Thursday, June 5, 2014

Lost Summer Echoes


Old push lawn mowers – The morning’s clacking sound of the metal blades, louder as they crossed the hot summer cement driveway, more muffled as they filled with the long dew-wet grass.

Playground swings – The metal chains’ shrieking protest as they rubbed against the links high above your head. A sound probably grating anywhere else, but when you were swaying forward and back it was one you knew was as essential to the experience as the occasional scuff of your sneaker against the dusty earth beneath.

Roller skates on a sidewalk - Not those plastic-wheeled late-comers, but the weighty all-metal skates that made just lifting your foot for the next stroke against the cement a challenge. Those wheels made a low rumble as they rolled over the sidewalk and a rhythmic ‘kak, kak’ as you crossed over each successive line.

Front seat conversation - The murmur of your parents' voices while you sat in the back seat, sleepy from whatever family event you've been on. You rarely followed the actual words as you looked out of the window next to you, your eyes only at the level where the door and glass meet.

Your mother's voice cutting through the warm twilight - You learned the various intonations of your distant parent's voice, from the first call, to that final, you'd-better-come-now call.

Finally, the soothing back and forth of the small metal fan propped on a chair at the foot of your bed - It might give a small 'eeek' each time it swung to the left, but you'd never oil it. Its small voice was just part of the nighttime orchestra of crickets and end-of-the-day bird calls, lulling you to sleep. 



12 comments:

  1. Gosh, this blog entry brings back a lot of memories. I would add the sound of a dinner bell used by mom when it was time to come in from swimming.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That sounds like an idyllic childhood, Jean.

      Delete
  2. When I got rid of the old kid's swing set recently for a glider we briefly considered one of those very tall old wonders. Then reality: digging holes, setting the poles, getting up there to attach chains......There was so much more work to our childhood than we children appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, probably why we look back to simpler times - simpler because we were happily oblivious!

      Delete
  3. Those lawn mowers have made a comeback. I still have my rollerblades from the nineties. They probably don't count. Murmurs??? I remember backhands...my brothers and I always fought in the car.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had a sister - an annoying older one - but we were, as I look back now, unnaturally well-behaved. Or sneaky.

      Delete
  4. Marty, that post might be my youth! Love the pic of the lawn mower. My aging parents were devastated when it ceased to be possible to get one of those sharpened.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Now I believe those push mowers are enjoying a tiny rebirth as today's young adults are embracing the environment+fitness.
      (Love the premise on your blog of walking all of San Francisco's precincts!)

      Delete
  5. I remember them all. How about when going really high on the swings at the park when the chain would slack for a second (no sound at all) before engaging again and flying us down. I loved that sensation.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Of course! The heart-stopping pause at the top and the empty-pit-in-your-stomach sensation!

      Delete
  6. Each one brought back good memories, but the roller skates! Remember the metal key that tightened the skate to fit. The most fun of my childhood days!

    ReplyDelete
  7. And the pain when you tightened them if you had on sneakers instead of your heavy shin-kicker saddle shoes?

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by and I'd love to hear what you think.