Miles Down Memory Lane

Miles Down Memory Lane

Written by : Jeffrey R Hilton

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Is it just me or did summers used to last longer when we were younger ?  Without a doubt,  summer is my favorite time of the year and always was.  The memories of summers past conjure up all kinds of images and stir up all kinds of emotions. The majority of them thankfully are good.


Laying in the front field, a small grassy section along the highway on the farm watching airshows overhead for free, as the airport was close by.

Getting bronzed by the sun as we harvested and such.
Playing with dinky toys under the big oak near the house, a makeshift sand box around the tree. Running amok playing war or cowboys.


I remember when I was young enough and my imagination was such that I would stand on top of an old combine that was derelict and rusting. Surrounded by a tall field of grass, I would pretend that I was the captain of my own ship and the surrounding grasses looked like waves as they blew in the wind. I discovered faraway lands astride that old combine.


I used to fancy myself an explorer and regularly hiked every inch of the property of that farm and especially the few woods  we had there. Exploring, observing and tracking animals.
Apparently my wanderlust developed early as I tried to run away when I was three years old and was caught nearing the highway after walking the long main driveway.


This driveway was lined by sumac bushes all the way down and we were warned at an early age not to eat the poisoned berries. However, the canes of these sumac's.
 I soon found out made good bows and arrows and whittled lots of arrows after making a bow. I hunted with them. 
Something else I did with them was long forgotten until a few years ago, when my younger brother reminded me that I had made him put on a bunch of  coats one time and shot a bunch of arrows at him for practice.
Um..I did that ? Okay so obviously my brother remembers it better than I do.


I was constantly running into other farm kids that were finding arrowheads in their fields in the area so I was constantly on the lookout for these and hunted for them. Sadly, I never did find one on our farm.
In one of the fields there were wild strawberries every summer to pig out one. They were tiny but so sweet.


Our garden was easily the size of a football field and it would be harder to list what we didn't grow there.
This was an inspiration to me to fill my wagon up with vegetables,then pull it across the road and into the newly built small subdivision, going door to door selling vegetables.My first entrepreneurial experience. Probably would have been my last if my Grandparents had found me out.


On my 8th birthday, I was presented a new bike. A bigger one. I learned to ride it on the farm then I thought I would ride it along the side road near the farm.I was happy and whistling a tune and out of nowhere, a huge German Shepherd was flying through the air at me. As he hit me,his teeth sank into my leg and when we landed in the ditch he punctured my foot and ripped my runner off. I wasn't to happy that day. I still have scars from that one.


We rode our bikes all summer and often rode to a creek that was miles away down a country road.There was one particular farm we knew well. You had to pedal your ass off and as you went by you put your feet up on the cross bar as the dog that lived there always chased us as we went by. We got to the creek and would splash up and down it for miles catching crayfish and salamanders and swimming to keep cool.


We would cross over to a neighbor's farm where I would visit my German friends. They had a pony and we would sometimes take it into the woods and pretend we were cowboys. We would even take a can of beans and build a fire to heat them up on the trail. 
Other times we would race our soapbox cars down a hill on their farm and into the creek.


Near the farm house, we had a tangle of bushes and trees and there was a grapevine that was over a hundred years old. The vines were so thick that we used to swing around on them like Tarzan. The grapes were huge Concord grapes.


Summers were king then and they still are now, but I think they are shorter.


                                                                           

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Do Have A Good Day.

Jeffrey R Hilton