Summer Doldrums

Surprisingly last week I fielded a couple of comments regarding my sporadic postings. I had thought no one was even reading my musings here, thus no need for regularity of additional content. Still suspecting that I might be the object of a couple of bluffing jokesters, I delayed action. Today I do have thoughts worth saving in my opinion.

During the summer's heat, we tend to either stay inside to maintain our cool, or spend a little time on the boat with breezes cooled by lake water wafting over our sweat soaked skin. Ol' Abner seems to think a boat's purpose is for traveling to a place where fish can be I jerked suddenly from their happy home. I, on the other hand, prefer to just cruise quietly around the lake and enjoy the breeze and the view. I avoid the crazy fast big bass boat at all cost but I am always up for a jaunt on the "picnic boat". When younger family members are here, it serves well to drag them around the lake on a tube. Even then, the same boat can be used as a fishing platform on a moment's notice. Me...I'll just bring my wine along and act as cheerleader for everyone's activity.

Pappy has been visiting since his birthday party in March. He spends most of his nights at brother's house. Ol' Abner and the dog go over to pick him up in the morning. He comes to our house to spend most of his days watching vintage western movies and old TV shows. They remind him of his youth, he says. Until just a few years ago, he was always up for a few hours of fishing. Now his balance is an issue of concern and we cannot get him near the boat. When we drive to the lake shore or to the river, he chooses to sit in the vehicle and just watch. At 90 years of age, I guess one should be allowed sit out the action. His short term memory is not as sharp as it was once, but he tells many stories from his youth. We have heard these stories over and over, and their number seems to be shrinking. Still, anything that stimulates his memory to cause additional recounting of his youth is a treasure. He tells of having never had electricity until he went into the military. Primary transportation in his childhood was a horse. He rode the Texas plains with friends and family. He remembers acts of kindness from neighbors, and tells about a few old soreheads that received due justice. Lately I have started writing down his stories. We have lost so much of the family history because we were too busy or too far away to listen. Mammy wrote of her life in a short memoir a few years before she died. I was so grateful to find it in some of the boxes after she died. We will share Pappy's with him while we can still ask questions to fill in the gaps. I can't think of any better way to spend a quiet summer day. After all, we have seen most of those movies on the western channel at least three times, and Ol' Abner says the fish aren't biting anyway.