fbpx

Cooling Off

Reader Contribution by Mel Boone
Published on June 5, 2018
1 / 2
2 / 2

Welcome June! Well, if you like warm weather you will welcome June along with the next few months of warm temperatures (along with humidity if you live in a place like Missouri where I live).

I love the summer months. I guess I really can’t help it. I’ve never liked winter, except for the few times as a kid in school when we got a snow day. That’s another story though.

As always, some things from my childhood are still the same today. Cooling off during the summer months is one of them.

When I was younger, there was the swimming pool, built back in the 1930s. That iconic landmark closed forever a few years ago. The pool needed to be fixed and it was decided not to fix it. A new pool, to be built north of town hasn’t been built yet, so you see a lot of backyard pools springing up around town.

I never learned to swim, so I’ll stick with the little kiddie pools from Dollar General. Soaking my feet in a kiddie pool is as far as I want to go on that particular summer pastime.

Then there is my all time favorite, watermelon. I love them. The best cool down item ever in the summer time, next to ice cream and Kool-Aid. At least the watermelon is healthy, right?

I have fond memories eating the variety of watermelon called moon and stars. Usually had one big yellow spot on the green rind with a lot of little yellow spots, hence the name.

They were always so delicious. I can’t find them for sale any more, although I can find the seeds to grow them for sale in the various gardening catalogs that I get. If there’s one thing I have learned over the years it is that unless I’m growing zinnias tomatoes or marigolds, the only other thing that I can successfully grow every year is weeds.

Drink plenty of water. Well I do, providing I’ve got a package of Kool-Aid to mix in with it. Heaven help me if the store runs out of cherry or strawberry flavored ones!

Photo by Getty Images/NelliSyr.