More Summer Memories and Thoughts....

Summer seemed endless in the days of our youth.
Previously, we mentioned the smell of freshly mown grass

taking us back to those summers.  But, the one that does it for me....whoosh...
is the aroma that pine needles give off baking in the sun.
They take me to one place: Myles Standish State Park.
 For our family, and many other Tauntonians, this was a favorite day trip.
 Like Swift's Beach, it was an easy drive and little to no traffic.
 It offered safe swimming in the ponds and easy children-

viewing by parents nesting in the pine groves.

The State Park is in Carver, MA and consists of 14,635 acres of pitchpine forest, the largest such north of Long Island.  No wonder it gave off such a wondrous scent 

and so imbedded itself in my memory.

It is ecologically significant as it has 16 "kettle" pond left over from 

melting glaciers 12,000 years ago. Who knew they flowed in and out 

of the surrounding aquifer 

 giving you the fresh water in which you swam?

What did we know....we kids splashing into the calm pond waters?  We knew it was hot and we were at one of our favorite spots.   Our family often had mini-reunions there.  Our parents, aunts, uncles and cousins loaded up with picnic stuff from the cars and trotted down to a site we could adopt for the day.  Chairs were unfolded, tables set with vinyl tablecloths. 

We were there til sunset when

we would be called in from the water by both the smell 

of hotdogs and hamburgers and

 the beckoning voices of parents at water's edge.

Often the trip would include stopping at nearby Edaville Railroad in Carver. It was a chance to take a train ride through the deep red cranberry bogs.  In those bygone days, most family members were close by and such excursions were more common.  Today, it would be a major endeavor to gather us  from 

all over the country.  There is also one child here not a cousin, but who was brought along anyway.  This would happen often with one or another neighborhood child.  

After all, we were a Village....

Ah, days gone by.  When it got hot, you turned on a fan or gathered together to go off to a pond like this where memories were made. 

 Of all the seasons summer seems to evoke the most memories.

Those summers were spent in the raw sweltering arms of Mother Nature. 

 Home air conditioners were rare.  You loved it when a thunderstorm broke the heat.

You ran in the heat....all day and into the evening.  You drank when you were thirsty.

You swam 'til you were tired out.  You learned how to swim pretty quick.

You laughed and giggled.  

You learned the art of interrelationships with brothers and sisters, and cousin

buddies without reading a book.  

 Everyone in your class was your buddy, too, as were all the kids in the Village.

 You read....a lot, and loved it.  From there you learned 

a vocabulary, you learned history and geography.  

You learned from storytelling when we families gathered at times like these

at  Myles Standish as the parents relayed experiences

 and family stories.  You listened and appreciated. You learned the art

of storytelling yourselves.

You absorbed.  You were used to prayer in public places as was everyone. 

 It was another time,

far, far removed in so many ways, 

yet right nearby. Those times still offer us

the values, the mores, the traditions we so need in these

confusing days we live in.  If we seek quiet more often,

perhaps their lessons would comfort us in times like these.

Remembering our group wanderings, out of parents views in the neighborhood

 I recently came upon this quote:

"Hypercaution has saved lives, but it has diminished lives in the bargain." 

                      

Seems that there was less worrying then, more living.....