Summer memories.

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Macaroo	Summer memories.	Lead	[-]
Posts: 12950 (05/10/07 9:47 AM) Proprietor Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Tags : None I don't like summer (or, at least high summer). This year, I thought I'd just try to remember the really good parts of it and skip the too-hot, too-dry parts. 1. The smell of warm grass being mowed. 2. FudgeSicles. 3. Riding my bike to the municipal pool in Grand Junction, Colorado, spending the afternoon munching Sugar Babies and drinking Pepsi. 4. My dorky little cream-colored, dial radio turned on all night to the KISN Top 50 Hits. "I'm just a lonely boy; lonely and blue..." 5. Lakeside and Elitch Gardens amusement parks in Denver, and the amazingly garish, glittery beads I won playing Skeeball. 6. Cruising up and down 15th and 16th Avenues in my 1955 Mercury, trying to get boys to follow me and my friends northside to The Scotchman Drive-In, then refusing to acknowledge them. 7. Crawling through my gable window onto the roof when it was 90 F., watching shooting stars until 1:30 a.m. 8. Dusk-Til-Dawn $1.00 admission to the drive-in theater to watch American Hammer horror classics like The Tomb of Lygia. 9. Trips to Sally's (pronounced "Sollie's") market for a pound of sliced luncheon loaf and a bag of Wonder Bread for my mom. Wonder Bread=a soft, bleached baked substance with a kind of yeasty smell and no crust to speak of. The package assured us that it built strong bones. "> 10. Royal Crown cola in a chest-style cooler at the local Conoco station. We paid fifteen cents per bottle, and that included the deposit. What are your recollections? Mac "New rule: If churches don't have to pay taxes, they also can't call the fire department when they catch fire. Sorry reverend, that's one of those services that goes along with paying in. I'll use the fire department I pay for. You can pray for rain." ~ Bill Maher Last Edited By: Macaroo 07/05/09 5:09 AM. Edited 2 times.
Rizzo da Rat	Re: Summer memories.	#1	[-]
Posts: 1541 (05/10/07 7:20 PM) I love penguins! Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	hmmm. Not many good memories. Getting sunburned because I'm too fair for the sun, but going to the San Diego beaches and pools anyway because my sister and cousins did. The 70's songs were ok, kinda cute."Beach Baby"?shivers Can't remember the radio stations though. Drive-ins- OF COURSE. Usually a horror movie with my sister. Going to 7-11 for slurpees and other sugery junk like Bottlecaps and pixie stix. Going to DisneyLand with a group of friends and/or Mom. Movies, a LOT of movies.(at the mall or up the street from the mall) The Mall-of COURSE. An ice cream parlor called Farrell's. TV-a LOT of TV. a lot of sleep....I LOVE vacations! ...and fudgecicles RULE....THE ICE CREAM MAN IS COMING!!!!!! I remember Wonder bread. It was easy to mold into a ball too. "The Tomb of Lygia"...I think I have that in my Blockbuster.com queue. Tomb of Ligeia/An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe(?) Willy Wonka: "Everything in this room is eatable. Even I'm* eatable. But that is called cannibalism, my dear children, and is in fact frowned upon in most societies."
Lady Valar	Re: Summer memories.	#2	[-]
Posts: 3534 (05/10/07 8:08 PM) Queen of Valimar Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Well, I remember renting a bicycle for 8 hours at a cost of .25 on Sundays. Saturdays were spent at the movies and lunch at the local deli all for .55. We belonged to a beach club where we went during the week. I found that boring and way too hot. I prefer the beach which is more interesting and there's the breeze off the ocean. Sometimes my friends and I would go to the air conditioned roller skating rink. I did go to sleep away camp for 2 weeks (for 3 summers) and that was lots of fun. The last 2 weeks in August through labor day, the family spent at a hotel in the mountains of upstate NY. We didn't have malls back in my younger days.
Macaroo		#3	[-]
Posts: 8381 (08/09/07 2:07 PM) Proprietor Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	C'mon, guys! There has to be more summer nostalgia than this. What was your best vacation spot? How did you feel on the last day of school? Did you name your bike and have astonishing adventures on it? What was your favorite hideout? What evocative music did you listen to? Did you eat watermelon and have seed-spitting contests? Did your parents sign you up for Red Cross swimming classes? Wha' hoppen? Mac
Murray Graham		#4	[-]
Posts: 16 (08/09/07 5:22 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	My Dad was a janitor, my mother a waitress. The working poor don't go on vacations. I can't remember anything like a vacation. Once we stayed at an uncle's farm while my father worked the potato harvest. Occasionally we'd go visit the cousins all of thirty miles away. certainly no hotels upstate anywhere. My first bike was wonderful, but I think I got it when I was 12 or 13, maybe later...certainly not something I had through childhood. My favourite hiding places were under furniture and later, when too big to get under the furniture, closets. Watermelon? phhht! Who had money for that...Rhubarb with a bit of sugar, or veg we stole from gardens. No money for classes, hell most of the time we couldn't afford to run the old Studebaker or money for the bus.. Not that there aren't good memories...playing 'guns' with the other kids in the gathering dusk, building forts in vacant lots, hanging out at the river (expressly forbidden) and so on. But if it cost anything at all, we didn't do it. Regards, M. Graham
coconutSand		#5	[-]
Posts: 23 (08/09/07 9:16 PM) Limez in the Coconut Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I got a break in going to Disneyland through school and other types of group sale outings. I went to Knott's berry farm on my honeymoon, but that was in December. Mostly it was the cousins pushing my sister and I to the beach where I'd get as red as a cooked lobster. I'd take the bus to the zoo. I met my X-husband on August 1st, 1987. I moved to LA from St Louis on July 17th, 2001. THAT was a fun summer. In August 1997, I moved from New Rochelle to St Louis and immediately got a job at an AMC theatre. I love mid-western summers. Or maybe it was just the historical/fictional aspect of what Mark Twain wrote about. I didn't even realize how much until I saw the Everlasting/Ever Playing Imax film "Lewis and Clark" at my science center job.
Macaroo		#6	[-]
Posts: 8382 (08/10/07 3:29 AM) Proprietor Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	My Dad was a janitor, my mother a waitress. My dad was a construction electrician and my mom a housewife. We weren't rich, but we weren't poor. Our first vacation as such was when I was around 13, and we drove from Colorado to California. First and last time I saw Disneyland. We went to Oregon a couple of times in subsequent years, but we usually just stayed in town. My first bike was wonderful, but I think I got it when I was 12 or 13, maybe later... I got mine when I was 10. It was used and slightly battered, but I had wheels! We all got bikes eventually. My folks would buy one a year...always second-hand...and pass one down the line. ...playing 'guns' with the other kids in the gathering dusk, When we lived in Grand Junction, we sometimes played "duck the searchlight", a totally senseless process of running around the cul de sac in a circle waiting for the beam from the local car lot to swing around, then falling to the ground as it passed so we wouldn't be beheaded. Yeah, I know, but it was fun at the time. ...building forts in vacant lots, Oo! We had one already "built". It was a drywall platform a construction crew left in the lot in back by the KEXO radio tower. The weeds grew up around it and created a kind of cave underneath. Kid heaven. ...hanging out at the river (expressly forbidden) For us, it was Indian Wash. Grand Junction is in the Colorado desert, and the Wash had a shallow little stream running through it from the Book Cliffs. If it rained in the boonies, there was likely to be a flash flood in the Wash. It was very dangerous, so of course we went there as often as we could. Where did you grow up, Murr? Did you live in the same place throughout your childhood? Mac
Macaroo		#7	[-]
Posts: 8383 (08/10/07 3:31 AM) Proprietor Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	We belonged to a beach club where we went during the week. I found that boring and way too hot. What's a beach club, and how is it different than the beach? Mac
Macaroo		#8	[-]
Posts: 8384 (08/10/07 3:50 AM) Proprietor Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I love mid-western summers. You're a heat-lover, then? I spent a summer in Ohio once with my husband's family. They had the (to me) unimaginable luxury of air conditioning, although there it's not a luxury. It's damn near a necessity. At least in Colorado, sweat would evaporate. In Ohio it just sat there. I recall the place being very green, however. That was a novelty at the time, since I'd spent most of my life in the Southwest. How long did it take you to get used to the Seattle cloudies? Mac
Murray Graham		#9	[-]
Posts: 17 (08/10/07 10:59 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I grew up in Manitoba, and am still there, though considerably better off than my parents could have dreamed of.... Regards, M. Graham
Macaroo		#10	[-]
Posts: 8390 (08/10/07 5:28 PM) Proprietor Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	...considerably better off than my parents could have dreamed of.... That's usually the plan. Mac
coconutSand		#11	[-]
Posts: 24 (08/10/07 8:49 PM) Limez in the Coconut Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Macaroo wrote: I love mid-western summers. You're a heat-lover, then? I spent a summer in Ohio once with my husband's family. They had the (to me) unimaginable luxury of air conditioning, although there it's not a luxury. It's damn near a necessity. At least in Colorado, sweat would evaporate. In Ohio it just sat there. I recall the place being very green, however. That was a novelty at the time, since I'd spent most of my life in the Southwest. How long did it take you to get used to the Seattle cloudies? Mac My first day in Seattle was on 10/24/01. It was very cold and rainy and miserable. But I got used to it quick because it was October and I knew Halloween was near and one of the first things I did was see "13 Ghosts" at a downtown theatre. I spent Halloween alone at the Rockbottom restaurant by the 5th Ave Theater and I was in total bliss, so YEAH, I'm happy it's a COOL city. I'll take cool over humidity any day. My mom and my dad(in Arkansas) both have air conditioners, and I finally bought a fan this summer. I've used it maybe 5 times in two months. I think they said it's going to rain again this weekend.
Macaroo		#12	[-]
Posts: 12301 (07/04/09 4:18 AM) Proprietor Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Old episodes of The Twilight Zone... There's a marathon on Sci Fi this weekend. Nice piece, by the way. Mac "Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes." Jack Handey Freethinkers Pub Boomer Bay (For those born 1946-1964)
Rambo123UK		#13	[-]
Posts: 3735 (07/04/09 11:29 AM) Fuckwit Intolerant Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	1984. The West Indies have just hammered England 5-0 in the infamous "blackwash". I have given up pretending to be Ian Botham in games of backyard cricket with my brother despite the sunny weather. We bask in a heatwave, and the drout has caused a hosepipe ban. My mother is annoyed because the next door neighbours have ignored it. We have driven up to Haweswater, an artificial reservoir a few miles away. In the hot, dry summer the drowned village underneath the waters has been exposed. The dead, silt-caked village is eery even in the bright sunlight. We stop at the car park at the end of the lake, and walk over the bridge/ducboards that cross the mudflats that usually comprise the shallow, swampy end of the lake. We walk up the far side, over the ridgeline into a box valley that is home to the only breeding pair of golden eagles in England. Our dog, Tess, is barely a pup and we are worried she might get taken by the eagles, so we keep a close eye on her. We see some toad spawn in the beck and take some in plastic bags, which we later put in the fish tank at school. Only 3 adult toads come from the spawn, which we release into the field behind school later. Anyway, in 1984 there was no RSPB guard on the nest, so we get to walk all the way up the valley. My dad and I are scanning the ridgeline, looking for birds on the skyline, when my brother, allan, says, "What's that big bird up there?". A golden eagle. Fantastic. Who cares about cricket when you've just senn the rarest bird in England? "I tend to think that cricket is the greatest thing that God ever created on earth - certainly greater than sex, although sex isn`t too bad either" Harold Pinter Bible Babble
Macaroo		#14	[-]
Posts: 12313 (07/04/09 3:34 PM) Proprietor Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Too cool, Rambo! Mac ::: who actually doesn't care about Cricket no matter what, but sees your point ::: "Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes." Jack Handey Freethinkers Pub Boomer Bay (For those born 1946-1964)
Rambo123UK		#15	[-]
Posts: 3739 (07/04/09 4:05 PM) Fuckwit Intolerant Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Well the next year it was really, really wet, a horrible summer (not as bad as last year, though!) and we won the Ashes 3-1, then retained them in Australia in 1986/7. What's wrong with cricket? "I tend to think that cricket is the greatest thing that God ever created on earth - certainly greater than sex, although sex isn`t too bad either" Harold Pinter Bible Babble
JohnSA		#16	[-]
Posts: 3745 (07/04/09 4:54 PM) Sceptical Observer Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	You do realise, don't you Rambo, that over the next few years you and your other half will be making Connor's first summer memories? May they all be happy ones! John ~Experience can be neither given nor taken - it can only be shared~
Macaroo		#17	[-]
Posts: 12316 (07/04/09 5:37 PM) Proprietor Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	What's wrong with cricket? In general, probably nothing. I don't like turnips. It's not their fault, either. Mac "Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes." Jack Handey Freethinkers Pub Boomer Bay (For those born 1946-1964)
glitterypickles539		#18	[-]
Posts: 129 (07/05/09 5:00 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Summer memories... 1. Starting in June (strawberry season), my mother would load us up in the car and we would drive out east on Long Island to hit the farmstands on the north shore. Although all the farms out that way were family owned and operated, I especially liked the small stands by the roadsides - they usually had the best tomatoes and strawberries. There were also a few pick-your-own operations but since my mother had a bad back we didn't go to those farms too often. One farm, in addition to selling fresh produce, also offered homemade breads, pies and jams. Unfortunately, very pricey so we didn't indulge. After scouring the farmstands and loading up on some good deals, we would finish out the trip by heading to a tiny local fish-and-chips place on the water called "The Barge-in" which was situated between two warring restaurants, both called "Seafood Barge" (actually, one was called "Armando's Seafood Barge"). My sister and I would stay in the car while my mom went in to order the fish and chips and we would watch the surf and boats while we waited. The Barge-in had the best fried fish - a generous portion of long, wide strips, very fresh and hot, with homemade tarter sauce to go with them. The chips were meh, just your basic shoestring potatoes. We would sit in the car and eat our meal with the windows wide open to allow the sea breeze to add it's perfume to the food's. Once stuffed, we would head leisurely back home. 2. We also did little sight-seeing drives - just hopping in the car and driving around, again on the east end of Long Island but this time on the south shore. These little excursions were generally aimless in nature - mainly we drove around the beach areas of the Hamptons and out towards Montauk Point and looked at and admired the homes where the rich folk lived. Sometimes we stopped at an antique store to look around or if there was a festival going on, we would check that out. On one of these trips, we stopped at a little Italian bakery and bought a couple loaves of bread to snack on. The bread was right out of the oven and had cracked peppercorns mixed into it. It tasted amazing! We also discovered a farmstand with incredible tomatoes - huge, meaty and so tasty you could eat them out of hand without any dressing. Funny thing though, while we often went back to that farmstand over the years, we were never able to find that Italian bakery again - and I have never found any other bakery that makes that wonderful peppercorn bread.
Macaroo		#19	[-]
Posts: 12324 (07/05/09 5:24 AM) Proprietor Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Sounds like a good time was had by all, Pickles. We hated it when the neighborhood mothers would form roving bands of scavengers effectively stripping the surrounding countryside of corn, tomatoes, peaches and stringy old stewing hens, because that meant they'd be firing up the pressure cookers and enslaving us to wash, peel, shuck, and pick tomato/corn worms off the vegetation and feathers off the chickens. Mac "Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes." Jack Handey Freethinkers Pub Boomer Bay (For those born 1946-1964)

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