Summer is a time for many things enjoyed best while the days are hazy and hot. Of course when you're young summer also means a very, very long vacation which allows even more time to enjoy those special, frozen delights meant to be savored and licked and finally bitten into and then when swallowed, felt all the way down to your stomach,freezing your insides for a second while outside the temperature is soaring and the crickets are yacking and the bees are buzzing.
There was a small neighborhood store we loved to frequent when at all possible, especially from June through August. That was because right inside the door to the left sat one of those white enamel, horizontal-shaped freezers-the kind where you'd pull on a latch and when you lifted the top, all the frost from inside would roll right out in your face, cooling you off for a second or two. When the mist cleared, the fun began for inside that frozen oasis all nudged beside each other were what seemed to be-to us kids at least-countless, flimsy cardboard boxes, each with one end ripped off displaying what was inside awaiting little fingers.
Back then there wasn't the extensive variety of frozen treats on a stick or in a cup as there are today but you don't miss what you've never had. We were excited every time we lifted that lid and found cherry, orange and grape popsicles; mouth-watering creamsicles and fudgesicles; ice cream filling waffle cones-some with peanuts on top; yummy ice cream sandwiches which you'd unwrap in a hurry and eat before the chocolate sandwich-like covering fell apart from the vanilla ice cream inside melting away-but when that did happen it tasted so gooey and good; ice cream cups which came with a small wooden-type spoon that if your teeth happened to scrape on too hard, chills would go up and down your spine-sort of like fingernails on chalkboards.
The hardest part of going into that store was deciding which frozen delight we wanted that particular day. It didn't really matter though. We were young and on summer vacation allowing us endless opportunities to lift that latch and choose again-and again.
Summer is a time for many things enjoyed best while the days are hazy and hot. Of course when you're young summer also means a very, very long vacation which allows even more time to enjoy those special, frozen delights meant to be savored and licked and finally bitten into and then when swallowed, felt all the way down to your stomach,freezing your insides for a second while outside the temperature is soaring and the crickets are yacking and the bees are buzzing.
There was a small neighborhood store we loved to frequent when at all possible, especially from June through August. That was because right inside the door to the left sat one of those white enamel, horizontal-shaped freezers-the kind where you'd pull on a latch and when you lifted the top, all the frost from inside would roll right out in your face, cooling you off for a second or two. When the mist cleared, the fun began for inside that frozen oasis all nudged beside each other were what seemed to be-to us kids at least-countless, flimsy cardboard boxes, each with one end ripped off displaying what was inside awaiting little fingers.
Back then there wasn't the extensive variety of frozen treats on a stick or in a cup as there are today but you don't miss what you've never had. We were excited every time we lifted that lid and found cherry, orange and grape popsicles; mouth-watering creamsicles and fudgesicles; ice cream filling waffle cones-some with peanuts on top; yummy ice cream sandwiches which you'd unwrap in a hurry and eat before the chocolate sandwich-like covering fell apart from the vanilla ice cream inside melting away-but when that did happen it tasted so gooey and good; ice cream cups which came with a small wooden-type spoon that if your teeth happened to scrape on too hard, chills would go up and down your spine-sort of like fingernails on chalkboards.
The hardest part of going into that store was deciding which frozen delight we wanted that particular day. It didn't really matter though. We were young and on summer vacation allowing us endless opportunities to lift that latch and choose again-and again.
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