In The Good Old Summertime

There is always that excitement for a kid at the end of the school year & anticipation for that time known as summer vacation.

As a child growing up in the 30's, there wasn't money to buy things except for the necessities, such as food & clothing. However thanks to an uncle who lived in Cleveland & who had a daughter my sister's age, we were each given a scooter, & another time, a pair of rollerskates. He had a good paying job so he had the money to buy them for us. My aunt & uncle had lost two older children, their oldest ddaughter, Arleen who would have been my older brother's age, from a burst
appendix at age 8, & Marion 8 months old who fell victim to 1918 flu epedemic. I think he enjoyed spoiling us a little.

We also played games, such as Hide & Seek, Red Rover(also played at school), & someimes in the evening a rousing game of Kick The Can. Yes we actually kicked a tin can around in a game. This was played in the street, since there were few cars then. Sidewalks provided a place to draw squares for Hop Scotch, & to bounce a small ball on for playing Jacks.

I was always fascinated by the stars,& loved to lay in the grass on a summers night & look up at them. Once I had a little toy telescope that I could look through at them. When we lived in the small town of Freemont, there used to be a lot of lightning bugs which I mentioned in another post & my sister & I had fun watching & catching them.

When my sister & I were quite small we loved to take our dolls out side & have a tea party. Mom also showed up how to make little Hollyhock dolls. I don't remember too much about what they looked like ,other than the flowers were upside down, with the flower part as the skirt. We may have used a tooth pick to hold them together.

Summertime was a time to dream & use our imagination. As we got old enough, we would put on shows with the neighbor children. We sang songs & put on plays.

My sister & I love to play dress up & mom always had a ready supply of things we could use as costumes & outfits to wear for what ever we were dressing up as.

With all that children have now, computer games & fancy toys, I hope that they don't lose that wonderful gift of imagination. I've been delighted at seeing & interacting with my little granddaughters when they have acted out a made up story & I'm happy to see my daughter encouraging them to use their imagination.