10 on the 10th: July!

July seems to be going just as fast as the other months this year! Two of my grands will be heading back to school before the month is over, I think. Isn’t that sad? I started school the Friday before Labor Day (only a half day to get forms and such) and started for real after Labor Day. But, my grands don’t know any better, and they do enjoy the two weeks off for Fall Break, Winter Break, and Spring Break. Surprisingly, they don’t get out of school much earlier than other school corporations. We are getting lots of rain right now as the result of Hurricane Beryl. I hope, if you’re impacted, you are safe, have electricity, and have other items of necessity.

I know this 10 on the 10th requires a bit more writing because it took me a long time to do it! I hope you’ve joined in with one or ten rememories! Please either link up your post (and any others you’d like), comment, or email me your answers.

Without further ado…

The very first summer memory that comes to mind was the Apollo 11 mission to the moon.  I can remember watching all the other missions splashing down into the ocean and seeing the astronauts being fished out of the sea.  You have to remember we only had three channels so you watched what was on television, and those splash downs were the news!  But, the Apollo 11 mission was different.  We were going to the moon!  All six of us were gathered in the living room watching the grainy images on our TV.  I can’t remember if it was black and white or color at that time.  I do know the images we watched were in black and white.  One by one, everyone in my family went to bed as the time grew later.  But, Dad and I were determined to see the first man take the first step on the moon.  We watched for what seemed like an eternity, with the lights off so the images would be a little crisper.  Finally, the spacecraft landed, and Neil Armstrong stepped out and down, uttering those famous words:  “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”  It was a very special moment for me, one I shared with my dad alone.  I can still see the flickering images and Dad sprawled, chest down, on the couch, watching the events transpire. 

A little more…

Here are a couple of videos of that first moon landing. You may want to fast forward to the 2:46 section when he’s actually saying those famous words. But, this was exactly the way I remember it, right down to Walter Cronkite reporting!

This one has a tiny bit near the end when they raised the United States flag.

Another summer memory goes back a little farther than 1969.  Our next-door neighbors were the Myers family.  They always had a large garden which was right beside our garage.  I love cucumbers and always order extras on salads as well as eating them freshly cut with a pinch of salt.  I would sneak into the Myers’ garden, find the biggest cucumber, and sitting there amidst the vines and dirt, I would munch away at my delicious cucumber!  Now, I know it wasn’t a secret I was doing it because there was absolutely nothing to shield me from them or my mom.  I was easily seen if anyone looked out their kitchen windows!  I do remember Martha coming out once and asking if I was enjoying my cucumber!

There were four of us kids, and my mom was a stay at home mom for several years.  I’m pretty sure money was not exactly tight, but it wasn’t flowing freely, either.  My oldest sister, my brother, and I had bikes all the time.  My youngest sister always got hand me downs…that’s if she even rode a bike.  I honestly don’t know!  But, the fact was almost all of our bikes were hand me downs from cousins, neighbors, or the elder sibling.  One year, though, my parents bought me a new Schwinn bicycle.  I don’t know if it was exactly a Stingray, but it had a banana seat, the high handle bars, and the wonderful streamers that came out of the grips.  Here’s the thing.  I have absolutely no idea what color it was!  I do remember, at one point, my brother had a red bike, and I had a blue one.  That always struck me as odd because it seemed like it should have been the other way round.  I lived in a huge neighborhood with several paved roads.  I also loved to ride my bike without shoes or maybe a pair of flip flops.  The result of that was two-fold.  I would inevitably skin the tops right off of my big toes and go home with bloody toes.  And, I would be told over and over again to wear shoes!  There were several kids close to my age, and we rode our bikes for hours at a time.  Later, I would graduate to a 3 speed bike, but nothing ever matched the glory of that banana seat and high handlebars!

We had a school playground!  I get confused about what I’ve written on the blog and on my Storyworth book.  In case you know the story, you can just read ahead.  If not, stick around! The McLallen (I may have misspelled that) school burned down when Nigel was in second grade.  That would have been maybe 1962 or so.  Somehow or other, my dad was able to buy some or maybe all of the playground equipment.  We had a huge slide with two large humps in it.  We had a teeter totter with two boards, a tether ball court (Dad probably made that), and a gigantic swing.  It’s terrible that I spent my childhood on it, but I cannot recall the exact number of swings!  I think there were six swings with two straight bars for budding gymnasts.  Dad also got two car wheels and cemented posts into them for badminton or volleyball games.  We could roll those anywhere around in the backyard.  My parents had wisely purchased the two lots directly behind our house, and that’s where the playground was.  We also played dodgeball, kickball, and baseball.  The one thing we didn’t have was a basketball court because Dad didn’t want to put in any cement pads.  Mom was constantly running out of wax paper because we used it to wax up that slide!  Not sure how to do it?  Well, you pull out a section big enough for your butt to ride on, put it down on the part of the slide at the top where you stand, hold it as still as you could if it was windy, plunk your butt down, and kick off!  You could use a single piece of wax paper several times before it wasn’t any good!  It wasn’t as much fun being the first one down, but it sure was fun after several had gone down that slide!  We would hit the second hump near the bottom and practically catapult off the slide!

When my mom did go to work, we had a rule.  We were not allowed to leave the yard until one of our parents got home.  That was easy because of the playground.  Everyone would come to us.  One summer, the next door neighbors (not the Myers family…they had moved) came over, and we decided to fix pancakes for lunch.  Well, someone who shall not be named made way too much batter so what began as lunch ended up as a the Great Pancake Frisbee Toss!  I am pretty sure we got in trouble for it, but I’m also sure we did it again!  The second time, we just cleaned up better! We also didn’t put syrup on our pancake frisbees!

During the summer, I would go to my Grandpa and Grandma Luderman’s house on Saturdays.  Grandma would be at work, and Grandpa would take me and sometimes my little brother home with him after he got off work at noon.  We would have chores to do.  One of the chores would be to weed the garden.  Grandma had a humongous garden.  I’m not sure if she had more flowers or more vegetables.  Well, now that I think about it, she probably had more vegetables because sweet corn takes up a lot of space as do green beans.  And, she was growing them for our family as well as my aunts’.  Anyway, one summer, Grandpa told me to go out and trim around this cute little white fence he had between the yard and the garden proper.  I had to use those spring tension grass trimmers.  I promptly set about my chore with vengeance.  I eventually came upon some weeds that were really tough and woody.  But, I persevered and soon even they were gone.  I went in the house, took my bath, and got ready for the grand finale to doing chores for Grandpa and Grandma…dinner at a restaurant!  After a bit, Grandpa came in with a perplexed look on his face, looked at me, and said, “What happened to my gooseberry bushes?”  Luckily, he wasn’t angry as I guess he’d figured out he should have been more specific about what were weeds and what weren’t! 

OK, back to the playground.  This one may be a bit of a cheat because I don’t know if it actually happened during the summer.  It may have been closer to the end, but I’m using it!  One day, several of the neighborhood kids were at our playground.  One of them had ridden his bike and just thrown it over as one does.  Another was swinging high on the swings and jumped out.  Now, my parents had a rule for us, and that was we weren’t allowed to jump out of the swing as it was swinging.  This guy probably wouldn’t have followed that rule even if it had been for everyone.  He was just that kind of person.  Anyway, he jumped out of the swing, and you guessed it, hit that bike.  Now, that would have made for some scrapes and bumps except for one thing.  The guy with the bike (who would be our Best Man), Ron, had used these huge bolts to attach the wheels to his bike.  When Brad, the jumper, hit that bolt, it tore his leg wide open.  Did I look?  You’d better believe I did!  It was gross.  Now, today, my parents would be sued for every penny they had.  Back then, both Brad and Ron got in trouble because both of them had done things they weren’t supposed to do!  Funny thing is Brad eventually was my first principal!  I’m glad he didn’t hold that swing set against me!

Summers wouldn’t have been summers without a trip to my Aunt June’s cottage.  She was my dad’s oldest sister by ten years.  Her husband was Uncle Tiny (though he was a huge guy).  Aunt June’s cottage was always in the middle of construction, but it didn’t matter.  They would host big boozy parties for friends and family all summer long.  Uncle Tiny owned a roofing company so Aunt June stayed at the cottage most of the summer.  I think it was a couple of hours away from our house…maybe a bit longer but not much.  The cottage was built into the hillside so the kitchen and living rooms were down the hill with the bedrooms on the top.  I don’t know that I ever went there and there were actual walls for the bedrooms.  But, I’m sure there had to have been at some point. I just remember the walls being 2 x 4s.  Now, as you can probably tell, I was a bit of a rambunctious child, and my little brother was always in cahoots with me.  For that reason (and probably many more), my mom never said no if Aunt June asked if we could stay on for a week or two!  We had a blast because Aunt June was one of those laid back women who didn’t take life too seriously.  Of course, she could afford to be, but we didn’t know that.  We just knew she was oodles of fun.  The only thing she wasn’t was a good cook!  We would play on the beach, try to catch tadpoles, and ride out on the lake in the pontoon boat.  One summer, my cousin tried to teach me to water ski.  Thank goodness, I let go of the rope, or I wouldn’t be writing this today!  I just never could master getting up on those skis!  One summer, there was a bad storm coming in.  I was deathly afraid of tornadoes.  This particular summer, my Grandpa Rose was there (Aunt June’s and my dad’s dad).  I asked him what we should do about the coming storm and what about tornadoes.  He told me to stand watch at the big picture window and watch the opposite shore which was mainly trees.  He told me if they started moving toward us, we should start worrying.  Until that happened, just enjoy the show!

We are going to jump a few decades into the future from these memories.  One summer, my daughter and her family were living with us as they transitioned out of military life.  My bonus son had found a job in Champaign, Illinois.  He was living in a hotel during the week and would drive back to our house on the weekends.  But, some weekends, my daughter would drive there, and they would look for a home.  This particular weekend, just as they were leaving, my bonus son gave his son, my grandson, a quarter and a nickel.  W was not known for putting things into his mouth so no one was worried about it.  I was busy washing sheets, so W and A were sitting on my bed watching TV.  I had given them both a pack of fruit gummies.  Yeah…you know what happened, right?  W swallowed not only his gummies but the quarter and the nickel, too!  A was the one who ratted him out (thank goodness).  At first, he seemed fine, even ate lunch…spaghetti.  But, then he started complaining about something in his throat.  I called the local ER…they just laughed and said it would make its way through him and come out a certain way…get my drift.  They also said not to worry unless he vomited.  All seemed OK for a little bit longer.  W asked for a popsicle and was pushing it into the back of his throat and saying, “It’s not working.”  And, then, of course, he vomited!  We rushed him to the ER where they X-rayed his little self.  The quarter and the nickel were lodged in his throat right at the top.  Luckily, they didn’t go down his bronchial tubes because that would have been much more serious.  At some point, we were in contact with his parents, but I don’t exactly remember when.  That day is a bit of a blur because it was a really long one!  The people at the local ER didn’t want to even begin to mess with him so they transported him via EMS to the larger hospital who had a pediatric something or other on duty that day.  Of course, there were frantic calls back and forth to my daughter who was in tears and feeling so helpless.  We had to work out insurance stuff over the phone, I think, or maybe we just signed as guarantors.  Anyway, he was taken into surgery after waiting several hours…not due to staffing but because I’d fed him lunch!  The surgery lasted just minutes.  When the surgeon came out with a little plastic bowl containing the quarter and nickel, I laughingly asked what his bill would be.  He said to add a few zeros to the $.30!  I think W stayed overnight in the hospital or maybe he stayed in recovery a little extra, but it was very late by the time we got home that day.  Surprisingly, my daughter and bonus son continued to let us watch their kids!

My dad died on July 2, 1974.  We buried him on July 4, 1974.  I mentioned that in a post not too long ago.  I began with a special memory of my dad and I’m ending with one.  It was a very tough seven months watching him die, little by little, almost every day.  I learned to make him three minute eggs because they were the only thing he could stomach.  I kept hoping for a miracle, even praying to God to take me if someone had to die.  But, those prayers weren’t answered.  After his death, my mom was absolutely shattered.  She had lost the love of her life, I have absolutely no doubt.  Many nights, she just couldn’t sleep.  I was struggling myself and could often hear her weeping, then leaving the house.  One night, I asked her where she was going.  She was visiting Dad at the cemetery.  I asked if I could go along, and she agreed.  We did this many times over the course of that summer.  I remember clear, moonlit nights with lightning bugs flashing along the graves.  We didn’t stay long; we just needed to visit Dad.  I can tell you there is nothing more beautiful, more haunting, or more peaceful than a cemetery at midnight.  Their marriage only lasted 21.5 years.  They didn’t even make it to a silver anniversary.  They have now been together in Heaven for almost that same length of time.  I’m sure she’s still telling him what to do, but I’m hoping they’re sitting on the porch of the farm Dad always wanted. 

Wrap it up, Marsha!

If you’ll remember, I gave y’all an out and said you didn’t have to come up with ten memories. I had to work hard to come up with these. But, they brought back so many other memories, a couple of smiles, and a few tears. So, can we talk? Did you include any news happenings in your rememories? Were you lucky enough to live in a big neighborhood or on a farm where adventures were just waiting for you? Did you make it to ten? Please leave a comment or two, and we can talk. I promise to respond as soon as possible.

Where you can find me:

Linking up with Nancy’s Fashion Style,  Fine-Whatever, Is This Mutton, Shelbee on the Edge, Chez Mireile, The Grey Brunette, and Away from the Blue as well as Deb’s World and A Fresh Cup of Coffee. I also link up with This Blonde’s Shopping Bag, Doused in Pink, I do deClaire, Mummabstylish, Style Splash and Elegantly Dressed and Stylish as well as the Senior Salon Pit Stop (Esme’s Salon) and Slices of Life. Please check out these wonderful ladies and their blogs! I also am a co-host for Ageless Style on the third Thursday of the month and Songful Style on the last Monday of the month. I co-host Traffic Jam Weekend every Thursday with Melynda, Lisa, and Sue. I also host Final Fridays on the last Friday of the month as well as 10 on the 10th on the 10th of the month! I do hope you’ll check out all of these blogs and link parties!

Don’t have a blog…

Don’t worry! You can always leave all or some of your answers in the comments! If you don’t want to do that, you might discover a new blog! Blog friends, if you’d rather not participate, please share this party with others so we have lots of links!

And, now, it’s your turn!

Please link up your favorite 10 on the 10th posts as well as baking, cooking, decorating, fashion, DIY! If there’s a category I’ve left out and it’s family friendly, please feel free to include it! Please do visit some of the links! If you don’t have a blog, here is your chance to find a new one! You can also drop all or some of your answers in the comments!

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