Laurel Fork when the water’s high.
It’s hot.
Oh, I know, it’s a lot hotter other places, but when you opt to live in the Appalachian Mountains it isn’t because you love toasty summers. We’ve been in the 90s every day for too long now. At least it cools down at night!
The heat has me reminiscing about hot summer days from childhood and all the ways we found to keep cool in those pre-air-conditioning days. Here are the top ten ways I remember keeping cool:
- Aunt Bess’ swimming hole. Icy cold water rushing over smooth shelves of stone was absolute heaven. There was a big rock to jump off of and another to sit on in the sun before slipping back into that welcoming water.
- Mason jars of ice water. The best plan was to not work out in that beating down sun, but when it was time to put up hay, there was little choice. I remember carrying many a sloshing jar clinking with ice to the men in the field. Water beaded on the outside of the jar and somehow water tasted better with chaff in your hair and the sun on your back.
- Grandma’s fan. There was often a fan whirring near Grandma’s back door, blowing air into the overheated kitchen. We would crouch in front of the fan and speak into it to hear how the blades distorted our voices.
- Rock hopping. Behind Grandma’s house we could wade in Laurel Fork, hopping from rock to rock along the creek. Water is nature’s air conditioning and it was always cooler under the canopy of trees where water chattered all around us.
- The bed of a pick-up truck. I know, I know, it’s not safe to stand with your feet planted firmly on the metal bed, hands on the cab of the truck, and face full in the wind. But it was surely cooler there.
- Flat on your back under a maple tree. The tree offered shade, the sky offered a breeze, and there were clouds to watch as they changed shape and rolled on into tomorrow.
- Playing in the rain. Give us a nice downpour with water to be collected from the drainpipes and nothing on but our underwear and we were practically shivering with the cool.
- The cellar. Bins of potatoes gave it an earthy smell while rows of canned produce gleamed in the light from the open door. And it was cool, cool, cool down there.
- Eating homemade ice cream. It was hard work to make, but we were distracted by tasting the salt water as it dripped from the drain spout. And forget curing the end product, we just pulled the paddle out and dug in. Cool all the way down.
- A hammock under a towering pine. Something about being suspended in air by a giant spiderweb is automatically cooler. And if you swing, there’s surely a breeze.
What’s your favorite way to keep cool these days?
No wonder your books are so special when you can drawn upon such idyllic memories. Hot weather finds me on a shaded hammock unless it’s over 85 and then it’s a retreat to the air conditioned house.
I think I grew up in a time warp!
Stay in the house with AC, sitting in a chair and reading!
I remember most of the things you mentioned but we didn’t have a creek close enough to
wade in and I was always afraid of snakes!
We did to the ice cream, usually once a summer – too much work turning the thing for
more often.
The last 20 years or so I have electric ones that work great with a good friend’s grandmother’s recipe from the Shenandoah Valley. In fact my daughter made some last
week.
Peggy
Oh man, now I want homemade ice cream!!
Currently, turn on the AC, but I still like to grab a glass of iced tea or water and head for the swing on the porch. Ours is screened in which keeps the bugs away. We have fans on the porch which keeps it cooler, but back in the day , your short little legs had to pump hard to keep the swing moving in order to catch the breeze. Sure did love to swing!
We didn’t have until I was in about the 6 th grade, 1968, and then it was a big window unit that would run you out to the room it was in ..brrr. Until then, Daddy had a large Hunter window fan. That fan could cool the whole house! when it was really hot, we would place blankets on the floor in front of the open doors to sleep. It may sound like hardship…..not at all….it was an adventure!
“Camping out” inside the house sounds like such fun! I wanted to sleep on the porch when I was a kid, but Mom said, “no.”
I actually enjoy the hot days of summer, knowing it means fresh grown things from our garden and the smell of fresh mowed grass. I like to cool off with homemade ice cream made with my brother’s hand cranked freezer using our homemade family recipe. A nice tall glass of ginger peach iced tea is also refreshing. I also enjoy sitting out back on our swing under the shade trees with a good book. 😊
Man, sign me up for summer at your place!
I just read this, and it took me back to summers walking with my Grandma speak to the men working her tobacco fields. I also remember the anticipation of waiting for ice cream as my dad and brother took turns cranking the old ice cream maker. The sound of crunching ice and rock salt was the sound of something tasty on the horizon. Even today, when I’m caught outside in a sudden shower, I turn my face up to the sky and let the rain splash on my face, and I have to resist the urge to throw my arms out and spin because my neighbors would finally think I’d lost it. Ha!
What lovely memories. I say go for it next time it rains!