I also remember mom taking out the trunk from the basement and getting out our summer clothes.....buying punks to smoke on the porch.....waiting for Mr. Softee or Frank the ice cream man, listening for the Half Moon and Whip rides.......walking up to the hobby shop on Tremont and Sampson to get an italian ice and the latest Batman comic book......cold cuts for dinner more often.....jumping through the sprinkler.....riding bikes ALL DAY LONG.....roller skating, but having to stop every 2 minutes to tighten the skates with those skate keys.....looking for the perfect rock to play potsie with.....ringo leevio games after dark......going to the hardware store on Tremont to buy a clothesline to use for a jump rope.....going to Davy's Lake in New City.....going to Whitestone Pool in Queens.....jumping in the water at Silver Beach......playing jacks or pick up sticks for hours......nodding off to sleep listening to all the ladies sitting on the porches at night cackling away...........

June is when you took the Mary medallions off your baseball caps because May was over.  We took homegrown roses and lilacs to school to put in the vases before the statues of Mary in each class.  (The nuns told us the lilacs would make us sleepy).  In order to make money, the Presentation sisters would bus us to their bazaar in Newburgh to spend some money each June.

 

It was a time of fireflies and firecrackers.  Fourth of July fireworks.  Out late at night ('til 9!); Up late at home ('til 11!).  Looking for work to tide us over 'til September like cutting grass, caddying, washing cars or bagging groceries.  Goin' to Grandpop's house for lemonade, grapes and mulberries.  There were summer activities in the local parks and they would finally break out the swings.  Sleeping outside in the woods.

 

Trying to jump high enough to dunk.  Trying to get my sweaty hands on the local females.  Sneaking into Woodlawn at night.  Bicycle rides for miles. 

I just remember that wonderful feeling on the last day of school and the dread of getting that last bad report card.

Remember how hot the school was in June.

Remember collecting fireflies and putting them in bottles.

Remember going around looking for unexploded fireworks on July 5, collecting the gunpowder and making rockets.

Remember playing several forms of stickball all day long and going up to PS69 to play fast-pitch stickball with a box we chalked onto the wall.

Remember the cool temperature and the unusual smell of the Beach Theater

Remember swimming and fishing down the end of Soundview Avenue

Remember trying to find the perfect flat rock that I could skim across the water and see how many bounces it would take .

Remember arguing about Mantle vs. Mays all summer long with my best friend Larry and 50 years later he still doesn't know squat.

Remember how the tar used to bubble on on the street on real hot days.

Remember my friend Perry who was the Bungalow Bar man

Remember starting to become interested in those "girl people" even thought they stunk at baseball.

 

 

 

 

Hey Tarver, were the lilacs and roses wrapped at the bottom with about 3 lbs of aluminum foil?  I remember that very well.

I remember one thorn always made it thru the foil to bite me.  I remember report cards on the last day of school.

How about this....speaking of aluminum foil, do you remember having it on the rabbit ear antenna and playing with the dame thing forever to get a clear picture.....and how about when the picture started rolling and you had to mess with the vertical hold button.....big trouble.

Speaking of June, today is the 3rd of June. . .another sleepy, dusty Delta day. . .

We didn't mess with the rabbit ears because we had an antenna on the roof.  It sorta worked.  But what killed me about the TV was the rolling!  First one way, then the other.  You'd have to fool with the vertical and then the horizontal.  Then there'd be a blizzard of snow which you'd have to try to get rid of.  Sometimes I just listened to the audio and forgot about looking at the set.

Do you remember going to the drug store and using the machine there to test your TV tubes?

Palisades....the best.

 

When I lived in Riverdale way back when, someone got in but nothing was stolen.  My German shepherd was running around with a hunk of someone's butt and a chunk of cloth from someone's pants.  Was that you?