What did we do in the extreme heat when we were little? Did it ever feel as HOT and MUGGY as it did this year in Minnesota? When I was growing up, we lived in a number of states and I also got to spend big chunks of time in Indiana on various family farms and there were some steamy days.
What did we do as children when it was really hot? I do recall open windows at night, and there were occasionally fans involved -- but how many and when are unclear. I do recall one large fan that was a 1960s blue and felt like sitting in front of an airplane propeller. It was -- and still is -- on wheels and is about 3-feet tall and still feels a lot like sitting in front of a small plane. There were other more dangerous looking fans that had two thin pieces of wire that would not protect fingers from getting caught up in the cooling process. Come to think of it, those thin pieces of wire wouldn't have held the blade if it had shaken loose either. I recall one of the neighborhood boys sticking his tongue into that fan -- only once though...
One summer we had a vacation rental place in Sea Girt, New Jersey. My father was working in New York City and we stayed where we could get to the beach. That did make the heat much more tolerable. There was plenty of really fresh seafood, lots of playing in the sand, swimming in the Atlantic, trips to the library that smelled of old wood and books -- love that! Lots of visitors came that summer to see us and take in some salty sea air, still a favorite smell. We would walk to the beach at night when it was cooler and our Poodle, Hobo, got swept out into the ocean one night. In an amazing moment as a child, he came back no worse for wear. Now there is a moment of thinking about the Gaines Burgers that one of the house guests brought for the dog. I wonder what he ate the rest of the time, I don't have any recall on that, but it may have been table scraps. My paternal grandmother stayed with us the entire summer and painted seascapes and boats.
One theme that seems to run through all my tropical heat wave summers is being around some type of water. Many of my great summer memories include sail boats and various bodies of water like the Atlantic Ocean, Crooked Creek, swimming pool in the backyard at the Tulsa house, Lake Minnetonka, Lake Keystone, Mianus River, Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, Lake Erie, Lake Tahoe and those are just some that I can recall. Guess we are water people.
Do you remember extreme summer heat when you were a child? Please share them in the comments.
My inspiration for this entry: It's Week 30 of our Sharing Memories - A Genealogy
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descendants will be thankful that you did! Write here as a comment, or on
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