mrs-roboto's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We'll Catch Fireflies Together We leave for a five day mini vacation on Friday with four of our favorite people in the whole world. We'll head off to a gorgeous cabin with a hot tub in the Mt. Hood area of Oregon. There will be hiking and campfires and wine and artisan cheeses and smores. And for a few days, I'll get to unwind. You know this "summer of fun" thing I have happening? Well as much fun as I am having, I am also kind of tired. I plan to soak and read and drink a bit between all the activity. Maybe play a few games of Trivial Pursuit. The idea of the cabin getaway brings back some wonderful memories for me. My parents had a bungalow in the Catskill Mountains when I was a child. It was my fathers philosophy that "a city kid needed a place to run barefoot from time to time." I might add that the city kid he was referring to was himself but it didn't stop me from shedding my keds upon arrival. Those shoes didn't get put back on till we exited the Holland Tunnel into the city on Sunday evenings. We had no television at the bungalow but a radio played country tunes round the clock. Occasionally, the Oak Ridge Boys would be interrupted by a local news report about a cow on the road or an announcement for the drag races in the next town over. I'd spend the days running about completely unsupervised. It was the ultimate freedom. Sometimes I'd ride my bike down long dirt roads with a fishing pole hanging over my shoulder. I'd arrive at the creek and cast away for hours. Being young and impatient, I never got a bite but really that was besides the point. Maybe I'd go for a swim or just wade in up to my knees and try to skip stones. If I was feeling extra adventurous, I'd ride the four miles to the town store and buy a popsicle. My parents would generally barbecue our dinners. I recall my mother and father making stops around town before we left the city to get our fare. We go to the salumeria and get freshly made sausage rings. Then off to the bakery for bread and cookies and pastry. There would be a stop at the Jewish deli to pick up bagels and lox. And a final stop at the the packie for beer and soda. The only items we grabbed outside city limits were fresh produce. We'd make pit stops at the farms and get the days pickings. The grilled corn of my youth is incomparable to any I've had since. After dinner, we'd play cards and wait for the sun to die down. My parents had no tolerance for games like Old Maid or Go Fish so they taught me poker at the ripe old age of three. I was a quick study and often won the pot of pretzel sticks. And then the fireflies would come out in full force and it was time to catch those buggers and put them in a mayonnaise jar. We'd poke holes in the top of course so the little guys could breathe but still they'd die by morning. I'd crawl into a huge featherbed as the night air cooled. The bed was original to the cabin and had big metal headboard. It was soft and ever so high off the ground. You truly felt like you were floating. Oh and mornings, I can smell the bacon even now. It filled the tiny bungalow and was accompanied by flapjacks and strawberry syrup. Nothing beats the smell of bacon, nothing. I'd always be sad when the late afternoon rolled around and it was time to make our way back home. I knew there would be traffic and noise and all of those things a big metropolis is plagued by. Dad would sense my disappointment and assure me we'd be back in a week to do it all again. Lately, I have been dreaming of my own little cabin in the woods. A place where the dog can run and Pete and I can be free from the pounding rhythm of our city lives. A retreat where we can invite our good friends to visit and share in a campfire and a game of poker. A place I will fill with trashy paperbacks and Highlight magazines (the reading material of my youth) and an old stereo on which I will play Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn records. There will be cards and board games and popsicle sticks waiting to be turned into a birdhouse with Elmers glue. Please stop by if your in our neck of the woods. We'll catch fireflies together. 3:30 p.m. - 2005-06-29 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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