Someone reminded me that in Pennsylvania we do, indeed, have four seasons: autumn, winter, spring, and one week of summer. It looks like that happened this past week.
Summer lovers — rejoice. Winter lovers — sorry for the inconvenience.
There were plenty of convertible owners with the top down allowing their hair to blow in the wind without a chill factor.
The minute warmer temperatures overtake spring, diehard convertible owners pop that top even though they may have the heater on to help with the cold breeze.
Convertible owners are special people that really love the outdoors with the sun on their face in the day and star gaze at night.
They will push the envelope in the spring and late fall to keep that top down.
When I think of a convertible car, I think of our old friend Bobby Licata. Bobby will have his traveling companion dog with him, ears flapping and all in the wind.
As a matter of fact, I can’t remember the last time I saw Bobby in the car with the top up.
One of my vehicles has roof that comes off, but only the top of the roof, not a complete top removal. I admit, I enjoy taking it off whenever possible especially during the day.
For me, the sweet spot is having the roof off at night. There’s nothing like the open air with the moon and stars out. So convertible owners, I get it.
Naturally with temperatures so hot this past week, the nights were warm and toasty as well, that’s when I like to take a drive.
Just the other night, it was still about 80 degrees around 10 p.m. So, I took to the road and having that warm air fill the cockpit was perfecto.
It’s days like this past week and those drives at night that I will recall in six months in the middle of January.
There is still plenty of summer left and it may look like those strings of 90 degrees might be over, the average daily temperature is still about 82 so we might as well get out and enjoy it.
I’ve been reminded that the extreme heat is not so good on the elderly and pets, so I hope everyone has been staying safe as well as keeping the pets inside as much as possible.
I do hope there will be a few more 90s on the weatherboard over the next five or six weeks before I feel summer is pretty much over.
Nothing beat a hot summer day and attending the community pool. Pittston and West Pittston residents were lucky to have such pools. It’s sad that they are both gone, Pittston first followed by West Pittston.
It was the way of summer. We kids had someplace to go to socialize, stay out of trouble and most of all beat the heat.
If you were lucky, your parents would give you a dollar for the food stand and back then a dollar went a long way.
Usually we were warned about eating too much junk before coming home for dinner.
We spent all afternoon at the pool, everyone back then had a tan, and hanging out with friends was the best.
Besides bringing a towel, someone might have taken along a transistor radio. Now I know there may be some people reading this column wondering what a transistor radio was and there are some that can vividly recall owning one.
I had one that wasn’t much bigger than a pack of cigarettes. AM radio was the king then unlike FM or satellite radio today.
WARM was the channel of choice for most – after all, they were the Mighty 5-9-0.
I was like a fish staying in the water for seemingly hours at a time to the point where my fingers looked like prunes, so I didn’t get to listen to the radio very often.
To accommodate the adult swimmers, the pool would have an adult swim so they could take to the water without getting splashed by the kids in the poor or worse, elbowed.
All the kids would head to their blankets, or the stand or sat on one of the many benches that dotted the perimeter of the pool during adult swim.
My friend Jeannie Lavelle, who is very much into nostalgia, will post some classic items from the past. One such post this past week from her was the top 10 songs of July 21, 1970.
That list really brought me back and I could hear some of those songs on the transistor in my mind. Songs like Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours by Stevie Wonder, Ride Captain Ride by Blues Image, Band of Gold by Freda Payne, or the number one song that day, (They Long To Be) Close to You by the Carpenters.
Other top ten songs were by The Jackson Five, Bread, The Temptations, Three Dog Night, and one of my all time favorites, Lay Down (Candles in the Rain) by Melanie.
I love a good old trip down memory lane and I’m sure glad Jeannie does too. She really has a knack for finding great items to post.
They say it’s not so great to look back, but I say, hell, those where some of the greatest days of my life!
Quote of the week
“Music can take me back to the happiest and darkest times of my life, the times I’m dying to re-live and the times I forgot.” – Author unknown
Thought of the week
“Be careful who you make memories with. Those things can last a lifetime.” – Ugo Eze
Bumper sticker
“We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone…” – Natalie Bennett
