In 1957 my father bought his first car;  a lemon-yellow Chevrolet Sedan.   People thought it was really something but all I could think of was where was it going to take me !  It changed my summers forever !

 

Looking forward to a summer in Montreal we knew there would be 5-cent popsicles on the porch,  strapping on our roller skates to venture farther down the streets, playing marbles in the dirt and learning how to whistle.  No matter the heat we would stay outside playing from morning until the call for supper. 

 

No camps or parks or sports fields (maybe for the boys but I never heard them talking about it); no pools, no fields to gather flowers and no trips away.  It was as it was for everyone and it was fine !  If you didn’t have someone to play with you played on your own and that was fine ! But when the car arrived, that changed everything !  Big sigh !

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Now there were adventures away from our street.  Counting telephone poles for the first time, stopping at traffic lights, watching people being busy and walking fast;  excited, then delighted by whatever came around the next corner !  It was all new.  The things I saw gave me goose-bumps and then I’d feel the acceleration of wanting to learn more about what I saw.

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There was no air conditioning in the car.  Not at home either. Summers were HOT !   You had to remember to wriggle your legs every once in a while to make sure they didn’t stick to the vinyl seats ! 

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Now there were roadside picnics, my first introduction to  canned pop and potato salad with egg salad sandwiches.  It was a little strange sitting at a picnic table at the side of the  road but there was a stillness and a feeling of family as we sat and laughed between bites.  In those days, fathers were not home very much so it all felt good to understand the feeling of doing something all together.  Sigh.

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The car also brought summer visitors.  My grandparents visited from Scotland.  With the car we were able to take our first family trip from Montreal to Niagara Falls.  I will never forget my Grandpa sitting on the grass facing the falls and biting into a large, juicy peach, grinning from ear to ear with juice dripping from his chin and saying, “Now, that’s perfect !”  They didn’t grow peaches, pears and grapes in Scotland so they  didn’t get too much fresh fruit like we have in Niagara.  Looking at him in such bliss and contentment I shivered a little with how grateful I should remember to be to have such fruit on our table every day of the summer.  And I sighed.

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Other summers brought lake beaches and driving through thunderstorms bouncing around the Laurentian Mountains but I will never forget the adventures that yellow car added to my
summers.  Sigh !

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Summer to me always begins with strawberries.  Strawberries with ice cream, strawberry shortcake or just a bowl of freshly picked strawberries ! The juiciness, the colour, the scent and the taste ……. Yes !  We can both sigh together !  Picking strawberries is a highlight !  I loved introducing this activity to my children for the first time, laughing at them as they picked with careful chubby fingers and saying, “One for the basket.  One for my me.”  Loved those days.  Sigh !

 

June 20th is the Summer Solstice or First Day of Summer.  The word solstice comes from the Latin words sol, sun and sticillum, to stand still.  It is the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere when the sun reaches the highest point in the sky.  In the Southern Hemisphere this date begins the first day of winter.
 

On June 24th watch for the Strawberry Moon or the full moon.  There will also be many summer stars to look up at throughout the summer.  If you are at camp or the cottage, look up and sigh !

Our summers may be hot and humid but they are ours to enjoy in all the ways we look forward to as the summers we know and love.

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We wish you lots of happy memories so that you can share them with others, too.  Enjoy the camps, the walks in the fields picking flowers, the pools and the fruit - fresh, juicy, colourful fruit.  Oh !  And don’t forget the popsicles !  When I have one, I’ll think of you !
                                                ~~ Doreen