A Sentiment

God knew what He was doing when He sent a gentle breeze and brought a lovely butterfly to set my heart at ease. The happiness of your friendship and the gentleness of your words have touched my life in special ways and now I feel assured. Thank you for your loyalty and for reading everyday. I only hope you find things to make a happy day.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Lazy Days of Summer


Little Audra was over the other day and we were talking about the "good old days" when we were in school. Joe told her that we didn't have ball point pens when we were students. She said, "I know...you used feathers!!!" That brought us a laugh. School starts next week and it seems that all the kids are grumbling about it. "Summer is too short...they say." I can remember when it seemed to last forever. Things are moving so quickly for the kids today...hurry, hurry, hurry all the time. It's no wonder they feel that way. We had a much slower life, time to just do nothing. We entertained ourselves in the outdoors. My Mom was always shooing me outside. I had a box, about the size of a shirt box, full of paper dolls. I would get them in a book and they had to be cut out. Sometimes I used figures from magazines or catalogs and would make my own. They were never as nice as my "store bought ones." My favorites were my bride and groom paper dolls. I would call my girlfriend, on our 4 party line telephone, (my grandson and I were just talking about these the other day) She only lived a couple of houses away, but I loved to listen in on our neighbors conversations...so I used the phone. She would come over and we would spread a blanket in the shade and play with these dolls all afternoon. Sometimes we would trade our dolls, but never my bride and groom dolls.
We could spend hours looking for a four leaf clover. I always had a jar with some type of bug in it. Grasshoppers, butterflies, even a homemade ant farm. Mom would make us some lemonade and chocolate chip cookies. She called them Toll House cookies. If we were lucky, sometimes we would be in the kitchen watching her make fudge. We lived in a new development and the sprinkler was on during the summer. We could get our swim suits on and run through the sprinkler. The water was so cold, but really refreshing on a hot day. A big galvanized wash tub was put out in the yard for our swimming pool. Hollyhocks by the garage would entertain us for hours. We made dolls out of them. They would be the bridesmaid's for our paper doll wedding. We had a big patch of daisies next to the house. We learned to make daisy chains. I was reminded of them in a recent email from Martha...she gave directions on how to make them.


How-To 1. Pinch flower stems to about 4 inches. Make a small slit in the bottom half of each stem with your nails.
2. Thread 1 stem through the slit in another. Continue, adding flowers to reach desired length. To finish, make a second slit in the stem of the first flower, and slip the last flower through it.


Why did summer change so? We are traveling at such a fast pace, these things are being forgotten. I think that we older folks can keep these memories alive, by taking the time to tell our stories to our grandkids and little neighbors. My grandkids love to hear about what Grandma "didn't have" in growing up. I love telling them what "Grandma had."
Balisha

9 comments:

Racquel said...

So true, I remember doing alot of stuff like that during the summer when I was a kid. My kids hibernate indoors and play video games. ;)

Pat said...

I remember doing many of those same things. My best friend Bonnie and I would pull a wagon to the icehouse several blocks away, get a block of ice, wrap in newspaper, pull it home and use an ice shaver to make snowballs. Wonderful memories. 50 years later, Bonnie is still my best friend!

Balisha said...

Hi Racquel and pat...
My grandkids always have a gadget in their hands...except when they do to my daughter's house on the lake. She won't let them play with them...they have to do things outside.
Friends from our youth are the best. I still have some of mine. When we get together...it's like we were never apart.
Balisha

Margie's Musings said...

I think it's like my aunt once said twenty five years ago. "The older you get the faster it goes".

One Woman's Journey - a journal being written from Woodhaven - her cottage in the woods. said...

Balisha, I remember so many of the same things. Blanket on the lawn, the cookies, running through the lawn sprinkler, hollyhock dolls, the 4 leaf clovers - my mother could spot them in an instant, and on and on.
I rarely see children outside anymore. Hand held games and television keep them inside and I do not think this is good at all.

Lona said...

Hi Balisha. Now your remembrances sure brought back fond memories of my childhood. We did so many of the same things.We were always out doors running around. Swimming in the creek nearby. We did not have many toys then so we made our own toys and imaginations.Unless kids are into some sort of sports or on a team now they do not get out to run around like we did. Now it is just not safe to roam around like we did then.It makes me sad that some will not know the innocence or freedoms we had then.
Did you use your feather to write the posting? LOL!
Have a wonderful weekend!

Lynn said...

Oh those were the days. You have brought back lots of memories. I loved my paper dolls. I also loved to cut out dolls that were all hooked together holding hands... We played in the sprinkler but the galvanized tub was for the dog... LOL
Thanks for the memories!

Diana LaMarre said...

I think it's a shame that today's kids stay inside and play video games on the internet--many of which are very violent.

We were just talking about that yesterday when we passed a mini golf/racecar place that was empty--on a summer Saturday afternoon. Back in the day, kids loved to go to these places. Today they are all going bankrupt in our small town.


In my childhood days, we all were outside playing baseball in the middle of our country road--maybe once an hour a car came by and we had to move to the side until it passed.

Hooking up the hose to a sprinkler and running through it in our bathing suits was quite a thrill, too.

Ah, those were the days.............

Anonymous said...

It seems kids today don't come outside much like we did. I guess they stay in and play video games. We used to stay outside all day. I remember doing all the stuff you mentioned, too. We used to call ourselves cooking and would put dried beans in a pot of water to see if they would cook on the sidewalk when it was hot. We played hopscotch, Simon Says, Annie Over, and all kinds of games. Roller skating was big, too. Great memories of summers past. Have a good week.