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