IN THE GOOD OLE SUMMERTIME....

I can hear the voices of past summers echoing while I sit here by the lake this afternoon:

"Mom, can we play in the pool?"  By play in the pool we meant the inflate-with-the-vacuum-cleaner rubber pool with little rubber whale cutouts glued on the sides.  No plastic pools in 1945!

"This swimming suit is itchy!"  When I was little they were made of wool! Yes, WOOL!  And then when my Dad worked at Kiefers Hardware my brother and I were issued from their stock identical swim trunks with fish on them.  I was 5 and he was just 3. What did I know about swimming topless??

"Come out of the pool now and get some juice and crackers!"  Our daily trips to the Nazareth Park Pool always included orange juice and Ritz crackers - and on a really good day, an ice-cream treat from the food stand.  There were always at least 8 kids in the Ford station wagon in various states of behavior. One day my Mom accidentally left one of them at the park.  When she realized it, it was a speedy return to the park and an emotional reunion!  When I think of that park I can remember how clean it was, and the smell of pine trees which surrounded it. There was a baby pool with a fountain in the middle and then the BIG pool. My brother and I learned how to dive off the high board over several summers. It seemed like such a HUGE pool, but was pretty average when I visited 30 years later!

"Susan, Get it in gear! We are late!"  Summer weekdays when I was in 9th-11th grade were spent at Camptown, a day camp run by the local Jewish Community Center. My Mom was in charge of all the little tots. I was a counselor-in-training, ie a lackey!  I did have fun with other counselors, loved the kids, and grew to look more forward than I should have to Friday Challah. You know me. A bread fanatic!

"Lois, I've got some potato salad and sliced tomatoes...Ev has some fresh corn if you could bring some hot dogs..."  We belonged to the Delaware Canoe Club - no schmaltz, just fun - and practically every nice evening, the Moms would pack up dinner and drag it all down to the river. The Dads would join us after work. I think back on it now and it must have been  a lot of trouble - but they must have liked it as much as we did. We swam, canoed, water-skiied.  I look back on those summers as the most special of all.

"MMMM- I can smell the ocean!".  The summer's weekly vacation trip to Beach Haven, NJ was looked forward to the whole year. It was always iffy (a) what sort of cottage we would end up  in and (b) what the weather Gods would decree for those 7 days. It was always impossible to get me out of the water, so I generally took on a prune-like look for the duration.  Other memories of Beach Haven: the A&W Root Beer stand and my Mom picking us up at the trampoline center after having a few frozen dacquiri or three. She tried jumping and came down on one leg and veered off, landing between the springs, laughing so hard she wet her pants.

"Can I have the car tonight?"  When I got my drivers license my parents bought a Chevy Impala convertible.  The car was NOT for me. I believe it was for my Mom, and my Dad later got a Plymouth convertible for him. When I was granted the car I would call my friends and we would cruise with the top down, the radio blasting those great hits from the 50's. I remember keeping the beat by clicking my class ring on the steering wheel.  The biggest thrill was getting hooted at by "college" boys!  One time I got the car, and decided without permission to go to the drive-in.  The car ran out of gas and I had to call my Dad to come rescue us.
Not good.

"Don't be late!"  Who can forget the sweet summer nights of dating as a teenager.
Midnight canoe rides. Trying to find a place to...well, I will just have to say it...neck! (what a weird expression).  I remember one time parking on a hill only to have a cop shine his light in the window. "Are you Charlie Brower's daughter?" he asked. Argh. The joys of small town life.  The cops in Easton were vigilant. Perhaps that is why the illegitimate childbirth record wasn't very high!

The summer was my favorite time of the year - but I have to say that ice-skating at Hacketts Park and sledding parties had rewards as well!