Reliable transportation :)
Walking through Pokerville Market tonight with my Pokerville Pizza and my good Cooper Vineyards Barbera, I watched several local grammar school kids grabbing snacks. They had on their summer gear, shorts, tank tops, and flip-flops. Their hair was messy and their legs were already showing a healthy tan. It was 87 degrees. PERFECT summer weather.
I remember those days just as summer vacation began, running home from that last 1/2 day of school, report card in hand, yelling with my brother and friends. That unequaled feeling of freedom...that anticipation of carefree weeks and weeks and WEEKS of perfect sunny days and warm nights. Barbecues and roasted marshmallows, music and...fun...watching Antioch's Fourth of July firework shows from our hillside backyard. I have great memories of going for rides in the back of my Dad's pick-up (before it was unsafe and illegal) down cool country lanes closely lined with spicy scented walnut and fruit trees...picking cherries by the bucketful out of a farmer friend's orchard. (Sandy, Wayne and Charlie will remember that ;) Dad would drive slowly ~ he always was fascinated to see how straight the farmers had made their rows. Mom would just sit and enjoy the views. I can remember the fresh smell of the irrigation canal that all the Byron kids liked to swim in, and the fluting sound of the wings of the mourning dove as they rose off the road just ahead of us. I remember exploring the twisting, rutted roads along the river and fishing for catfish with Craig and our cousins, and that day that I caught a large snapping turtle--Granny cut it's head off! I remember my cut-offs and bare feet and white-blonde pony tail. Later, I remember spending hours on horseback, just me and Maggie, exploring farm roads and watching wildlife. How thrilled I was to catch a glimpse of a jack rabbit or a gopher snake! What simple, uncomplicated days and nights....
...I remember the sounds of laughter...
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