{"id":558,"date":"2011-10-14T07:45:28","date_gmt":"2011-10-14T11:45:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.summerofjim.com\/?p=558"},"modified":"2025-07-05T11:12:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T15:12:09","slug":"ten-things-i-remember-aout-being-a-kid-on-a-july-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/?p=558","title":{"rendered":"Ten Things I Remember About Being a Kid on a July Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. No School.<\/span> As oft mentioned in these pages, I hated all forms of school (except gym).\u00a0 It began with Grade Four, and my dislike continued unabated.\u00a0 It could have rained every day in July; but no school?\u00a0 There was sunshine in my soul. <\/p>\n

2. Swimming in the Sound.<\/span> This has to be genetics, and possibly related to the \u201csun tan gene\u201d.\u00a0 My Dad adored the water.\u00a0 Mom would say that the both of us we were part porpoise.<\/p>\n

3. Watermelon.<\/span> Today we can get \u201csummer\u201d fruit all year \u2018round.\u00a0 But nothing can replace sitting in a yard, t-shirt off, eating watermelon and spitting pits at your Bedlington Terriers.<\/p>\n

4. Honeysuckle.<\/span> Before the scent of a perfumed woman caught my attention, there was the sweet smell of honeysuckle on a humid day.<\/p>\n

5. Lightening Bugs (fire flies).<\/span> The crickets and cicadas may have provided the concert\u2026 the lightening bugs were the light show.<\/p>\n

6. Baseball Cards.<\/span> I studied the brief bio\u2019s and stats on the reverse sides.\u00a0 I would be a wealthy man today if I had kept them.\u00a0 But how good is it to love something when monetary value is not the object?<\/p>\n

7. Sweet Corn.<\/span> In August it would be \u201cnative\u201d.\u00a0 But in July it was still great.\u00a0 Plenty of butter & a little salt.\u00a0 As a teenager, one time I ate 10 in one sitting.\u00a0 My Mother took careful note, and from then on, for future gatherings, I was staked to an even dozen (just in case).<\/p>\n

8. Thunder Storms.<\/span> The crack of thunder and a light burst.\u00a0 Noise and light show.\u00a0 The more the better.\u00a0 My Mom, thinking that I might be afraid, would tell me the angels were playing nine pins.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t afraid. I loved it.<\/p>\n

9. Jimmies of Savin Rock.<\/span> Sure, Brooklyn has Nathan\u2019s; but we had Jimmies: home to split grill franks, butter soaked lobster rolls, fried belly clams, thick succulent French fries and freshly shucked clams on the half.\u00a0 Dad would park the car\u2026 we\u2019d run up to the counter, order and take the food back to the car.\u00a0 Our \u201cbuffet\u201d would be set up on the hood of the car, and we would dine with the ever present seagulls circling over head.\u00a0 West Haven had the best fed seagulls on planet earth.<\/p>\n

10. Did I Mention No School?<\/span> \u00a0The joys of being a kid needed the refreshing relief from being in the classroom.\u00a0 When school ceased to be a part of my life, summer days changed.\u00a0 It\u2019s not that I don\u2019t enjoy a good swim, or eating sweet corn (I\u2019m good for one or two) and even though watermelons are now seedless, I have been known to spit a cherry pit or two off our back deck.\u00a0 And if I happen by a hedge that\u2019s laced with honeysuckle, the distinctive aroma lifts me back to those July days when to be not<\/em> in school meant the world to me.\u00a0 Today, my vision of summer days are compressed into a series of Sundays\u2026 and I permit myself the supreme joy in knowing that come September (or in my case, Monday), I don\u2019t have sit in a classroom, do math (which I hated), write book reports (which I was not good at), study for a test (which gave me unending worry). Still<\/em>\u2026 without those things that I didn\u2019t like, would I have been able to relish those things that I did like?\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019s a good thing that today work is such a trial\u2026 and this Sunday?\u00a0 I think I will enjoy an adult beverage and a slice of watermelon!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1. No School. As oft mentioned in these pages, I hated all forms of school (except gym).\u00a0 It began with Grade Four, and my dislike continued unabated.\u00a0 It could have rained every day in July; but no school?\u00a0 There was … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-childhood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=558"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111516,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558\/revisions\/111516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}