For some reason, the sound of two motorcycles furiously racing down Route 9 last night evoked a memory of childhood. It’s a summer evening, say 1965, on the banks of the Mohawk River, Schenectady. My parents have just played several rounds of tennis at Collins Park while we three kids roamed around, never far from the thud of a serve and the rhythmic volley that followed. We’re getting ice cream at Jack in the Box. Yum — vanilla soft serve. It’s July, which means the shadows hold off in a way that makes the day seem endless, in a season that feels endless. Time would return soon enough, of course, in late August when we’d head to Sam’s for new Keds and wander the school supply aisle of Woolworth’s for pencils and erasers. I still love buying pens and notebooks! As much as the freedom of summer thrilled, I always loved going back to school.
C and his girlfriend are in town for a wedding on the Cape. In fact, they should just be sitting down right now at a farm in Falmouth.
I’ve been wanting to make a Key Lime Pie for a bit now and having kiddos home is as good a reason as any.
The hard part will be waiting til tomorrow to have a slice.
To close, a few pix from the Good Trouble rally at Newton City Hall from Thursday, July 17. It was a little underwhelming, still I’m glad we went, especially to hear a pastor exhort us (white suburbanites) to step forward and do our part because “Black people are tired.”
Now I have to find a piece or two of Key Lime Pie! I can’t make one because there’s no one to share it with. I would have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner until it was gone. Yes! I still love breathing deep while sharpening new pencils. The click-thunk of a 3-ring binder on a whole ream of college line paper complete with color-tabbed dividers. A box of Peacock cartridges for my Schaefer fountain pen. The first Wednesday after Labor day was always too hot for new school clothes.
Edwards makes a really good frozen pie. They sell whole pies or slices.
Dee~ Glad you could make the Good Trouble event. I was down to my sister’s , so missed that one. I agree with the pastor. Enjoy the time w/ your guy and his girlfriend. 🙂
Nancy
Thanks Nancy.
Your summer memories brought one of my own. When our town got a Foster’s Freeze, every week in summer, we would walk several blocks and indulge in Frosties, those soft serve ice cream cones, made with real milk. Small cones for me and my sister, large for my Mom and Dad. We were very dainty when eating those cones, lots of napkins, making sure we did not spill. When they added a chocolate topping that hardened over the Frosties, we all went nuts. The chocolate topping tuned us into frenzied fools, tearing off the chocolate topping, and in the heat of summer, the soft serve would dribble down our shirts but we didn’t care. It was one of the few times that I saw my fastidious Mom and Dad let loose!
Oh that chocolate coating! Don’t get me going!!